The Golden Spiral
Chapter Nine
What is “Sruti”?
Pic by John W Ker
By tradition, the lute is said to produce Swaras of one, two, three and four srutis. Bharatamuni’s Natya-Sastra gives five more to bring the total to nine. Matanga says in his treatise, “Brihaddeshi”: “Only a sensitive ear can discern the minute pitch indicated by one Sruti.” “Those who understand Sruti believe that it is an audible sound of the lowest vibration adding to the individuality of a Swara,” says Viswavasu. (This is very much debatable.)
Some who are skilled in elucidation of the nature of Sruti, state an octave ‘harbours’ twenty two Srutis. Others say that there are sixty-six Srutis. Some are of the opinion that there are Srutis as infinite as the sounds vibrating in the atmosphere (Kohala).
I am of the opinion that we consider twelve Swaras, or musical notes within an octave. Each of these Swaras can then have independent manifestations and hence there would be ‘seven’ Srutis for each, of which three Srutis would precede and an equal number succeed. Thus, the fourth would be the Sruti for any note. (When the relationship between notes is not to be considered.) The curved lines in the figure indicate Srutis preceding and succeeding (in equal numbers) the main note or Swara. Sruti is the finest tangible streak of musical sound heard by a very sensitive ear trained in melodic values.
Musicians the world over have expressed their views on the complicated science of “sound.” Referring to the ancient texts and having to decipher many times the same verses, and every time arriving at a new ‘meaning’ to those none of the experts have been able to throw any light on the most important aspects of Indian classical music – ‘Raaga.” Why I wish to suddenly jump to the subject of Raga, from that of Sruti, Swara and Naada? It was an interesting exercise for me, when a music fanatic, once posed a query to me thus, “If Ragas and their existence is eternal, then which could be taken as the first ‘Raga’ in creation and why?" For many reasons, musicians won’t touch such a sensitive subject, as it would generally put them on the ‘Anvil’ of music-critics and fanatics, for any semblance of deviation from ‘original’ beliefs.
You pick up any ancient or modern text book on music and you would always hear of “Saama-veda" being the very reason for the existence of music. Our ancients practiced “HYMNS” in musical tones or Swaras; especially “Saama-veda” is given full credit for enlightening people with “Divine Music.” As history goes ‘Rigveda’ has always been considered to be the beginning of vedic culture. Then followed Yajurveda, Saama-veda and finally came Atharva-veda.
When on the subject of vedas and hymns, it is well known that the Vedas were chanted, by the masters and students in tandem and usually comprised of only three of the “Musical” notes or Swaras. These were called Udaatta, Anudatta and Swarita. Now, the biggest hassle for the masters of music has been to explain with some clarity, what are Udaatta, Anudaatta and Swarita. Whenever, we are speaking of Musical Notes or Swaras, we must bear it in our mind that we are intentionally or unintentionally bringing the Octave or “Saptak” (please observe the anamoly in the terms, here itself) into play. While the word Octave means a group of notes which are eight in number (Octave-eight), a Saptak means a group of seven. Another expression used for an Octave is “Sthaayi.”
This not necessarily seven or eight, but it is precisely 16 in number, where in Shuddha and Vakra or Vikruta Swaras are clubbed in an Octave. Later on, I would again clearly state, why the difference in the terms used for Octave, Saptak and Sthaayi, is to be treated with greater care. Whenever, some student asks about the vedic hymns being sung “monotonously” in 3 notes only, the teacher is often unable to answer and hence the dilemma continues. There have not been sufficient attempts to suggest as to which of the seven notes are to be “addressed” by the names of Udaatta, Anudaatha and Swarita.
If you, for instance, say that “Shadja” or ‘Sa” is to be take as Swarita, then we can easily ‘Re’ (Rishabha or ‘Ri’) as Anudaatta and ‘ga’ or Gaandhaara as Udattaa. This could be explained in the form of a diagram as follows:
This being a sound oscillation, it has to begin from silence of sound reach its peak and slowly ‘decay’ to reach its original dormant state. Here, I can state that instead of calling these two situations as a) Silence and b) ‘Soundful’, I would prefer to use the terms Anaahata and Aahata, or simply the Unstruck and struck sound. So, if we closely observe the names depicting the Swaras, Ri and Ga, we can make out a clear pattern and uniformity in the ascension and descension of the notes, in wave form. We also have to bear in mind that Sa or Shadja, itself is a combination of a number of oscillations and hence we should not be misled by a single stroke or line, representing “Shadja” (Shat-Janyam or that Janmam) which means, “giving birth to six others.” After taking due care and going through lots of practical analysis, I have come to this conclusion.
“Shadja or Shadjam is a combination or compression of 6 Swaras or notes.” What is believed in lieu of “Six Swaras are born, as soon as Shadja itself is struck.” So, Shadja plus six other Swaras combine to give us the Saptak.”
Let me demonstrate and substantiate my contention by taking you into the depths of sound. Whenever any sound is emitted, by whatever method or means, we must know that such a sound has a definite dimension. Also, it is heard for the same duration by people in and around the place from where the source of the sound is activated. Suppose, we hold that sound for a longer duration, then the first thing we will observe is that there are a number of other ‘vibrations’. Or to be precise, sub-tonics or Anu-swaras which accompany the note Sa or Shadja itself. Here, I would like to stress upon the necessity to know that for any emission of sound to be called a Swara, it must be long enough in sustenance for it to be ‘measured’ uniformly by one and all.
