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Catussruti-jati Ragas: An Amateur's Investigation H.V.SHARMA I~iscommo~_~owledgethattheragasoflndianclassicalmusicareconventionallydivided IOtathreejaus (classes): sampiana(ofseven srutis),siidava(ofsix srutis), andaudava (offive srutis). The seven srutis in the SampiITI)3 jatl are: sadja, rsabha. giindh'iira, madhyama, paiicama,dhaivata and nisiida, commonlyrenderedassa,re,ga,ma.pa.dlza, andnirespectively.Forconvenience,theyareoften representedasS,R,G,M,P,DandN. s A set of seven rutis is calledsaptaka (corresponding to the octave in Western music, in which, however, the first note ofthe Indian scale becomes the eighth note). Among the seven sruris, R, G, M, D and N havetheirkomal(soft or lower)andtivra(sharp or upper) variations while S and P are sthira (non-variable). Veryrarely do kama! and tivra svaras presentthemselves sideby side in Indian ragas. An example ofsuch a rare occurrence is ragaLalit,in whichbothkomalandtlvraMcomeintoplay. Asadavaragaisobtainedbyremovinganyoneofthesevensrutis,exceptingS,because Sis not only aconstantsrutibut is the one sruti whichcannotbe absent inanyraga S is consideredthe vitalsrutiand svarain relationtowhichtheremainingsrutisand svaras are identified. Sintilarly, an audavaraga is obtained by deducting two of the seven srutis, A discardedsruti(orthe removalofa srutiinthe processofcomposinganew raga)iscalled varja. Therefore it would seem that the largest number ofsrutis in a raga is seven, and the smallestisfive. What,then.isacatuss.rutiraga. which.goingbythename, would appearto haveonly foursrutis?Dosuchragasexist-ordidtheyexisteven inthepast- Jetalone a wholejatioffour-noteragas?Asthebasis,therationale,andcatalystforthisenquiry (which may seem unwarranted to text-bound musicians), this writercan only cite oral and aural evidence: the testimonies of a few practising musicians, and demonstrations by a long departedmendicantinthestreetsofHyderabad.Certainly.acatussrutiragaisanoddityfrom thepointofviewoftreatisesonIndianclassicalmusic,andisgenerallyunknowntomusicians. Noneofthe treatisesmentionssuch ajati,Even ifitbeassumedthatthere wassuchajatiin the past, left out ofthe treatisesforreasons not known to us, those concerned with music would tend toaskanumberofrelevantquestions.Forinstance.howcouldaragaofamere foursvarasbeexpandedforthepurposeofbuildingamelody?Ifacarussrutiragaweretobe consideredatparwiththe ragasthathavereceivedapprovalinthetreatises,andbymusicians ofthepast(i.e., ifthesameprinciplesofmusicwereinherenthere).whatmighthavebeenthe methodofconstructingsuch a raga?This articleis in the main an attempttoanswersuch questions. octoge~arian Someknowledgeaboutthecatussrutijatiwasreceivedbythiswriterfroman mendicant, Janab Ghulam Dastagir Sahab ofHyderabad, in the year 1957. Accordmg to JanabDastagirSahab,therewereeighteenragasinthisjati.HebelievedthatDhruvapada(or Sangeet Natal Nos. 135-136. 2000 64 H.V.SHARMA Dhrupad) songs were composed inthese ragas. By way ofexample, Janab DastagirSahab haddemonstratedfiveragaswitholdDhruvapadacompositions.Thiswriterandhisrespected andlearnedguru,ShriShankarlaljiMaharaj,werefortunateenoughtolistentoJanabDastagir Sahab's demonstration and his verbal explanations of the details. According to Shri ShankarlaljiMaharaj,aDhruvapada-singerhimselfandamusicologist.JanabDastagirSahab wasflawlessandmostconvincing,thoughhisvoice failedhimnow andthenbecauseof extreme old age. This writer