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(d) The development of the Hindustani general scale.
A different approach to reconciling the 22 śruti with the semitonal scale of the stick zither vīnā is followed in another group of treatises, of which the Sangīta-pārijāta by Ahobala-pandịta is the most extensive, and probably the oldest. Like the Svaramelakalānidhi, it retains the traditional positions of the seven primary (śuddha) svara on the 22-śruti scale, at śruti nos.4, 7, 9, 13, 17, 20 and 22 (Table 5a). Thereafter it differs, first in that downward as well as upward alterations are proposed, second in that the designations for all the ‘modified’ (vikrta) svara are new.
Sa and pa are unalterable, as in Rāmāmātya's system. Every other svara may be raised from its primary position to one or two higher positions on the śruti scale, up to and including the śruti where it becomes equivalent to the next higher primary svara, except that sa and pa have no equivalents. Every variable svara except ma may also be altered downwards along the śruti scale in the same way, and with the same avoidance of sa and pa. The terminology for higher and lower modified positions is the same for every svara: two śrutis lower is pūrva (first); one lower is komala (soft); the primary position is śuddha (pure); one śruti higher is tīvra (sharp); two higher is tīvratara (sharper); three higher is tīvratama (very sharp); four higher is ati-tīvratama (extremely sharp).
No single svara uses all these terms, but every term is used somewhere, as seen in Table 5a. Except for ati-tīvratama ga, the pattern is the same as in Table 3b and c. There is a general scale of 12 pitch positions, with an unalterable sa and pa and a natural and a raised ma. The svara pairs ri –dha and ga –ni have three varieties for each svara, in overlapping sets such that only the lowest ri and dha and the highest ga and ni do not have equivalents.
The Sangīta-pārijāta’s equation of ati-tīvratama ga with śuddha ma plays no role in either modern Indian tonal system. It was not merely a theoretical construction, however, but rather accounted for a still important feature of rāgas of the Sārang type. (What is now described as śuddha ma in both Hindustani and Karnatak Sārang rāgas was then called ati-tīvratama ga. )
The pitch positions in the Sangīta-pārijāta (like those in the Svaramelakalānidhi) are demonstrated instrumentally. Rather than by consonant cross-fretting, however, a monochord-like method is used, based on divisions of a single string of the vīnā. The procedure is shown in Table 6. The basic principle is extremely simple. Every division must be made either in halves or in thirds, and of course the length to be divided must already be established. Dividing the whole string from bridge to mid-point establishes the system tonic (sa) and its upper octave. Half of that (a quarter of the whole) produces śuddha ma (f), and a third of the whole gives the immovable pa (g). The remaining intervals are determined by successively subdividing intervals already established (see Table 6). The śuddha dha (a) seems improbable (it is a quarter-tone higher than the harmonic major 6th, 5/3, and an eighth-tone higher even than the Pythagorean major 6th). The komala dha also appears roughly a quarter-tone too high. But the approximation to natural intervals produced by this method is good in the lower half of the octave. Ahobala-pandịta adds that even if the division method were used at first, the resulting positions should then be adjusted by ear.
Here, as in the Svaramelakalānidhi, it is clear that a general scale of 12 semitones has been adopted and that its connection with the 22-śruti scale is tenuous. The Sangīta-pārijāta's reconciliation works better on the whole. Even so, both diatonic semitones and diatonic tones can be reckoned as three-śruti intervals (see Table 5a), and there are other anomalies.
The transition from the tonal system of the Sangīta-pārijāta to the modern Hindustani terminology was a little more complex than the corresponding transition in south India, since further changes took place. Firstly, the alternative names for equivalent pitches disappeared altogether; secondly, there were shifts of usage in the designation of the five variable svara, particularly in the use of the term śuddha (see Table 5b).
In the treatise Naghmāt-i āsafi, whose author, Muhammad Reza, claimed he was associated with Lucknow musicians at the court of Nawab Āsaf-ud-daula (reigned 1775–97), only sa, pa and ma are regularly referred to as śuddha (Table 5b). The higher variety of ga is twice referred to in passing as śuddha, but normally the higher ga is called tīvra, and the lower variety komal. The svara ri, dha and ni are always called either tīvra or komal (ri is once called ati-komal), never śuddha. The higher ma is usually called tīvratama, as in the Sangīta-pārijāta. It is also included in lists of tīvra svara, and is once or twice called tīvratara. It is clear from the frequent use of the expression ‘both ma ’ for rāgas such as Lalit, however, that the author was thinking in terms of only two pitch positions for ma. The lower ma is usually called śuddha, but it is also included in lists of komal svara. Only one of the Sangīta-pārijāta's alternative names for equivalent pitches survives: [ati ]-tīvratama ga is equated with komal ma in the description of the rāga Sārang.
The traditional distinction between a set of seven ‘pure’ (śuddha) svara and some number of ‘modified’ (vikrta) svara has effectively disappeared in the Nāghmāt-i āsafi. The word śuddha is used mainly to designate the invariant system tonic sa and its unalterable 5th pa. Each of the remaining scale degrees has two equally valid pitch positions. This is more clearly shown in the terminology used for the music examples in the chapter on rāga of the Rajasthani treatise Sangīt-sār, compiled by Pratāp Singh in about 1800. The fixed sa and pa are aslī (a colloquial Perso-Arabic synonym for śuddha). Each of the five variable svara must be either utarī (‘lowered’) or carhī (‘raised’), a notion quite different from that of ‘pure’ as opposed to ‘modified’ (see ex.5b). There is no basic scale of seven from which others deviate; rather, there is a general scale of 12, from which seven are chosen with certain restrictions.
In modern times the notion of seven śuddha svara has been revived. However, the śuddha svara are now the degrees of the major scale; vikrta svara are komal re, ga, dha and ni, and tīvra ma (Table 5b). The pre-modern opposition of komal and tīvra is still in occasional use, however, and there is no reason either in theory or in practice for the major scale to be considered more ‘pure’ (śuddha) than any other.
India, Subcontinent of, §III, 1: Theory and practice of classical music., Tonal systems.
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