Melakarta Ragas – Chakras
Understanding the mela ragas – I
In order to understand the structure of each mela raga, it is essential to know the different swaras that form the basis for these ragas. The mela ragas are also divided into twelve groups or chakras which are basis for finding out the scale of mela raga.
Etymology of Swaras and Chakras
Swaras:
Sa -Shadja : Shad means 6 in Sanskrit. Shadja meaning produced jointly by six organs of the body
Ri -Rishaba – Rishaba in Sanskrit means bull. Bulls are yoked in twos for agricultural operation, which may be the reason for indicating number 2
Ga- Gandhara – There is uncertainty on the etymology of this swara. Gandhara was a kingdom in Mahabharata. Mahabharata has several mentions of this musical note
Ma -Madhyama – Meaning centrally located
Dha- Dhaivata – Divine or pertaining to divinity, the Lord
Ni- Nishada – Nishada again was a kingdom (in vedic period) of courageous Nishada tribes . Guha of Ramayana and Ekalavya of Mahabharata, King Nala are popular Nishadas
There are Rishaba & Dhaivata have 3 variants namely. For the ease of reference let us call them R1, R2, R3 and D1, D2 D3.
Shuddha Rishaba/ Dhaivata– Shuddha means pure
Chatusruthi Rishaba/Dhaivata – Chat meaning 4
Shadsruthi Rishaba/ Dhaivata – Shad meaning 6
Similarly, Gandhara has 3 variants –
Shuddha Gandhara (G1)
Sadharana Gandhara (G2) – Sadharana means common
Antara Gandhara (G3) – Antara means inside/inner
Nishada also has 3 variants :
Shuddha Nishada (N1)
Kaisiki Nishada ( N2) – Kaisiki means very fine line hair
Kakali NIshada (N3) – Kakali means low sweet tone
Madhyama has 2 variants:
Shuddha Madhyama (M1)
Prati Madhyama (M2) – Prati means opposite or counter
It is also quintessential to know about the chakras which classify the 72 ragas into 6 groups. The chakras are named after the things they represent, so it is quite easy to remember the names.
1.Indu chakra : Indu means moon in Sanskrit
2.Netra chakra : Netra meaning eyes.This indicates our two eyes
3.Agni chakra : 3 divya agnis as per Hinduism (Fire, Lightning and Sun)
4.Veda chakra : 4 Vedas Rig , Yajur, Sama, Atharva
5.Bana chakra : 5 banas (arrows) of Hindu God Manmatha which are Lily, Lotus, Jasmine, Ashoka flower, Mango Flower
6.Ritu chakra: 6 seasons as per Hindu calendar viz. Vasantha (Spring), Grishma (Summer), Varsha (Rainy), Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Winter) , Shishir (Winter & fall)
7. Rishi chakra : Representing the sapta (seven) rishis – Vasistha, Bharadvaja, Jamadagni, Gautama, Atri, Visvamitra, and Agastya . Though there are several versions of the Sapta rishis
8.Vasu chakra – the eight Vasus , the attendant deities of Gods Indra /Vishnu. Agni (fire), Prithvi (earth), Vayu (wind) , Antariksha (space), Aditya (eternal/sun), dyaus (sky),chandramas (moon), nakshatrani (stars)
9. Brahma chakra – representing 9
10. Disi chakra representing the 10 directions (N,E,S,W,NE, NW, SW,SE,Akash (sky), Padal (nether)
11. Rudra chakra – rudra represents number eleven
12.Aditya chakra- representing 12 Adityas (Aṃśa, Aryaman, Bhaga, Dakṣa, Dhātṛ, Indra, Mitra, Ravi, Savitṛ, Sūrya or Arka, Varuṇa, Yama)
Let us call the chakras as 1st chakra, 2nd chakra and so on. In our next post, we will see how to arrive at the raga using the above chakras.
A Carnatic music blog 
Very informative, especially the chakra meanings.
I was thinking that singing a raaga from a specific chakra will have an effect on the singer’s/listener’s system. And that’s why my quest on finding about the name reasons of the chakras. But from your blog – the names have been given according to the no. of properties / no. of variations an entity has (for example, there are twelve types of Aditya).
Do you know if and how a specific raaga affects a person, and if at all chakra plays a role (for example, all raagas in a chakra has the same healing property, etc).