Mēḷakartā is a collection of fundamental musical scales (ragas) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). Mēḷakartā ragas are parent ragas (hence known as janaka ragas) from which other ragas may be derived. A melakarta raga is sometimes referred as mela, karta or sampurna as well, though the latter usage is inaccurate, as a sampurna raga need not be a melakarta (take the raga Bhairavi, for example).
In Hindustani music the thaat is the rough equivalent of Melakartā. There are 10 thaats in Hindustani music, though the commonly accepted melakarta scheme has 72 ragas.
Rules for Mēḷakarta ragas
Ragas must contain the following characteristics to be considered Melakarta:
- They are sampurna ragas – they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both ascending and descending scale.
- The upper shadjam is included in the raga scale. He made some bold and controversial claims and defined somewhat arbitrarily 6 svaras from the known 12 semitones, at that time, to arrive at 72 mēḷakarta ragas. The controversial parts relate to double counting of R2 (and similar svaras) and his exclusive selection of madhyamas for which there is no specific reasoning (also known as asampurna melas as opposed to sampurna ragas). However, today the 72 mēḷakarta ragas use a standardized pattern, unlike Venkatamakhi's pattern, and have gained a significant following. Govindhacharya is credited with the standardization of rules and known for giving different names for standard ragas that have a different structure but the same swaras as those proposed by Venkatamakhi.
- Indu stands for the moon, of which we have only one – hence it is the first chakra.
- Nētra means eyes, of which we have two – hence it is the second.
- Agni is the third chakra it indicates three kinds of Agni (Dakshina, Ahavaniyam and gArhapatyam). So agni indicates 3rd Chakra.
- Vēda denoting four Vedas is the name of the fourth chakra.
- Bāṇa comes fifth as it stands for the five Arrows of Manmatha.These arrows of Manmatha are mango, lotus, blue lily, jasmine and asoka. These arrows were to give the person hit by it have intense issues
- Rutu is the sixth chakra standing for the 6 seasons of Hindu calendar, which are Vasanta, Greeshma, Varsha, Sharat, Hemanta and Shishira.
- Rishi, meaning sage, is the seventh chakra representing the seven sages.
- Vasu stands for the eight vasus of Hinduism.
- Brahma comes next of which there are 9.
- Disi Chakra indicates Ten directions(East, West, North, South, North East, North West, South East, South West, Above and Below). Hence it is 10th Chakra.
- Eleventh chakra is Rudra of which there are eleven.
- Twelfth comes Ādityas of which there are twelve.
These 12 chakras were also established by Venkatamakhi.
Table of Mēḷakartā ragas
The 72 Mēḷakartā ragas can be divided into two parts, shuddha madhyama and prati madhyama ragas. When a given shuddha madhyama raga's M1 is replaced by M2, we get the corresponding prati madhyama raga. See Katapayadi sankhya for more information on how to derive the various swaras of a raga from its mēḷakartā number.
See swaras in Carnatic music for explanation of the notations like R1, G2, N2, and so forth.
{|class="wikitable" width="90%"
!colspan=6 align="center"|<big></big>
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!colspan=3 align="center"|Shuddha Madhyama!!colspan=3 align="center"|Prati Madhyama
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!No.!!Raga!!Scale!!No.!!Raga!!Scale
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!colspan=3 align="center"|1. Indu Chakra!!colspan=3 align="center"|7. Rishi Chakra
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|1 ||Kanakāngi
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||37 ||Sālagam
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|2 ||Ratnāngi
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||38 ||Jalārnavam
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|3 ||Gānamūrti
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||39 ||Jhālavarāḷi
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|4 ||Vanaspati
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||40 ||Navanītam
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|5 ||Mānavati
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||41 ||Pāvani
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|6 ||Tānarūpi
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||42 ||Raghupriyā
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!colspan=3 align="center"|2. Netra Chakra!!colspan=3 align="center"|8. Vasu Chakra
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|7 ||Senāvati
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||43 ||Gavāmbhodi
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|8 ||Hanumatodi
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||44 ||Bhavapriyā
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|9 ||Dhenukā
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||45 ||Śubhapantuvarāḷi
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|10 ||Nātakapriyā
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||46 ||Shaḍvidamārgini
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|11 ||Kokilapriyā
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||47 ||Suvarnāngi
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|12 ||Rūpavati
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||48 ||Divyamaṇi
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!colspan=3 align="center"|3. Agni Chakra!!colspan=3 align-"center"|9. Brahma Chakra
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|13 ||Gāyakapriyā
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||49 ||Dhavaḻāmbari
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|14 ||Vakuḷābharaṇam
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||50 ||Nāmanārāyaṇi
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|15 ||Māyāmāḻavagowla
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||51 ||Kāmavardhini
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|16 ||Chakravākam
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||52 ||Rāmapriyā
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|17 ||Sūryakāntam
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||53 ||Gamanāśrama
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|18 ||Hātakāmbari
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||54 ||Viśvambari
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|-
!colspan=3 align="center"|4. Veda Chakra!!colspan=3 align="center"|10. Disi Chakra
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|19 ||Jhankāradhvani
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||55 ||Śāmaḻāngi
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|20 ||Naṭabhairavi
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||56 ||Śanmukhapriyā
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|21 ||Kīravāṇi
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||57 ||Simhendramadhyamam
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|22 ||Kharaharapriyā
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||58 ||Hemavati
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|23 ||Gourimanohari
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||59 ||Dharmavati
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|24 ||Varuṇapriyā
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||60 ||Nītimati
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!colspan=3 align="center"|5. Bana Chakra!!colspan=3 align="center"|11. Rudra Chakra
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|25 ||Māraranjani
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||61 ||Kāntāmaṇi
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|26 ||Chārukesi
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||62 ||Riśabhapriyā
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|27 ||Sarasāngi
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||63 ||Latāngi
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|28 ||Harikāmbhōji
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||64 ||Vāchaspati
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|29 ||Dhīraśankarābharaṇam
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||65 ||Mechakalyāni
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|30 ||Nāganandini
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||66 ||Chitrāmbari
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!colspan=3 align="center"|6. Rutu Chakra!!colspan=3 align="center"|12. Aditya Chakra
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|31 ||Yāgapriyā
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||67 ||Sucharitrā
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|32 ||Rāgavardhini
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||68 ||Jyoti svarupini
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|33 ||Gāngeyabhuśani
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||69 ||Dhāthuvardhani
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|34 ||Vāgadhīśvari
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||70 ||Nāsikābhūśaṇi
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|35 ||Śūlini
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||71 ||Kōsalam
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|36 ||Chalanāṭa
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||72 ||Rasikapriyā
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|}
Alternate Mēḷakarta scheme
Muthuswami Dikshitar school followed a different set of scales as the 72 Mēḷakarta ragas. These were taught by Venkatamakhin.