The actual state of the raga in Hindustani music through examined data from discographies and written materials from the 1950s till today

15. Classification on Vadi note

All the notes used in a raga are not treated equally, and each note is characterized as follows to form the characteristic melody of the raga.() is another traditional expression of the notes hierarchy.
Vadi…the main note(King)
Samvadi…The sub-main note(Minister)
Anuvadi…Notes removed vadi and samvadi(Servants)
Vivadi…inappropriate notes(Enemy)
 Vadi and Samvadi are the most significant notes of a raga. Deva describes on his An Introduction to Indian Music as follows:
…This is the word designating the note most significant in a raga and which gives it a color of its own. The word means "one that speaks". Being the most important, it is called the "king of raga". The music is so developed that this svara comes out prominent. It can be done by staying on it longer than on other notes, by constant repetition or building up musical idioms which emphasize it…

 Usually Samvadi is taken fourth or fifth note to Vadi. However there are different interpretations of Vadi and Samvadi among performers.
 The reason can be that different ragas depend on the character of each note in spite of the same note row. For example, there are three ragas which are classified as Marva that.
Sa(C) ri(D♭) Ga(E) ma(F#) Dha(A) Ni(B) Sa'(C')…Marva That
 If Vadi and Samvadi are Ga(E) and Ni(B), this scale is called raga Puriya. If ri(D♭) and Dha(A), it is called raga Marva.  And if Dha(A) and Ga(E), it is raga Sohni. That is why a raga can be classified according to what note is vadi.

Table-36 shows the number of ragas having each Vadi note.

Vadi

Sa
(C)

ri
(D♭)

Ri
(D)

ga
(E♭)

Ga
(E)

Ma
(F)

ma
(F#)

Pa
(G)

dha
(A♭)

Dha
(A)

ni
(B♭)

Ni
(B)

Number of rags

82

10

61

6

51

148

0

104

33

20

0

1

Table-36
 The total number of ragas classified on Vadi note is 515. 66 of 581 ragas on Table-7 cannot be identified what note is Vadi. They must be quite rare ragas, having a complicated scale structure; very old ragas which are on only books and which originated from Karnataka music.
 As Table-36 shows, the number of ragas having Sa(Ⅰ), Ma(Ⅳ), Pa(Ⅴ) as Vadi exceed 60% of the whole.
 Sa is to be provided continuously till the end of a performance in any raga expression. Sa is the starting note of all scales. All music mostly starts from Sa and ends at Sa. Usually four strings of tambura, a drone instrument, gives Pa Sa Sa Sa or Ma Sa Sa Sa. Therefore, it can be natural that Vadi is placed on Sa or Ma or Pa as a substitution of Sa.
 The notes used in a raga are on the basis of a natural harmonic overtone. Therefore, if the drone gives Sa and Pa, Ri having a relation of absolute fifth to Pa and Ga of having a relation of absolute third to Sa sounds harmonic. If the drone gives Ma and Sa, Dha having a relation of absolute third to Ma sounds harmonic. Therefore it is natural that Ri, Ga, Dha become Vadi on which musical phrases end or stay longer.
 On the other hand ri, ga, ma, ni, Ni do not sound harmonic. As the position of these notes is closed to the strong overtones and used often as transient notes, these may be hard to be the Vadi. If so, it is interesting that number of ragas which Vadi is dha is more than that of Dha. So as the function of Vadi and Samvadi is to differentiate from ragas having the same scale, we might need to consider this rather than sounding natural.
  Table-37 is the list of ragas according to the Vadi and Samvadi combination. Table-38 lists only the number of ragas.

Vadi-Samvadi

Number of ragas

Vadi-Samvadi

Number of ragas

Vadi-Samvadi

Number of ragas

Vadi-Samvadi

Number of ragas

Sa-Ma

12

ga-dha

1

Ma-Sa

139

dha-ri

7

Sa-ma

2

ga-Dha

2

Ma-Pa

3

dha-ga

21

Sa-Pa

66

ga-ni

4

Ma-ni

5

dha-Ga

4

Sa-Dha

2

Ga-Sa

2

Ma-Ni

1

dha-Pa

1

ri-Pa

7

Ga-dha

1

Pa-Sa

82

Dha-ri

1

ri-dha

1

Ga-Dha

13

Pa-ri

4

Dha-ga

1

ri-Dha

2

Ga-ni

5

Pa-Ri

17

Dha-Ga

16

Ri-Pa

51

Ga-Ni

29

 

 

Ni-Sa

1

Ri-Dha

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table-38

The order with much number of raga by a combination of Vadi and Samvadi is; Ma-Sa(139), Pa-Sa(82), Sa-Pa(66), Ri-Pa(51), Ga-Ni(29), dha-ga(21), Pa-Ri(17), Dha-Ga(16), Ga-Dha(13), Sa-Ma(12), dha-ri(7), Ga-ni(5), Ma-ni(5), ga-ni(4), dha-Ga(4), Ma-Pa(3). The number of raga which Vadi and Samvadi combination are Sa-ma, Sa-Dha, ri-Dha, ga-Dha, Ga-Sa is only two each. Only one each raga have the combination of ri-dha, ga-dha, Ga-dha, Ma-Ni, dha-Pa, Dha-ri, Dha-Ga. The number of raga which Samvadi is fourth or fifth to Vadi as Ma-Sa, Pa-Sa, Sa-Pa, Ri-Pa, Ga-Ni, dha-ga is 367. Its rate is higher than 70% of the whole.