Rāga and Tāla – Class 9 Arts Chapter 8 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 9ArtsChapter 8NCERT book: Madhurima - Arts Class 9

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 8 of the NCERT Class 9 Arts book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 8: Rāga and Tāla (Music)

Introduction

This chapter revisits the building blocks of Indian Classical Music, melody (rāga) and rhythm (tāla), in both the Hindustani and Carnatic traditions.

Let us recall

Nāda: musical sound.

Śhruti: a sound heard clearly and recognised as distinct from another.

Svara: a note. Indian music has seven, S R G M P D N.

Saptak / Sthāyī: an octave or register: Mandra (lower), Madhya (middle) and Tāra (higher).

Key Ideas

Svaras and svara-sthānas

There are 7 svaras. S and P never change; they are the achala-svaras / prakṛiti-svaras.

The other five (R G M D N) each have a lower and a higher variant; they are the chala-svaras / vikṛiti-svaras.

That makes 2 fixed notes plus 5 × 2 variants = 12 note positions (svara-sthānas), the same in Hindustani and Carnatic music. Only the names of the variants differ. For example, the lower R is komala in Hindustani and śhuddha in Carnatic, and the higher M is tīvra in Hindustani and prati in Carnatic.

On a keyboard or harmonium, the same 12 positions repeat across octaves. Most music systems in the world use 7 notes and 12 positions.

What is a rāga?

A rāga is a melodic framework made of a set of notes. The rāga system is one reason Indian Classical Music is among the most sophisticated and scientific music systems in the world. Rāgas are classified like plants and animals are.

Classification by number of svaras (Rāga-jāti)

Based on the notes in the ārohaṇa (ascent) and avarohaṇa (descent):

Saṁpūrṇa (7 notes): Alhaiyā Bilāval and Yaman (Hindustani); Śhaṅkarābharaṇam (Carnatic).

Ṣhāḍava (6 notes): Gurjarī Todī (Hindustani); Śhrīrañjanī (Carnatic).

Auḍava (5 notes): Bhūpālī, S R G P D S (Hindustani); Haṁsadhvani, S R G P N S (Carnatic).

The ascent and descent can have different numbers of notes, which gives nine combinations such as Saṁpūrṇa–Ṣhāḍava, Auḍava–Saṁpūrṇa and Ṣhāḍava–Auḍava. For example, 6 notes up and 7 down is Ṣhāḍava–Saṁpūrṇa.

Tānsen and the rāga of fire: jealous courtiers tricked Tānsen, Akbar's favourite singer, into singing Rāga Dīpaka, believed to create deadly heat. Only Rāga Megha could save him, so he trained his daughter Sarasvatī and her friend Rūpavatī, who sang it and brought rain.

Classification by svara-sthānas

Carnatic, the 72 Meḻakartā system: each meḻakartā uses all seven svaras in ascent and descent. The 72 scales come from combining the variants of R, G, M, D and N. The system was set out by Venkatamakhi in his treatise Chaturdaṇḍī-prakāśhikā. Meḻakartās are janaka (parent) rāgas, and janya rāgas are derived from them by dropping notes or changing their order. For example, Haṁsadhvani is Śhaṅkarābharaṇam with M and D removed, a 5-note (auḍava) scale.

Hindustani, the Thāṭ system: a thāṭ is a scale of 7 svaras in order. There are 10 thāṭs, and every rāga belongs to one of them. The system was developed by Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in the early twentieth century. The Kalyāṇ Thāṭ (S R G M' P D N, with tīvra M) includes Yaman and Śhuddha Kalyāṇ.

Rāgas and compositions

Śhaṅkarābharaṇam (Carnatic): meḻakartā number 29; saṁpūrṇa; the Western equivalent is the Major Scale; famous composition Enduku Peddala by Tyāgarāja; one of the first rāgas students learn because its scale is simple.

Jatisvaram: svaras and optional rhythmic syllables (jatis), with no lyrics (sāhitya). The book's example is in Rāga Kaṇṇaḍā, Ādi Tāla, composed by Veena Padmanābhayya.

Svarajati: svaras plus simple lyrics (sāhitya) and optional jatis. The book's example is in Rāga Haṁsadhvani, Ādi Tāla.

Alhaiyā Bilāval (Hindustani): Bilāval thāṭ; saṁpūrṇa; śhuddha (natural) svaras; vādī D, saṁvādī G; an uttaraṅga pradhāna rāga. Rāga Bilāval is a separate, similar rāga that does not use komala Niṣhāda. The book gives a bandiśh (Tū Hī Ādhār…) and a lakṣhaṇa-gīta in Teen Tāla from Kramik Pustak Mālikā. (A prahara is one of eight parts of a day, about 3 hours each.)

