SWARA(SOUND OF A MUSICAL NOTE)

The word Swara (स्वर, generally pronounced as swar or swara and not swaraa) is found in Vedic Literature, particularly in the Samaveda, where it means accent or tone or a musical note on an octave. In the general sense swara means tone and applies to chanting and singing. More comprehensively, it is the ancient Indian concept about the complete dimension of musical pitch.

Notes (Swaras) have been derived from sounds made by birds and animals (explained in more detail later under ‘derivation of swaras’).

The development of notes (swaras) originated in the Vedic period itself. Initially three Vedic notes were used-Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita. Later, they developed into seven Vedic note which finally gave way to the Laukik or Gandharva notes (notes used to sing for social occasions). Indian Classical music or ragas as they are practised or sung today have originated thus from the style of chanting hymns in the Samaveda.

HOW DID SVARAS DEVELOP AND MODIFY

The earliest form of organised music that we know about is linked to the Samaveda. For this reason, the Samaveda has been considered the most important among the four Vedas.

As I mentioned in the main segment on Samaveda, yagnas were very important in the Vedic way of living. The Samaveda Samhita is a collection of all the mantras to be performed during the yajnas.

The Samaveda Samhita is divided into 2 parts –

1. Sama-yoni – this is the source book and contains the mantras as they appear in the Rigveda

Sama-gana (Sama singing) – here the mantras are not in order but are rearranged in the order that the rituals in the yajnas are performed or according to the meters (chhandas) or the Gods to whom mantras are addressed. When the Rig Vedic Mantras are sung melodiously, they are called Sama. Sama’ has been derived from ‘Sa’ + ‘amah’. ‘Sa’ denotes Richa and ‘amah’ demotes Alap, i.e., singing of Richas along with Alap. Therefore the singing of Vedic Mantras with melody and rhythm is called Sama Gana.

Sama singing represents the earliest known relationship between religious life and Music. There were numerous styles of singing Sama. Patanjali in his Mahabhashya remarks that there were a thousand ways of singing Sama – sahasra-vartma samvedah (many styles of singing sama).However only 3 different styles of singing have survived as of today.

While rearranging the mantras for the purpose of singing, they were converted to Saman by elongating its syllables; and, by inserting various modulations, rests, and other modifications.The musical effect of the Sama-gana is enhanced by interpolation of Svaras and meaningless sounds called Stobha (which resemble shouts of joy) such as: Hoyi, Hoi, Hova, Hai, Haw, Oi, Ai, Ha, Ho, Uha, Tayo, etc. This is the text for singing; expanding each mantra with notations and instructing how mantras are to be sung. This is the Sama Veda as it is generally understood and sung.

It is very important to note here that even though the vedic chants were rearranged to make them more musical, our forefathers devised a number of methods to preserve the unwritten Vedas in their original form in order to safeguard their tonal and verbal purity. They laid down rules to make sure that not a syllable was changed in chanting, not a svara was altered. They fixed the time taken to enunciate each syllable of a word and called this unit of time or time interval "matra”. How we must regulate our breathing to produce the desired vibration in a particular part of our body is also very important so that the sound of the syllable enunciated is produced in its pure form. All of the above and the differences between the svaras of music are all detailed in the Vedanga called Siksa. As a result of these methods, the right way is shown for the intonation of Vedic mantras and their effectiveness is not compromised.

TYPES OF SVARAS

In the beginning, Sama-gana employed only three notes called Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita. The songs were perhaps like Ga Ga -Re Re -Sa Sa Sa. This kind of singing might have suited for chanting hymns.

The three notes were differentiated depending on whether it was produced from above or below the palate (taalu).

Udatta, the higher note, refers to sound produced from above the palate; and is acutely accented (uchchaih).

Anudatta, the lower note, was gravely accented (nichaih); produced from below the palate.

Svarita, the middle note was a summation of udatta and anudatta, with udatta in the first-half. It is called a circumflexed accent

The mantras in sama-gana texts had numbers above them. The numbers 1, 2 and 3 were used for Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita respectively above syllables of Mantras.In the Sama text, the syllables that have no symbols are calledprachaya.

The usage of Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita swaras gave rise to three types of recitation of Sama Gana – Archik Gana, Gathik Gana and Samik Gana. Initially chants used only one note and had a monotonic recitation. This was known as Archik gana. This paved the way for two-toned recitation called Gaathika gana. This was followed by Saamika gana which used a higher note resulting in 3 toned recitation. Rig Vedic Hymns were recited from one to three notes.

