About and method
Carnatic Primer is a theory-only, offline-friendly study site for one beginner learner. It explains the ideas behind Carnatic music: swaras, ragas, talas, forms, history and the instruments. It does not teach singing or playing, and it contains no song lyrics.
How the content is made
- The 72 melakarta ragas and the 35 suladi talas are generated from rules and checked by programs, not typed by hand.
- Janya raga scales are compared against at least two independent online sources. Whether a janya is audava, shadava or sampurna, and its arohana and avarohana shape, is derived from the scale.
- Prose is written in original words. Where sources disagree, the page shows the disagreement.
- Mood, time of day and season for a raga are labelled as tradition, not as fact.
Confidence labels
- High: at least two distinct cited sources agree fully on the claim.
- Medium: one good source, or sources that agree on most but not all details.
- Low: unsupported or disputed. These carry a "needs checking" badge.
Every page shows its confidence and a last-verified date. Today 247 ragas, 40 talas and 40 lessons are in the repository:
| Kind | Entries | High confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Ragas | 247 | 192 |
| Talas | 40 | 35 |
| Lessons | 40 | 19 |
| People | 18 | 5 |
| Forms | 17 | 15 |
| Instruments | 11 | 9 |
How references are verified
Each item on the resources page was found by searching, then opened. A reference is shown only if:
- the page loads (HTTP 200 after redirects);
- its title and creator match what is stored;
- its content is relevant to the topic it is attached to;
- for YouTube, the public oEmbed record confirms the video exists and who published it.
Cost labels are honest: paywalled or login-gated items are never shown as free. Links to pirated books or copied lyrics are never included. Failed candidates are logged and kept out of the interface. A link-check script re-tests every shown reference and the date of the last run is on the resources page. Some sites block automated checks; for those the verification note says the check was done by hand.
Disclaimers
- This site is a study aid, not an authority. Carnatic music is an oral tradition and schools differ; a teacher's guidance outranks anything written here.
- Many sources used for cross-checking are online reference sites and Wikipedia. They are useful but not scholarly peer review, which is why most pages stay at medium confidence.
- Dates for historical figures and works are often approximate and are hedged accordingly.
- Raga and tala differences between traditions (for example Venkatamakhin and Muthuswami Dikshitar naming, or counting variations of the chapu talas) are shown on the relevant pages.
- Errors are likely to remain. Anything flagged "needs checking" is a known gap, not a hidden one.