Importance Of Vadi Swar

According to traditional books of Indian Classical Music designation of vadi swar in a raag is like a king in a kingdom. Usage of vadi swar is more then any other swar in a raag. Speciality of any raag is depend on vadi swar because of this vadi swar is also called as ‘Jeev swar ‘or ‘ansh swar’. A good artist uses vadi swar in different ways like singing vadi swar again and again, sarting a raag with vadi swar, to end a raag with vadi swar, singing vadi swar many times in important places with different-different swaras or sometime singing vadi swar for longer time in one breath.

Vaid swar is also helpful to identify the time of singing or playing a raag. If vadi swar of a raag is from purvang part of saptak i.e. “Sa Re Ga Ma”, then it is called as purvang vadi raag and usually time for singing or playing purvang vadi raagas are from 12 pm to 12 am for example raagas like Bhimpalasi, Pilu, Purvi, Marwa, Yaman, Bhoopal, and Bageshree etc. have purvang vadi swar and so the time for singing and playing these raagas is between 12 pm to 12 am.

In the same way if vadi swar of a raag is from utrang part of spatak i.e. “Pa Dha Ni” then it is called as utrang vadi raag and time for singing or playing utrang vadi raagas is from 12 am to 12 pm. For example raagas like Bhairav, Bhairavi, Bilawal, Kalingada, Sohini, and Asavari etc. have utrang vadi swar and so the time for singing or playing these raagas is between 12 am to 12 pm.

Vadi swar has one more significance that if only vadi swar is changed in a raag then it also changes a raag weather the swaras of raagas are almost same. For example raag Bhimpalasi, and raag Dhanashree, these two raagas come from the same thaat i.e. thaat kafi, and in both the raagas komal “Ga-Ni” are used but when raag bhimpalasi is sung or played then swar Ma is shown many times because it is a vadi swar of raag Bhimpalasi and when raag Dhanashree is sung or played swar Pa is seen more because swar Pa is vadi swar of raag Dhanashree. Thus it is concluded that if only vadi swar is changed in a raag then raag is also changed.

Anuvadi swar

In Hindustani classical music, the notes in a Raga which are neither Vadi and Samvadi are called its Anuvadi notes. They are often treated as companion or attendant to the notes.

Swara

Swaras (Notes): Swaras (notes) are produced by Shrutis with big intervals or Gaps. They can be distinguished by the ears of listeners. The difference between `Swaras' and `Shrutis' is that the `Swaras' are measured by Shrutis depending on the intervals or number of Shrutis.

Swaras are of two types, Vikrits Swara (Distorted note) and Shuddha Swara (Full Tone note)

Shuddha Swaras (Full Tone Notes). These are natural notes which are found in the Shrutis. To recognize the flout' gap of Shrutis easily.

Shudha Swaras or Full Tone Notes were identified and called Natural notes and they are 7 of them.

Vedic names along with the popular short names of these 7 notes are given below. The complete music theory is based on these 7 notes and their combinations.

S.	Name of	Shuddha	Western	Shruti
No.	Swaras	Swaras	Notes
1.	Shadaj	Sa	C	4 Tiura, Kumudwati, Manda
				Chhandouati.
2.	Rishabh	Re	D	3 Dayawati, Ranjani, Raktika
3.	Gandhar	Ga	E	2 Raudri &
				Krodhi
4.	Madhyam	Ma	F	4 Vajrika, Prasarin i, Priti, Manjari
5.	Pancham	Pa	G	4 Kshiti, Rakta, Sandipini
				Alapini
6.	Dhaiwat	Dha	A	3 Madanti, Rohini, Romya
7.	Nishad	Ni	B	2 Ugra
				Kshobhini

With the identification of these full tone notes the gap between the notes becomes wider. The wider the gap the greater the obstruction to the sweetness of sound. Musicians then introduced Half Tone Notes or Flat Notes (Komal Swaras) between two Full Tone Notes (Shuddha Swaras), and thus Distorted notes (Vikrit Swaras) came into existance.

Vikrut Swaras :(Distorted Notes) : Vikrit Swaras are 
two types, they are Komal Swaras (Flat Notes or Half toe notes) and Tivra Swara (Sharp note). With the introduction (if the distorted notes, Sa and Pa though remained unchanged,

Komal Swaras (Flat notes or Half Tone Notes) are found between two shudha swaras (Full Tone notes). Swaras are a bit lower in pitch from the Shuddha Swards. They are symbolized in notation by a Dash ( _) below the note

such as Re. A half step lower.

There are four Komal Swaras (flat notes). These are: Re, Ga, Dha, & Ni.

Tivra Swar is the note which appears a half step above the full note and is called a sharp note (Tivra Swar). This Swar (note) is higher in pitch from the Shuddha Swura. It is symbolized in notation by a small vertical line ( |) over the note.

There is only one Tivra Swar, which is Ma.

According to two different notation systems, it is important to understand the difference between the two. There are two fixed notes in Indian system. These are Sa & Pa. The remaining five notes have two different types as semitone or distorted forms. On the other hand there are two types for all the seven notes in the western system. There is a distortion of each note and all the notes can be either flat or sharp. The closest related western note to the Indian distorted notes are as follows -

2.      There are two fixed notes in the Indian system. These are Sa & Pa, which cannot be changed to flats or sharp.

3.      Western music does not have sharp for note E & B. Instead, F stands for E#. and C stands for B#.

This is how the Twelve notes come to exist. They are as follows.

 Swaras  Description             Western Name

1.	Sa	Shudha (Fixed)	C Fixed
2.	Re	Komal	D Half Tone note
3.	Re	Shuddha	D Full tone note
4.	Ga	Komal	E Half tone note
5.	Ga	Shuddha	E Full tone note
6.	Ma	Shudha	F Full tone note
7.	Ma	Tiura	F Sharp note
8.	Pa	Shuddha (Fixed)	G Fixed
9.	Dha	Komal	A Half tone note
10.	Dha	Shuddha	A Full note
11.	Ni	Komal	B Half Tone note
12.	Ni	Shuddha	B Full Note

A group of these 7 Natural Notes (Shuddha Swaras) make a Saptak (Octave). The Saptak also includes 4 Komal and one Tiura Swar. In all there are 12 Notes to make a complete Saptak (Octave). A Saptak (Octave) includes the guru notes of Indian Music which are Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni. A specific combination of these Swaras (Notes) from the Saptak forms a Thaat (scale), which is the basis of the Ragas.

Ragas (Melodies) are a particular combination of thesenotes or group of notes, which are produced from Thaats (scales).

In a nutshell, we can understand the journey of swaras fro_m its origin to Nada by this evolution chart.