Melakartha Chart

Formulated in the 17th century by the great musicologist Venkatamakhin in his treatise Chaturdandi Prakasika, the 72 Melakartha scheme is one of the world's most elegant mathematical models for classifying musical scales.

A Melakartha (Janaka) Raga must satisfy four strict rules:

• It must be Sampurna (contain all seven swaras: S R G M P D N) in both ascending and descending order.
• It must be Krama (the swaras must appear in strict sequential order without zig-zags).
• It must possess the identical swara sthanas in both Arohanam and Avarohanam.
• The fundamental Shadjam (S) and Panchamam (P) are invariant (Achala).

The 12 Chakras: The 72 ragas are organized into 12 Chakras of 6 ragas each:

• Shuddha Madhyama (M1) - Purvanga (1 to 36): 1. Indu (1–6), 2. Netra (7–12), 3. Agni (13–18), 4. Veda (19–24), 5. Bana (25–30), 6. Ritu (31–36).
• Prati Madhyama (M2) - Uttaranga (37 to 72): 7. Rishi (37–42), 8. Vasu (43–48), 9. Brahma (49–54), 10. Disi (55–60), 11. Rudra (61–66), 12. Aditya (67–72).

The Katapayadi Sankhya Rule: The first two syllables of the raga name, decoded through the ancient Indian Katapayadi cipher (Ka-Ta-Pa-Ya), yield the exact Melakartha index number (e.g., KA-NA in Kanakangi = 1, MA-YA in Mayamalavagowla = 5, 1 = 15).