Tāla

Hindustani terms: ṭhekā (the basic pattern of tabla strokes), mātrā (one beat), vibhāg (a group of beats), tālī (a stressed beat, marked with a clap), khālī (an unstressed beat, marked with a wave) and sam (the first and most important beat).

Teen Tāla: 16 mātrās; 4 vibhāgs; tālī on 1, 5 and 13; khālī on 9. Ṭhekā: dha dhin dhin dha | dha dhin dhin dha | dha tin tin ta | ta dhin dhin dha.

Jhaptāla: 10 mātrās; 4 vibhāgs (2, 3, 2, 3); tālī on 1, 3 and 8; khālī on 6.

Carnatic tālas, counted on the fingers:

Ādi Tāla: 8 beats (Ta Ka Dhi Mi Tha Ka Ta Ta). Beat, little, ring and middle finger; beat, turn; beat, turn.

Rūpaka Tāla: 6 beats (Ta Ka Ta Ka Dhi Mi). Beat, turn; then beat, little, ring and middle finger.

Activities in the Chapter

8.1 Write an auḍava, a ṣhāḍava and an auḍava–ṣhāḍava scale.

8.2–8.3 Identify tabla bols and find the sam while a bandiśh plays.

8.4 Tap along to a song and count its beats.

8.5 Fit lyrics to Teen Tāla (16) and Rūpaka (6), one syllable per beat.

8.6 Set your family-tradition song (Activity 6.7) to a tāla.

Key Terms

Rāga (राग): melodic framework

Tāla (ताल): rhythmic cycle

Svara (स्वर): note

Saptak (सप्तक): octave

Ārohaṇa / Avarohaṇa (आरोह/अवरोह): ascent and descent

Saṁpūrṇa / Ṣhāḍava / Auḍava (संपूर्ण/षाडव/औडव): 7 / 6 / 5 notes

Thāṭ (थाट): parent scale (Hindustani)

Meḻakartā (मेलकर्ता): parent scale (Carnatic)

Vādī / Saṁvādī (वादी/संवादी): most important and second-most important note

Mātrā (मात्रा): beat

Sam (सम): first beat

Khālī (खाली): unstressed beat

Common Mistakes

Treating S and P as having variants. They are achala (fixed).

Counting 7 note positions instead of 12.

Mixing up the systems: meḻakartā (72, Venkatamakhi) is Carnatic, and thāṭ (10, Bhatkhande) is Hindustani.

Confusing Jatisvaram (no lyrics) with Svarajati (with lyrics).

Putting khālī on 13 in Teen Tāla. Khālī is on 9, and 13 is a tālī.

Let's Reflect

If you could name a new rāga, what would you call it, and how should it make a listener feel?

💡 Key Learning Points

✓There are 7 svaras and 12 note positions; S and P are fixed, while R, G, M, D and N each have two variants.
✓Rāgas are classified by number of notes (saṁpūrṇa 7, ṣhāḍava 6, auḍava 5) and by note positions.
✓Carnatic music uses Venkatamakhi's 72 meḻakartā (janaka–janya) system; Hindustani music uses Bhatkhande's 10 thāṭs.
✓Śhaṅkarābharaṇam and Alhaiyā Bilāval are parallel rāgas used for compositions like the Jatisvaram, Svarajati and bandiśh.
✓Tālas like Teen Tāla, Jhaptāla, Ādi and Rūpaka organise beats using mātrā, vibhāg, tālī, khālī and sam.

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Use a harmonium or keyboard app to show the 7 notes, 12 positions and three octaves.
→Have students sing the ārohaṇa and avarohaṇa of Bhūpālī and Haṁsadhvani to feel an auḍava rāga.
→Demonstrate how removing M and D from Śhaṅkarābharaṇam produces Haṁsadhvani.
→Practise counting Teen Tāla and Jhaptāla with claps and waves before playing a tabla ṭhekā.
→Teach finger-counting for Ādi and Rūpaka tālas as a whole-class drill.
→Tell the Tānsen–Rāga Megha story and discuss the power attributed to rāgas.
→Let students fit their own lyrics to Teen Tāla and Rūpaka, one syllable per beat.

📋 Assessment Questions

Can the student explain achala and chala svaras and count the 12 note positions?
Can the student identify a rāga's jāti from its number of notes, with examples?
Can the student compare the meḻakartā and thāṭ systems?
Can the student recite Teen Tāla or Jhaptāla, marking the tālī, khālī and sam?
Can the student tell a Jatisvaram from a Svarajati?

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