Understanding Moorchana

The concepts of Graam and Moorchana are explained in ancient texts. In those days there were three graams - Shadja Graam, Mandhyam Graam, and Gaandhaar Graam. Each graam contained seven swars(notes). The swars were derived from the shruti's. The rule of thumb was that any sequence of seven swars is moorchana. If Sa(Shadja) is considered to be the first swar in Shadja graam, then Sa - Re - Ga - Ma - Pa - Dha - Ni, is the moorchana of the swar Sa. Now if instead of Sa, the first swar is Ni; then Ni - Sa - Re - Ga - Ma - Pa - Dha, is the moorchana of Ni in Shadja graam. In the same way, if each of the other swars are considered the starting point of a graam, then there can be seven moorchana's of the seven shuddha(sharp) swars. Similarly there were seven moorchana's in the Madhyam graam.

During the time of Bharata, in addition to the shuddha swars there were two vikrut(deviant) swars: Antar-Gandhaar, Kaakali-Nishaad. Including these two swars in each of the graams gives us fourteen moorchana's per graam.

Table 1.1 Moorchana's of the Graam's

This was the methods of creating Raag's. In those days, describing a Raag did not involve enumerating the shuddha, komal(flat) swars in it. Rather a Raag was described as "This Raag contains... this moorchana". 

The Gaandhaar graam was lost to the tides of time, and there is very little information available about it. And so is the concept of graam to the modern times. Nowadays a Raag is described by it's constituent shuddha, komal and teevra swars. But it is still fascinating to note that our ancestors had a deep knowledge of moorchana.

A general definition of moorchana can be: To derive a group of swars from within a selection by considering any swar as the Shadja (Sa).

Let us take an example. Raag Bhoop consists of five swars: Sa, Re, Ga, Pa, Dha. Now if we consider each of the fours swars(Re, Ga, Pa, Dha) as Sa - some interesting things happen.The new swar group derived from changing Sa, resembles the swars in some other Raag. But it will be inappropriate to term that new swar group as a new Raag. The reason is that every Raag follows some very strict guidelines eg. aaroha-avroha (ascent-descent), chalan (Raag signature), vaadi-samvaadi (two main swars of the Raag), etc. The video below explains this concept in detail.

Another thing to keep in mind is that moorchana of a swar will not always provide a swar group resembling some other existing Raag. By applying concept of moorchana to exploring -  new Raag's can be created.

Another example similar to the above, is of Raag Hindol. It comprises of the swars Sa,Ga,MA(Teevra Madhyam), Dha, Ni. By moving the Sa around, swar groups resembling Raag Shobhavari, Raag Shivaranjani, Raag Bairagi can be derived.

Table 1.2 Moorchana of Raag Hindol

To reinforce the the above point, lets us take an example. The audio clip below is of a old popular Marathi song "Radha Krishnavari Bhalalee" - and the use of moorchana in it.

Audio 1: Narration and Additional Vocals: Pt. Vijay Bakshi, Vocals: Shruti Vaze

If Sa is shifted to the last syllable of the the word "Bhalalee", it produces the effect similar to Raag Hindol. Again, if Sa is shifted to the second syllable of "Radha" - an effect similar to Raag Shivaranjani is produced. Both are demonstrated in the above audio clip.