SSC
How many notes are there in the scale of a 'Shadava' raga?
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Answer: Option D — Six
Detailed Solution
In Indian classical music, ragas are classified by how many notes (swaras) they use in their ascending (aroha) and descending (avaroha) scales. This classification is called the "jaati" of a raga. The word "shadava" comes from "shat" or "shad", meaning six, so a shadava raga uses six notes.
The three main jaatis are:
Audava (Odava): five notes (pentatonic). Example: Raga Bhupali (Sa Re Ga Pa Dha), Raga Malkauns and Raga Durga.
Shadava: six notes (hexatonic). Example: Raga Marwa and Raga Puriya, which omit Pa.
Sampurna: all seven notes (heptatonic). Example: Raga Yaman, Raga Bilawal and Raga Bhairav.
A raga can use different numbers of notes in its ascent and descent. This gives combined categories such as:
Audava-Shadava: five notes in ascent and six in descent.
Shadava-Sampurna: six in ascent and seven in descent.
Audava-Sampurna, and so on.
There are nine such combinations in all. A raga must normally have at least five notes, so there are no four-note ragas in the classical system.
The seven basic notes of Indian music are Shadja (Sa), Rishabh (Re), Gandhar (Ga), Madhyam (Ma), Pancham (Pa), Dhaivat (Dha) and Nishad (Ni). Of these, Sa and Pa are fixed (achal) notes; the others can be komal (flat) or tivra (sharp, only Ma).
Why not the other options?
- ✗Five notes make an audava raga.
- ✗Seven notes make a sampurna raga.
- ✗Four notes are not enough for a raga in the classical system, which requires at least five.
Quick tip
Remember: Audava = 5 notes, Shadava = 6 notes, Sampurna = 7 notes; Bhupali = audava, Marwa = shadava, Yaman = sampurna.
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Music & Musical Instruments — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Music & Musical Instruments, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers Indian classical music, its two main traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic), gharanas, ragas and talas, folk music styles, and the musical instruments of India along with the artists who are famous for playing them. It also includes the four classes of instruments: string (tata), wind (sushira), percussion (avanaddha) and solid (ghana). Exam questions usually pair an instrument with its maestro, such as the sitar with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the shehnai with Ustad Bismillah Khan or the santoor with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Other common questions ask about the origin of a gharana, the instrument a folk style uses, or the class an instrument belongs to. Making a two-column list of instruments and artists is the quickest way to revise. Practise the music and musical instruments questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.