remembers the aroha and avaroha of all the five ragasbut remembersthenamesof onlythree. • Twelveyears later,in 1979,keen10explorethecatussrutijatianditsprobablenumberof ragas,thiswritertalkedtosomemusicianswithaviewtoconductingasystematicinquiry intothisdomain.ThemusiciansconsultedwereJanab MohammedAli,aTarshchnaiplayer andamusicologist;ShriRaghunathPrasanna,afluteandshehnaiplayeranda musicologist inhisownright;JanabMohammedIqbal,avocalist;andShriAbhayanarayanMallik,nowa renowned Dhruvapada-singer,Takingakeeninterestinthematter,thefourmusicianshad sattogethertoevolveasmanycatussrutiragasastheycould. Atthetime theragas weredeveloped,themusicianskeptinmindthe rulesofcomposing ragaslaiddowninvarioustreatises.aswellastheirpersonalresourcesofknowledge.Justas asfujavaoraudavaragaisformed byjudiciouslydroppingone andtwo srutisrespectively fromasampumascale,inacatussrutiraga.threesrutis werededucted. Carewastakento avoideliminationoftwoconsecutivesrutisfromasaptaka,includingP.Byremovingevery alternatesrutiafter SorRinasaptaka,afour-srutiragawaseasilyobtained.Butthiseffort producedonlythree ragas:SRM D,SGPD, andS GPN.Then,taking advantageofthe variability of the srutis R G M D and N, twenty-four varieties were created. lIere isa systematizedlistofthesetwenty-fourcatussrutiragas,workedoutmechanically: I. SRMI)(S)' 9. SQM!HS)' 17. SQPI)(S)' 21. SQPl!!(S)' 2. SRMD - 10. SQMD - 18. SQPD 22. SQPN - 3. SI!~ID - II. SQMI) - 19.5GPI) 23. SGPl!! - 4. SRMI) - 12. SQM() • 20. SGPD 24. SGPN- 5. SRMI) - 13. SGMI) - 6. SRMD- 14. SGMD- 7. SRMI) - 15. SGMI) - 8. SRMD- 16. SGMD- "(S):Sadja ofahighersaptaka, When these technical exerciseshad been completed,the question remained astowhich ofthese ragas could be rendered with ease.Singing and playing the aroha and avarohaof eachofthetwenty-fourragas,withalittlemanipulation.itwasobservedthatserialnumbers 1,2,6,8,9,10,14,16,17,19,20,23and24wereeasiertorender,orrelativelyso.TheywereaIso melodious, Numbers 12 and 18 were melodious too, but were not easy to sing orplay. Numbers3,4,5,6,7,11,13,15,21and22wereneithereasy10performnorpleasing10theear· CA11I~Rtm-JATI RAGAS:AN INVESTIGATION 6S Therefore. the groupofmusiciansput aside thelastten varieties.Theywere thusleft with fourteen catussruti ragas, including two difficult ones.Itwould seem that Janab Dastagir Sahabeitherchosefourofthetenragasputasidebythegroupofmusicians- whichseems unlikely- or heknewfourmoreragaswhichthepresent groupcould notworkoutonthe basisofthe method it followed, Themostdifficulttask wasnow ahead,andthatwastofindthevadiandsamvadisvaras. Thevadisvaraisonewhichisrepeatedoftenerthantheothersvaras inaraga,andoneupon whichphrasesinelaboration ofaragafrequentlycometorest.Thevadiandsamvadlofthe variousragascanbefoundinanytextbookofmusicandarecommonknowledgetostudents andteachersofmusic.Usually,thefourthsvaraofaraga,inascendingorder,isthesamvadi. Butthiscannot passforarule.as theplace ofsamvadi,orvadi,mayvary fromonekind of ragatotheother.The best wayto findoutthe vadiandsamvadisvaras isreally tolistento aUentiv~ly. ragas very Inthecatussrutiragasproducedbyourgroupofmusicians,thevadiandsamvadisvaras couldallbeidentified.Butinoneortwocasesthesamvadi wasso faintas10 seemalmost absent. These strenuous technical and aesthetic exercises went on regularly for a little over a month.The credit for successfully working out the fourteen catussruti ragas goes to the knowledgeable andrefined musiciansnamedearlier(andnottothiswriter),Itistheywho