Carnatic Music

What Carnatic music is

Carnatic music is the classical music of southern India. It is heard mainly in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Chennai is its biggest centre.

It is more vocal than Hindustani music. There are no purely instrumental forms. Instrument players mostly play songs that were first written to be sung.

It grew with little Arab or Iranian influence. That is one reason it sounds different from the music of the north. Its ragas and talas are sorted in a more orderly and uniform system. You will see this in the 72 parent ragas below.

Sources: Britannica, Carnatic music (for what carnatic music is).

Raga: the melodic frame

A raga is a melodic framework. Musicians use it to improvise and to compose. The word comes from Sanskrit. It means colour or passion.

Think of a raga as a frame, not a fixed tune. The musician builds many different phrases inside it. Two songs in the same raga can sound quite different. They still share one mood.

This is why a raga is called a frame. It gives freedom, but inside clear limits. A student first learns the notes of a raga. Later the student learns how to shape them into phrases.

In a concert, the raga sets the mood before the rhythm begins to matter.

Sources: Britannica, raga (for raga: the melodic frame).

The 72 parent ragas

A melakarta raga is a parent raga. There are 72 of them, and each uses all seven notes. Why 72? The ragas are split into two halves of 36.

One half uses suddha madhyama. The other half uses prati madhyama. Madhyama is the fourth note of the scale. Each half has 6 chakras, or groups, and each chakra holds 6 ragas.

So the sum is 6 × 6 × 2 = 72. Chakras differ in their ri and ga notes. Inside one chakra, the ragas differ only in da and ni. Venkatamakhin set out this scheme in the 17th century, in his book Chaturdandi Prakashika.

A katapayadi sankhya is a memory scheme linked to this numbering.

Shankarabharanam is raga no. 29. Kalyani is no. 65. Todi is no. 8.

Mohanam, Hamsadhwani and Hindolam are janya ragas. A janya raga is born from a parent raga.

Sources: RagaRasa, The 72 Melakarta Ragas (for the 72 parent ragas).

Worked example: place a raga in the grid

You can find any parent raga’s home with simple arithmetic. Each chakra holds 6 ragas, so chakra 1 has ragas 1 to 6, chakra 2 has 7 to 12, and so on.

Try Shankarabharanam, no. 29. Ragas 25 to 30 make chakra 5. So it sits in chakra 5.

It falls in the first 36, so it belongs to the suddha madhyama half.

Now try Todi, no. 8. Ragas 7 to 12 make chakra 2. It is also in the suddha madhyama half.

Kalyani, no. 65, is different. Ragas 61 to 66 make chakra 11, and it falls in the last 36. So Kalyani belongs to the prati madhyama half.

The rule is short. Ragas 1 to 36 use suddha madhyama. Ragas 37 to 72 use prati madhyama.

This is why exam questions can ask for a raga by number. The grid lets you reason it out.

Sources: RagaRasa, The 72 Melakarta Ragas (for worked example: place a raga in the grid).

Tala: the rhythm cycle

A tala is built from angas, or limbs. Six angas exist. Only three are used: laghu, dhrutam and anudhrutam. There are three tala schemes.

• 108 anga talas (103 desi and 5 margi)
• The talas linked to the 72 melakarta ragas
• The Suladi Sapta Tala

The Suladi Sapta Tala dates from the era of Purandara Dasa (1484–1564). It is the most prevalent scheme. Its seven talas are Dhruva, Matya, Rupaka, Jhampa, Triputa, Ata and Eka. Triputa is 1 laghu plus 2 dhrutams.

The laghu can have 3, 4, 5, 7 or 9 beats. These five choices, called jatis, turn 7 talas into 35. They run from 3 to 29 beats. Five gatis (speeds of subdivision) then give 175 talas.

Sources: Acharyanet, Talas in Carnatic Music (for tala: the rhythm cycle).

The veena

The Carnatic veena is a long-necked lute. Its pear-shaped wooden body is attached to the neck. It has no lower gourd, unlike the north Indian bin. It has 24 frets, four metal melody strings and three metal drone strings.

The player sits and holds it nearly horizontal across the lap. The gourd rests on the left thigh.

Sources: Britannica, veena (for the veena).

The violin

The violin came from Europe. It was introduced to Carnatic music by at least four musicians in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of them was Balaswami Dikshitar (1786–1859). He studied it after hearing a Company orchestra.

Vadivelu (1810–1845) of the Tanjore Quartet made it an integral part of the music. It is tuned differently from the European violin. The player sits cross-legged. The scroll rests on the ankle of the right foot, and the back rests against the left collarbone.

This leaves the left hand free to move for ornaments. The violin is mostly an accompaniment. It is also played solo.

Sources: Darbar, The Violin in Carnatic classical music (for the violin).

The mridangam

The mridangam is a two-headed wooden barrel drum. It is the principal drum of Carnatic music. The player holds it across the lap. Tuning paste is applied to each head.

The left head is tuned about an octave lower than the right. The pakhavaj is its Hindustani counterpart.

Sources: Britannica, mridangam (for the mridangam).

The kriti and its composers

The kriti, also called kirtana, is the main composed form. It is a complex devotional song. Composers wrote kritis from the 16th to the 20th century. Purandaradasa and the Trinity of the early 19th century are the most famous.

Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) is also linked to the Suladi Sapta Tala. So his name shows up in both the song and the rhythm lists. Tyagaraja (born 4 May 1767, died 6 January 1847) wrote in Telugu and lived in Tanjore. Most of his songs praise Rama.

He is credited with structured variation of musical lines. His music passed on orally, from teacher to student.

Sources: Britannica, Carnatic music · Britannica, Tyagaraja (for the kriti and its composers).

The Trinity

The Trinity are three composers: Syama Sastri, Tyagaraja and Muttuswami Dikshitar. All three were born in Tiruvarur. The table gives their years.

Sources: Sruti, Tiruvarur and the Trinity (for the trinity).

The Music Academy and the December season

The Music Academy, Madras, grew out of the All India Congress session held in Madras in December 1927. It was inaugurated on 18 August 1928, so its founding year is 1928. It began holding annual conferences in 1929. These conferences led to the December festival.

Chennai’s December season is also called Margazhi. So the December season began as a yearly meeting of musicians. It grew into the festival that Chennai is known for today. The Academy therefore links the older teaching tradition to the modern concert stage.

For exams, remember the order: Congress session in 1927, inauguration in 1928, annual conferences from 1929.

Sources: The Music Academy, Madras: History · The Music Academy, Madras: Margazhi season (for the music academy and the december season).

In the news: Sangeet Natak Akademi honours, 2024 and 2025

On 10 June 2026, the Ministry of Culture announced the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) honours for 2024 and 2025. The SNA General Council met from 22 to 26 March 2026. It elected 7 Fellows, the Akademi Ratna. Fellowship is limited to 40 people at a time.

There are 108 Akademi Puraskar awards and 106 Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar awards. These awards have been given since 1952. The President confers them.

The purse is ₹3 lakh for a Fellow, ₹1 lakh for an Award and ₹25,000 for a Yuva award. Winners also get a Tamrapatra and an Angavastram. A Tamrapatra is a copper plaque. An Angavastram is a ceremonial cloth.

So the honour has two parts: a cash purse and a traditional token of respect.

Sources: PIB, Ministry of Culture, 10 Jun 2026 (for in the news: sangeet natak akademi honours, 2024 and 2025).