72 Melakarta Ragas
Learn the parent (Janaka) ragas of Carnatic music — hear each scale over a drone, loop for practice, see its swaras and janya ragas.
What are the 72 Melakarta ragas?
A Melakarta (or Janaka, “parent”) raga is a complete scale that uses all seven swaras — Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni — in strict order, the same going up (ārohana) and coming down (avarohana). Every other Carnatic raga (a janya) is born from one of these parents.
There are exactly 72 because of a neat combination: Sa and Pa are fixed. Ri and Ga together take 6 valid shapes, and Dha and Ni together take another 6 — that’s 36 scales with the natural madhyama (Ma1, ragas 1–36) and 36 more with the sharp madhyama (Ma2, ragas 37–72). 6 × 6 × 2 = 72.
The 72 are grouped into 12 chakras of 6 ragas each. Within a chakra the Ri–Ga pair is fixed while the Dha–Ni pair steps through its six shapes; the chakra number tells you the Ri–Ga pair and whether it’s Ma1 or Ma2. For practice, switch the drone on and sing Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sá along with the scale, using loop to repeat it.
Which raga is taught first?
Mayamalavagowla (15) — its evenly spaced swaras make it ideal for beginners.
What is a janya raga?
A “derived” raga that borrows a subset of a melakarta’s swaras, or a crooked (vakra) path. Many famous ragas — Mohanam, Abheri, Hamsadhwani, Bilahari — are janyas. The popular ones are listed under each parent above, and you can play them in the Carnatic Ragas Player.
Are these the same as Hindustani thaats?
Related idea, different system. Hindustani music uses 10 thaats; Carnatic uses these 72 melakartas. For a Hindustani scale player, try the Raga & Scale Player.
What is katapayadi?
A Sanskrit letter-to-number code hidden in each raga’s name: the first two syllables encode the melakarta number. When the code is shown above, it’s derived and checked against the raga’s number.
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