scrutinizedandfinalized thelistofthefourteencatussruuragas. The expertgroupnotonlyfollowedtheclassicalrulesofconstructionofragas.butalso reliedonanaestheticprinciplelaiddownintheBrhaddesiand.withslightvariations.inthe Songttaramakara and other treatises.The relevant flow from the Brhaddeii arcquoted below: ~~~~~1 ~~q;1~"'Il<'t~mill >lr3Rlr",f.1f<1"a<g~~I ,"",,"~'I!'"'J'T~II Thepurportoftheseversesisthataragaisamusicalcompositioninwhichthesvarasare so disposed that their essential qualities may find expression - and which is sung whh embelIishments in a manner that pleases the hearts oflisteners. It is the last part ofthe description that gives theclue to thecreation and renderingofa raga. . Atvarioustimesduringtheinterveningyears.theauthorhassharedthe~ndmgsreported herewithafewotherpractisingmusiciansandteachers.bothforcorroborationofthemethod oftheinquiryand forthesakeofcarryingthediscussion further,ProfessorHafe~zAhmad Khan,UstadAmjadAliKhan,ProfessorChandrashekharaNarangrekarandSluiRajanMishra areamongthosewho havenotonlysupportedthevalidityoftheexpenmentbutalsoshown interestintheinvestigation.Theyallbelievethat thecatussrutijatidid exist inthepast. • Someopinions regarding the existence of catussruti ragasin the past,their origin and 66 H.V.SHARMA theirdecline,arealsoavailablefromtheabovemusiciansand others,though noconclusive proofcanbesubmitted.ProfessorChandrashekharNarangrekar,whoheadsIhcDepanment ofMusicintheUniversity ofGoa.hasatheoryabouthow theseragas cametobedropped fromourraga-lexicon.Hepointsoutthatthereare a few audavaragasin whichoneofthe variablesmtisoccursinconspicuouslyin the sweepofa meend whichbeautifiestheraga. Theseinconspicuoussrutis are alsosofaint astoseempracticallyabsent intheragasin question,Suchnominal svaras seem tohave beenincorporated in some (principally)four noteragasatalaterstage.Thus.whatwasformerlyacatussrutiragabecameanaudava.Shri NarangrekargavethiswritertheexampleofragaHindolinwhichNformerlyoccurredinthe flow ofa rneend,and which was later established firmly as a svaraofshort length.The argumentissound.Considerthisexample:Bhoop(orBhoopali)isan old audavaraga.But, inirsslowavaroha,ittakesNandM inslidesofmeend,AIsomepointoftime, anaudava saIi1pu~araga called Bhoopkalyan comes into being. Now,Bhoop belongs10 the KaIyan that,andNand Marethemainattributes ofKalyan.Theconnectionisobvious.Inthecase ofHindol,what was originallyacatussruti raga turnedinlo an audavaraga. Whythefifth notewasaddedis,however.notcleartoProfessorNarangrekar, The late MallikaJjun Mansur, an acclaimed singer ofrare Hindustani ragas, told this authorin 19&1thaihehadheardaragaoffour srutiswhenhe wasveryyoung;heregretted notrememberingthenarneandformoftheraga. RajanMishra,theelderoftheMishrabrothers.stronglybelievesthaitherewasaealUssruti jati, oratleastafewragas ofthatclass.Hecites theexampleofragaShree,whichhasonly three srutis and is still considered a classical raga. He has demonstrated Shree in a performancesituation and verballydescribedthe raga.Shree hasa vadi, a sarnvadi, andan anuvadi svara (a secondary svara supporting the vadi),This encourages one 10 propose thatcatussrutiragas were inpractice sometimeinthe past,whateverthe numberofthe ragas;perhaps they werealso brought under adistinctj:iti. Anintrinsicfactormayhaveledtothedeclineofthepresumedcatussrutijati:afour-nole ragadoesnotenableelaborationforaslong adurationand with as much varietyasragasof the otherjatisdo. • H~ving slatedthegrounds