Meaning of Pallavi, Anupallavi and Saranam

Pallavi

        Pallavam means budding leaf . At the beginning of the song, considering to be going by a new path, one can see a budding leaf at a far distance

Anupallavi
        Going further by singing the song, one can realise that there are two budding leaves at that place.So one moves further to reach it.

Saranam
         Singing deep in the song one reaches saranam, ie moving closer to it, one realises that it is not the budding leaf but the Lotus feet of the Almighty. Saranam refers to surrendering to His feet.
        
 These features of the song implies that reaching the divine state is the ultimate goal of every song composed in carnatic music.

                               

Elements of carnatic music:

      Carnatic music is one of the two main classification of  Indian classical music, the other being Hindustani music. It emphasises on vocal music. The main elements of carnatic music are

•       Raga(the melody)
•       Swara(the musical sound of note)
•       Sruthi(the musical pitch)
•       Tala(rhythmic beats)

Raga:

     Raga is a melodic mode in carnatic music. It is defined by series of swaras. There are two main classification of ragas as,

1.  Melakartha ragas
2.   Janya ragas

Melakartha ragas contain same swaras in arohanam(upward movement in raga) and avarohanam(downward movement in raga).There are 72 melakartha ragas. Janya ragas are derived from these melakartha ragas.

Swara:

      Seven basic notes or swaras in music are,

1.   Shadja  (Sa)
2.   Rishabh (Ri)
3.   Gandaram (Ga )
4.   Madhyam (Ma)
5.   Pancham (Pa)
6.   Dhaivat (Da)
7.   Nishad(Ni)

With fine variations in these except Sa and Pa, there are twelve notes in carnatic music.

Sruthi:

      Sruthi is the musical pitch and base note on which the entire musical exercise is based. Sruthi may be classified as

1. Sama sruthi
2. Madhyama sruthi

In sama sruthi, songs are sung with Sa and Pa as the base notes. In madhyama sruthi, songs are sung with note Ma as the reference.


Tala:
   Tala is the rhythmic beat with which songs are sung. There are seven talas as

1.    Druva
2.     Matya
3.     Roopaka
4.     Triputa
5.     Jampa
6.     Ada
7.      Eka

Tala include lagu(tapping the palm), anudritham(single beat) and dritham(two beats). In tala, lagu is the only variable segment and with its variation in 5 forms , the total tala can be given as 7*5=35.