Archik chanting example - chanting the following texts on one note:

• aum aum aum / om om om
• hari om tatsat
• shivoham shivoham
• raam raam raam raam
• raadhe raadhe
• siyaa-raam siyaa-raam

Gathik chanting example - chanting the following text on two notes:

om

shaan-

tih,

om

shaan-

tih,

om

shaan-

tih, …

Two-swara Vedic singing is called gaathika chanting, e.g. in chanting the following text on two notes:

	om	shaan-	tih,	om	shaan-	tih,	om	shaan-	tih, …
	M	M----	P-M,	M	M----	P-M,	M	M----	P-M, …	or
	P	P----	D-P,	P	P----	D-P,	P	P----	D-P, …	or
	S	S----	R-S,	S	S----	R-S,	S	S----	R-S, …

Dr. Lalmani Misra, a noted scholar and eminent classical musician, explained that the (Rig) Vedic priests used only a single or two notes. The Sama singers improved on that and used at least three notes.

As Sama-gana originated from the Yajna, its purpose, at least in the initial stages, was limited to chanting by the Udgathrus ( The priests who sing the Mantras at the Yajna are designated as Udgathrus).Later, as the Sama Music developed, the number of notes increased from three to four, then five (which continued for a very long time), then six and finally seven. With that, the number of strings of the lyre too increased. Thus, over a period of time, the Sama scales expanded from three to seven notes. (It is not clear when or at what stage seven notes were introduced into Sama).

NARADYA SHIKSHA

Here it is important to talk about Naradya Shiksha. Naradya Shiksha was responsible for the reorientation of Sama music to a well- structured system of Indian music as we know it today.

Naradiya Shiksha is an ancient manuscript that deals mainly with the musical notes and the pronunciation of the words in the Vedic language.It is regarded as an authentic source of references on the development of Indian Music from the Vedic times to the period of the Shiksha literature (Shiksha is a branch of Veda lore (vedanga); and, it deals with elements of chanting and phonetics).

As metioned above, the singers of the Sama Veda discovered some more notes and extended the range from three Svaras (Udatta, Anudatta and Svarita) to seven Svaras. Narada identifies the seven Sama Svaras (Vaidika svaras) as: Prathama; Dvitiya, Triya; Chaturtha; Mandra; Krusta; and Atisvara.

Prathamasca dvitiyosca tritiyosca chaturtacaha / Mandram krustho hyu atisvarah yetan kurvathi saamagah /1.1.12/

In addition to introducing interesting concepts like relating swaras to colours, to different Gods, talking about where the swaras were derived from (covered in ‘derivation of swaras’ below), intonation of the swaras etc., the most important contribution of Naradya Shiksha were as follows –

1. Aligning Vaidika(Sama) swaras to Laukika swaras (swaras of the flute) which has vitalised Indian music. Narad correlates the Sama Swaras used by the Saman singers with the notes of the flute (Venu) – according to the Laukika music

‘Yo Samaganam prathamah sa venur Madhyamah Svarah / yo dvitiyah sa Gandharas, trias tu Rsabhah smrtah // Chaturthah Shadja ity ahuh Panchama Dhaivato bhavet / sastho Nishadho vijneyah, saptamah Panchama cmrtah’ // NarS 1.5.1//

Above he says:Prathama, the first Swara of the Saman singers is the Madhyama(4th) Swara of the Venu (flute); Dvitiya, the second, is Gandhara; Tritiya, the third, is traditionally the Rsabha; Chaturtha, the fourth, is said to be Shadja; Panchama, the fifth, is Dhaivata; Sasta, the sixth, is considered to be Nishadha; Saptama, the seventh, is the Panchama.

udātte niṣāda gāndhārāva anudātteṛṣabha dhaivato / svarita prabhavā hyeteṣadja madhyama pañcamāḥ //

Narada offers an explanation that from the ancient Udatta the Svaras Nishada (Ni) and Gadhara (Ga) were derived; from Anudatta, the Svaras – Rsbha (Ri) and Dhaivata (Dha); and, from Svarita emerged three Svaras: Shadja (Sa), Madhyana (Ma) and Panchama (Pa).

