Hindustani Music Fundamentals: Naad, Shruti, Swara, Saptak and Alankar
What the exam tests
This domain checks whether you can define and use naad, shruti, swara, saptak and alankar in short answers and objective questions. BSEB papers often ask for the number of shrutis, the fixed swaras, and a written alankar.
Core rules
- Naad is musical sound. Ahata naad is struck or produced by breath; anahata is unstruck.
- Shruti is the smallest interval used in tuning. The Bharata tradition recognises 22 shrutis in an octave.
- There are seven shuddha swaras: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni. Sa and Pa are achala (fixed). Re, Ga, Dha and Ni have komal forms; Ma has tivra.
- Saptak means register: mandra (lower), madhya (middle), tar (upper). The same swara name can appear in all three.
- Alankar means a patterned exercise, such as Sa Re Ga Ma / Re Ga Ma Pa. In raga performance the word also covers ornaments such as meend, kan and gamak.
Worked example
Write an ascending alankar in Bilawal, which uses all shuddha swaras: Sa Re Ga Ma | Pa Dha Ni Sa' | Re Ga Ma Pa | Dha Ni Sa' Re' Reasoning: each phrase moves in ascending order; no komal or tivra is added; Sa' is the upper Sa in tar saptak. If the question asks for komal swaras, use Bhairavi: Sa re ga Ma Pa dha ni Sa.
Traps
- Writing komal Sa or tivra Pa. Sa and Pa do not change.
- Treating shruti and swara as the same thing.
- Forgetting that tivra applies only to Ma.
- Mixing alankar with palta and with raga ornaments.