The 72 melakarta ragas of Carnatic music
Every raga has an address.
Twelve chakras, two halves, and names that secretly encode their own numbers. This is the melakarta chart the way the tradition arranges it — except here you can press the center and hear it hum. Tap any segment to meet a raga.
Hover, tap, or arrow through the wheel
R₁G₁ lacR₁G₂ kumkumR₁G₃ turmericR₂G₂ leafR₂G₃ peacockR₃G₃ indigohue = R·G family (shared by madhyama partners) · lightness = D·N step, dark → light
The name is the number
Kha·raharapriyakha=2 · ra=2mela 22
Every melakarta name decodes itself through the ancient katapayadi cipher — the reason Sankarabharanam formally answers to Dheerasankarabharanam.
Learn the cipher →Start with the ones you’ve heard
- SankarabharanamThe reference 'major' — where beginners' geetams and countless krithis live
- KalyaniSankarabharanam's radiant madhyama partner — one note apart, a world away
- KharaharapriyaThe karuna-laden parent of Abheri, Sri, and half the songbook
- TodiTodi — oceanic, oscillating, a lifetime's study in one scale
- MayamalavagowlaMayamalavagowla — the first scale every student sings
- HarikambhojiHarikambhoji — sunny parent of Mohanam, Kambhoji, and Khamas