forthisenquiry,theresultsoftheexperimenl ilinvolved,and ~eVI~WS ofexpertmusiciansonthesubject,theauthormaynow (intheabsenceofreliable historicalmformation)bepermittedtoindulgeinsome freewheelingconjectureofhisown, suggesting some probablebeginnings for the catussrutijilti and its past status. This may serve 10 provoke enquiry and attract fresh inputs Into this investigation frommore knowledgeable researchers.Any errorinfacl or argumentmaybebroughtto the noticeof the author. ~"eda, 1.:"e besidesbeinganauxiliaryextension oftheRgveda,alsolaid downrules mlon,"~ for Itsownhymns,thoseoftheRgveda,andsomeofthe Yajurveda.These hymns weretobeintoned(orsung)inthreesvaras;svarita(asvaraonachosen pitch,usuallyalow CATUsSRlJIT-JATI RAGAS:ANINVESTIGATION 67 pitch);udiuta(araised half-note above thesvarita);andanudiuta(afullnotelowerto'he svarita).Thus, if S were svarita,R wouldbeudatta and!'!wouldbeanudatta,(Allworks containingsarnavedichymnsindicate themannerofintoningthehymns.Ashortvertical lineoveranySanskritcharactercombiningavowelandaconsonantdenotesudatta(upper sruti},and a short bar below such a character denotes the anudiitta (lower) position in relationtothesvarita.Svaritaitselfisnotmarkedbyany sign. Thesamesigns areusedto indicate the srutisof the five variable svaras inIndian classical music. This is standard practiceinIndianmusicalnotationtilldate.) It is theSomavidhana Briihmana whichfirst mentioned thai thesevensrutis forma saptaka,ButthesesrutiswerenotintheSRGMPONorderknowntoustoday.Iastead.the srutiswereintheorderof PQ ~ SRGM.Thesamavedichymns,knownasSarnans,were supposedtobeintonedinsevenscales.Now,itishumanlyimpossibletosingallthesvaras insevenscales.ItshouldbeunderstoodherethattheinitialpartofeachsetofSamanswas tobesungaccordingtothethree-notesystemexplainedabove,at,say,Plevel.Then,each subsequentsetofSamanswastobesungatincreasinglyhigherlevels,i.e.,Q~SRGandM. Ifn~leddown.thesevenscaleswouldappearasfollows:!'J)!:i,J)J'jS,t!S8.SRG,RGM, GMP,andMP~'.InIndianmusicology,eachsetofthesethreesvarasformsthebeginning ofaseriesofscales.Thesevensvarasarereachedinthismanner. 'Grama' istheSanskritwordfor'scale'intheWesternsystem.IfasingerofSamanshifts fromonegrarnatothenext,hehasnecessarilytoaddtheudattasvaraofthenextgrama, Thusthenumber ofsvarasisraised tofour.But.gradually,thesingerhastodropthefirst svaraof the preceding grama,The following illustratesthis point:P J)l:i (firstgrama): !.'i?JilS(betweenthefirstandsecondgramas); andbNS(secondgrarnal.P J;>NSmay indeedbecomecatussrutibutnotaraga.Inordertomakeacaressrutiragawewouldhaveto arrangethesrutisofeveryalternategramaserially.up10fourgramas.Thenwemayjotdown thefirstsrutiofeveryalternategrarna.Thusweobtainacatussrutiraga.Forexample: SRG, GMP, PON, NSR {alternategrarnas) S G P N (firstscutiofeachalternategrama) Here,SGPNformsacarussrutiraga.(SeeNos.23and24inthelistofcatussrutiragas.) . Thisisaconjecturalderivation.Iftheconjectureisright,wecouldsaythatthecarusfruti jatioriginatedfromthestyleofsingingtheSamansoftheSamaveda. 2.InHindustanimusic,wedonotknowofanyformofclassicalsongwhichmayhaveexisted ~X1st:d beforethe Dhruvapada, However. it is generallybelievedthatthere atraditionof singing Sanskrit songs in the manner of the Dhruvapada-The Na!yasastra mentions dhruvagana_ singingofdhruvas akindofpoetrysettorhythm.Fromthiswemaysurrmse thatOhmvapada_ 'wordsofdhruva"_ mighthavebeentheearliestformofindependent composition sung according to a fixed convention. Dhruvagana. according to the 2. NiJ/Yaiastra•didDotalwaysuseallthesevensvacas Dhruvasmayhavebeensungeven , Adotbelowasrutidenotesthe positionoCthes"rotiinthe lowersaplaka. 