Swami Prajnanananda in his ‘A History of Indian Music’ remarks that Narada has provided a very valuable contribution to the music world, by discovering a connecting link between the tonal pitches of seven tones of both Vaidika and Laukika music. He has said that the pitch-value of the tone, prathama of the Vedic music is equal to that of the tone, madhyama of the Laukika music; and similarly all 7 notes of the vedic music have equal tones in laukika (flute or venu) music as seen below :
Thus, the Naradiya Shiksha relates the Sama Swaras to the notes on the flute(Venu) as: Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa, Dha, Ni, and Pa.

Sama Svara		Venu Svara
01	Prathama	Madhyama	Ma
02	Dwithiya	Gandhara	Ga
03	Trithiya	Rishabha	Ri
04	Chathurtha	Shadja	Sa
05	Panchama	Nishadha	Ni
06	Shasta	Daiwatha	Dha
07	Sapthama	Panchama	Pa

2)The other important contribution was that Naradiya Shiksha redefined the concepts and terms of the Sama Gana

Sama Swaras were always arranged in descending order (nidhana prakriti or vakragati). The order of the Swaras in Sama-music was: Ma, Ga, Ri, Sa, Ni, Dha, and Pa.

Since the Sama notes were in descending order there was not much flexibility in Sama music.

Naradiya Shiksha however revised and rearranged the descending order of the sama scale into a natural ascending order – Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni – as we are familiar with it today.

Shadja (sa),
Rishabha (re),
Gandhara (ga),
Madhyama (ma)- principal note, Panchama(pa),
Dhaivata (dha),
[and seventh] Nishada (ni).

Because of that re-orientation of the Sama scales a well-structured system of music could be developed during the later ages. These seven swaras are shared by both major raga systems of both North and South (Carnatic) Indian classical music.

This is definitely one of the most significant contributions of the Naradiya Shiksha to the growth and energy of Indian Music in all its forms.

DERIVATION OF SVARAS

Naradiya Shiksha also explains how each Sama-svara was derived. The Laukik svaras (svaras as we use them today) were obtained from the sounds made by birds and animals.

The derivation of Svaras in the Naradya Shiksha is written as follows –

Shadjam vadati mayuro, gavo rambanti ca Rsabham / ajavike tu Gandharam, kraunco vadati Madhyamam // pushasaddarane kale kokilo vakti Panchamam / avas tu Dhaivatam vakti, Nishadam vakti Kujarah // NarSh 1.5.3-4 //

The above translated is as follows –

The peacock cries Shadja(Sa) ; the bulls roar Rsabha (Ri); the she-goat and the sheep Gandhara(Ga); the heron cries Madhyama(Ma). And, in the spring time, the cuckoo calls Panchama(Pa); the horse produces Dahaivata(Dha); and, the elephant’s trumpet, the Nishadha(Ni)

Name in Sama Music	Symbol	Sama Veda Svara	Bird/animal Sound associated
Madhyama	Ma	svarita	heron
Gandhara	Ga	udatta	goat
Rishabha	Ri	anudatta	bull
Shadja	Sa	svarita	peacock
Nishadha	Ni	udatta	elephant
Daiwatha	Dha	anudatta	horse
Panchama	Pa	svarita	koel

As Swaras further developed, there are now 12 positions in musical notes. The notes ‘Sa’ (Tonic) and ‘Pa’(Perfect 5th) stay constant. They are known as ‘Prakriti Swaras’ The other 5 notes, have 2 variants for each note. They are hence known as ‘Vikruthi Swaras’. So Swaras now have 12 notes. The equation is as follows –

= 2 + (5*2)
= 12

SAPTA SWARAS EQUIVALENT TO WESTERN NOTES

These ‘Sapta Swaras’ it is believed are equivalent to the Western notes i.e Solfege – Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti

Shadja (Sa) is equivalent to Do. Shadja means six in Sanskrit and it is this note that determines the other 6 notes hence the name Shadja.

Rishaba = Re

Gandhara = Mi

Madhyama means middle as it sits in the middle of the swaras and is equivalent to Fa

Panchama is the perfect fifth and matches up to So

Dhaivata = La

Nishada = Ni

References

https://sreenivasaraos.com/2012/09/15/music-in-sama-veda/

https://nios.ac.in/media/documents/Hindustani_Music_242/hindustanimusictheorybook1/HMB1Ch6.pdf

https://www.raagaschool.com/sapta-swaras.html