Resources
Musical map | Familiarize yourself with the world of South Indian classical music
To familiarize yourself with the world of Carnatic music
Visualising ragas from many places and even future ones “for the benefit of the people”
In Tanjore as a Seat of Music (pp. 420-426), S. Seetha explains the scope envisaged by Venkatamakhi when presenting his mela arrangement >> Venkatamakhi while justifying the derivation of 72 melakartas by permutation and combination interestingly remarks that countries are many with people having variety of tastes and it is to please them ragas have been … Read more
Gandharva-Sangīta: On the origins of Sangīta (vocal, instrumental, and dance music)
The non-sacrificial, musical counterpart to Sāma-Gāna in ancient times was Gandharva-Sangīta, later Sangīta, which has three divisions; vocal, instrumental, and dance. Performed by “Gandharva” musicians in Indra’s heavenly court, earthly Gandharva-Sangīta was a replica of this celestial music. […] Gandharva-Sangīta was also associated with pūjā, a form of worship with non-Aryan or indigenous roots that … Read more
Melakarta raga application
Swipe to view all the 16 slides in order to understand how 12 svara positions are distributed across the 72 melas. To learn more, read the following explanations and view another slide series >> Source © Ludwig Pesch | Creative Commons License >> A scale – mēla in Carnatic or thāt in Hindustani music – … Read more
Why Carnatic Music Matters More Than Ever
by Ludwig Pesch For this musicologist and author, there are good reasons to believe that Carnatic music matters, perhaps more than ever and almost anywhere in the world. So why not perform and teach it in the service of better education for all, for ecological awareness or in order to promote mutual respect in spite … Read more
Gamaka determines the character of each raga in vocal and instrumental music
By N S Ramachandran (University of Madras, 1938) | Compositions >> Gamaka has been defined by Sarngadeva and others as the ornamentation of a note by shaking it. But evidence from their works can be cited to show that the idea of gamaka is more extensive than the connotation of this definition; it has been … Read more
Time theory in Vivekananda’s Concepts of Indian Classical Music
The notion of a particular time prescribed for ragas (gāna kāla) plays a greater role in Hindustani music than for exponents of its southern counterpart where sārvakālika ragas prevail: ragas suited to any day or night time. A few ragas nevertheless continue to be associated with the moods indicated by song lyrics (notably in dance … Read more
Video | Tyagaraja’s ekaika raga kritis – lecture recital by Dr R S Jayalakshmi (vina)
Vina: Dr R S Jayalakshmi & Charulatha Chandrasekar Mridangam: Kalaimamani Sri TR Sundaresan >> Live lecture-recital at Arkay Convention Center (Chennai) on 17 October 2025 organized by Madhuradhwani *Ekaika kriti raga refers to a “single song raga” though additional songs or kritis may, of course, have been added later on. In 1996 senior musicologist and … Read more