1Naryos'[wramu (Telugu translationof the HiiryaiQstra),P.S.R.AppaRae, chapter5,pp. 180-1. 68 H.V.SHARMA inasmallernumberofsvarasinSanskritplays.though.inthecontextofpurvorariga.they wouldhavebeensungusingallthesevensvaras selectively,orevenoversteppedasaptaka marginally.Thecontextsheresuggesttheseprobabilities.Catussruti•audava,sadavaand sampurnamayallhavecoexisted,inrelationwithorindependentofeachother,supporting nii!)'Qperfonnances: . Isolatedfromnatya.catussruti ragasmayhavehadanindependentexistenceasajatiwith norelationshipwithragasofotherjatisemployingalargernumberofsrutis,Combinationof jatisseemstonavebeenalaterdevelopment. 3.Classical musictookofffromfolk music.At some stageofdevelopment, four-notefolk music,whichisamplyavailableeventoday,maywellhavebeenrefinedandsubjectedtothe principlesofclassicalcomposition.Indeed, some ofthe catussrutiragas are as simpleand pleasing as folk melodies, and some are as difficult to perform as the toughest classical compositions. 4.Hereisanotherprobability.Thehumanmindtendstodrift fromlong-standingconventions. A musical-minded siimagiiyaka (singer of Sarnans) or udgiur (singer of rgvedic hymns) might have wished to add one svara at the end or at the beginning of his three-svara (anudatta,svartta,udarta)singingand, later,putinagapbetweeneachpairofsvaras, Since suchexperimentationwastabooinsacredsamagayan,hemayhavetriedouthisinnovation infolksong. • Perhaps itisncrdiffieulttoretrieve thefour-note modeexperimentally,especiallynow thatopportunitiesforexperimentalworkinmusicareopeningup.Everynowandthenwe hearofnewragasbeingcreated,shelvingclassical principles and rules altogether! Atthe sametime.somefruitfulworkisalsobeingdone.Quitesomelimeago,someonecreateda misra riga.Basantbahar, anawkwardcombination of two unadjustable sampama-vakra ragas.Thevadi andsamvadi svaras ofthisragasimply cannotbe determined!It hasno specificpointofemphasis.orinflexionalorde-inflexionalsweep.orapointofshiftfromone part of the raga 10 the other. It does nOI stand any grammatical test, yet il passes for a classicalmga!Ontheotherhand,thereareseveral rnisra-jatiragaswhichpassallthetestsof musicandmakegoodragasindeed.Kaushikikanadaisoneoftheexcellentexamples. Luckily,wehavetwosystemsofclassicalmusicinthiscountry,HindustaniandCamatic. Mutual borrowingis noruncommon, Shri Ravi Shankar, the great Sitar-player, hasadded Keervani,aCarnaticraga, tothestorehouseofHindustaniragas.ProfessorHafeezAhmad Khan,~o~erVice-ChancellorofRampurUniversity,hasadoptedShanmukhapriya,againa Carnaticraga. intoHindustani music.Therehavebeenmanysuchmeaningfulexperiments helpfultothegrowthofclassicalmusic. .I~thisage.ofexperimentation,aprofessionalsingerorinstrumentalistcan.ininventive ~plO.tortosat~sfyacreativeurgeorevenforthefunofit.try10 makeafewraga,withfour sruns(evenWithouttakingapositiononthepastexistenceofacatussrutijarl.orbeingaware CATU~SRtm·IATI RAGAS:ANINVESTIGATION 69 ofit).Onecould alsotry combininga catussrutiarohawiththeavarohaofanaudava, a sadava,asampumaora vakraraga- andthereverse- foreffectandthus,perchance, createnewand 'right'classicalragas.Thisauthorfeelsthereisnoendtoragas.thatmusic isinexhaustible.andthatmusiciansarefreeagentsinachangingworld.Withasoundbase ofknowledge.acreativemindandhardwork,wecansurelymoveontonewfrontiersofraga basedmusic.