Module 3: Sound fundamentals · Lesson 2

The seven swaras

● Confidence: high Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

The seven notes

Carnatic music names seven basic notes, the saptaswaras . Their short names are the initial syllables that you may hear students sing as “sa ri ga ma pa dha ni”:

Singing the notes by these names instead of words is called Sargam . If you know the Western names “do re mi fa so la ti”, the seven names play a similar role, although the exact pitches are not the same in every raga.

The notes come in variants

Sa and Pa have only one form each. The other five notes have several, and a raga says which variant it uses:

• Ri has three variants, written R1, R2, R3 (from low to high);
• Ga has three, G1, G2, G3;
• Ma has two, M1 (lower) and M2 (higher);
• Dha has three, D1, D2, D3;
• Ni has three, N1, N2, N3.

The number in the name tells you which variant it is, and a higher number means a higher pitch. So, in total there are 16 note names (S, three R, three G, two M, P, three D, three N), but fewer actual pitches, as the next lesson explains.

A first scale

Here is the scale of the raga Dheerasankarabharanam (also called Sankarabharanam), in which the notes are S, R2, G3, M1, P, D2, N3 and then the higher Sa. The dot above the last note means it is in the upper octave.

If you play a piano with Sa on the key C, this scale is the white keys C D E F G A B C. This is only an analogy: the raga is more than the notes, and its ornaments are not captured by piano keys.

Hear a scale

Choose 29 in the ladder below and press Play the scale to hear the notes of the scale above, one after another.