What is Swaram?
Swaram or Swara in Carnatic music refers to a note. There are 7 basic swarams or notes called the Saptha-Swarams which are S, R, G, M, P, D, N. To visualize what they mean, think of keys in a piano. The sound made by each key forms a note.
The table below explains each swaram in detail.
Note that the swarams are not absolute but are based on relative jumps from previous notes. The base is decided by where the S is placed. The relative jumps for each swaram can vary and each swaram is categorized based on the amount of jump, eg. R1, R2 and R3 in the table below. An octave is defined as the sapatha swarams which ends with an upper Shadjamam ie. S R G M P D N S. This S in the 8th positions is known as the upper Shadjamam and that provides the means to jump to the next octave comprising again on S R G M P D N S but the with the upper Shadjamam as the base Shadjamam.