Small beeps of sound or sharp and short spurt of sound (similar to the report of a gunshot) cannot be termed as Swara or a musical note. Any sound when already in a struck state can be easily given a number of subdivisions or intervals. (That would always be odd in number.) These are known as ‘Srutis’ or subtonics of the Swara. In case of Shadja we can say that the fourth such sub-tone is to be called as ‘pure’ or perfect Shadja. The first three sub-divisions are in actuality the final three Srutis of a note or Swara which is definitely lesser and lower than Shadja. (Lesser does not mean oscillations, but lower on the Octave. Hence, if the octave starts from ‘Sa’ itself, then obviously the three preceding Srutis belong to the lower Octave, than the one we are exploring.) On the higher side, the other three (succeeding) are complementary to the preceding Sruits and they belong to the same Octave as Shadja itself.
We can assume a number of Srutis in the intervals between them coming back to the point of Shadja giving birth to the other six notes. I must impress upon all musicians and students to understand the Cycle of fifths or harmonics as explained very beautifully by Prof. Alain Danielou. But, being a musician by profession, I wish to throw some more light on the silent subject of Raga’s Evolution. I would like to bring in the following points for one and all to understand this great subject very clearly and with the help of charts and subsequent ‘Slokas’ or hymns as well. But, before doing so, let me talk about the Cycle of fifths. In Indian classical music, we call these: - Vaadi and Samvaadi.
To begin with, i.e., if Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, being the seven, notes are to be continuously written in 3 or 4 Octaves then we can pair-up notes which are harmonic or synchronous to each other and complement each other. This is where a trained ear of a musician is of great help. For a lay man or a person without much musical acumen cannot really identify interval relationship between notes, unless he is given audio-examples for each pair of such harmonic notes. So, if you arrange the seven notes in a linear scale, we can simply arrive at the following conclusions, which are duly substantiated with the charts and graphical analysis explained in the next few pages.
From here on the “decibel” difference comes into play. So, our ancients had to lean on to the adjustment of such a minute difference arising out of Vadi-Samvaadi relationship between notes. This they did by lowering the Octave level (refer; Graama-Moorchhanaa). In the Vedic times, there used to be three Graamas or notes taken as the basic note for synchronous chanting of the Mantras. This was done, to facilitate the master and the pupil to chant evenly in voice. Although each individual may possess different ‘pitch’ of voice (deep throated/ set) for masculine and ‘Bass’ oriented voices. The lower Octave Madhyama (Shuddha), for normal voices Aadhaara Shadja, for (high/shrill) children and females, Panchama are taken as basic notes or “Graama,” thus facilitating everybody to chant Mantras in ‘Harmony’.
But, the ‘Graamas’ in vogue were Shadjam Gaandhaara and Panchama-Graama. Each of these is called Swarita notes. Now, if we draw three separate charts, we can conclude thus: if we consider any of three combinations of Swarita, Udaatta and Anudaatta they have the same ratio and relationships, i.e.
Now, if we consider any of three combinations of Swarita, Udaatta and Anudaatta have the same ratio and relationships, ie. (refer: Raga Maarva Swarita Anudaatta Udaatta) are in fact the same ratio-depicted by different names. Therefore, we can understand Vedic mantras allowed people to chart from different swarita notes, so that each person would be able to chant the mantras without having to adjust their respective ‘pitches’ with that of the Master. This practice continued until the time when vocal music was considered as the primordial form of music. Then came a time when music became heavily dependent on instruments especially the Veena. It was considered to facilitate students of music to know about the placement of musical notes or Swaras, judging by means of distance.
This was primarily the reason for people to bring a different Graama known as Madhyama Graama instead of Gaandhara graama. The reason behind this major change was the fact that which musicians found it very difficult to recognize or identify those of the sub-harmonics, which were too shrill and out of audibility range of the musicians. As is clearly evident every sub-tone or harmonic note is brought to existence by the prime note on to the next octave.
So, if we have audibility range reaching four Octaves, then Shadja of first Octave would generate Panchama as Harmonic on the second Octave. This would lead to Rishabha on the next Octave and then Dhaivata, gandhara, Nishaada and so on. But, the last sub-harmonic is the most important which is Teevra-Madhyama or Prati-Madhyama, brought borth by the preceding Nishaada. Since, Shadja is Harmonic to Shuddha Madhyama on the audible lower Octaves, it was conveniently said that the last harmonic or Sub-harmonic ‘has’ to be Shuddha or Komala Madhyama. Hence the first Raga or full scale to be given real cognizance was taken as “Dheerasankarabharanam” or Bilaawal. But, in reality the Raga which is created as a result of self-generation of Harmonics and Sub-Harmonics of Shadja was Mechakalyani or Kalyan or Yaman as it is today known. (This is always going to be debated.)
ART forms of all variety follow a definite pattern of mathematical principles. This concept holds true only unto the stage of an artists execution of an art, when in the formative years once the artist is on a platform. From here he can begin to execute his art with a touch of non-challance, and the wide gap between the “Originals and Reproductions” comes to the obvious stage. Over a period of time, the artists become so much akin to their tools of exhibiting their art, that they make it look quite simple and popular. They also make it look as though every attempt is a new one.
Whether it is a musician, a painter, a sculptor, astrologer or an artist of many other performing fields, the psyche of the phrase, lashes, cutting of the stones, body language etc., first appear as a ‘concept of origination’ in the artists’ thoughts. Regular practice and constant self-analysis would then lead the artist to a stage, wherefrom he starts to polish them with embellishments, ornamentation and refinement. The finished product thus becomes his/her original concept. But to the person who receives these “transmissions,” it is more often than not ‘colored’ or altered in a minor or major way. Imagination of the artist and the audience or spectators is never the same. They are identical only in patches, when the duration of the execution/exhibition is longer in nature.
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