Structure of Swara in Music

As we discussed about Shrutis and Swara earlier, there are 22 Shrutis in the Indian Classical Music and out of those there are 7 Swara that comprise of our sargam- Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni. These Swaraas are also called Shuddha Swara and are placed in a fixed place in the octave. Some of these Swara like Sa and Pa are fixed on the scale thus are called Achal Swara (Immovable Swara) while some can move from their position and are called Vikrit Swara (Movable Swara) such as Re, Ga, Ma, Dha and Ni. Depending on their ability to move up or down from their positions, these Vikrit Swaras can be Komal Swara or Tivra Swara. Komal and Tivra Swara can be depicted through a dot or line above or below the Swara.  Thus, this gives us 12 Swara on an octave with 7 Shuddha, 4 Komal and 1 Tivra Swara.  The picture below gives a clear depiction of the Swaras on an octave.

​Indian Classical Music and Western music has considerable differences when it comes to culture, scales, notations, etc. and over the years, Indian Music has been influenced by the Western Music notation. Unlike Indian Classical music, it uses major and minor scales and equal temperament notes. Western music scales generally consist of seven notes and five variations which are arranged in an order of increasing pitch to form a scale termed as an “octave” in the Western music. In Indian Classical Music, the same octave is called a “Saptak” that refers to a set of seven notes.