How to Read Swaralipi — Indian Music Notation Guide

What is Swaralipi?

Swaralipi (literally “note-writing”) is the notation system used to write Indian classical and devotional music. While Western music uses the staff notation system with five lines, Indian music uses an alphabetic system based on the seven sargam notes: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni.

Swaralipi is used in books, teaching materials, and online lessons. Reading it helps you interpret written exercises, but notation alone does not capture intonation, ornamentation, phrasing, or a teacher’s musical guidance.

English transliterations vary, so you may also see “swar lipi” or “swarlipi.” This site uses “swaralipi.” Start with the sargam letters, then add octave marks, rhythm, and ornaments after the note names are familiar.

The Seven Notes (Saptaswar)

The foundation of swaralipi is the seven-note scale:

Shuddh (Natural) and Vikrit (Altered) Notes

Five of the seven notes have altered forms:

Sa and Pa never change; they are the fixed pillars of every raga.

The convention varies by tradition:

• Bhatkhande notation: Uses underlines for komal notes and a vertical line above Ma for tivra
• This site’s shorthand: Uses uppercase for shuddh, lowercase for komal, Ṁ for tivra Ma, and an apostrophe for the upper octave

Octave Markers

Swaralipi uses dots to indicate which octave a note belongs to:

When you see S R G M P D N S', the final S' (with apostrophe or upper dot) means upper-octave Sa, one octave above where you started.

Timing and Rhythm

Basic Beat Division

Notation conventions vary between teachers and publications. In this site’s interactive song player, spaces separate note events. A hyphen repeats the duration only when every part is the same note; different notes joined by hyphens are played consecutively:

• S R G M: four notes, one beat each
• S-S R G: Sa held for two beats, followed by Re and Ga
• S-S-S-S: Sa held for four beats
• N-S: Ni followed by Sa, one beat each

Do not assume that another book or teacher uses hyphens in the same way; check its notation key first.

Taal Markers

Taal (rhythm cycle) markers appear above or beside notation:

• X = sam (first beat, emphasis)
• 0 = khali (empty beat, no emphasis)
• 2, 3 = tali (clap markers)

For harmonium practice, you primarily need to know the total beats in the cycle:

• Kaharwa: 8 beats (most common for bhajan)
• Dadra: 6 beats
• Teentaal: 16 beats (classical)
• Rupak: 7 beats

Reading a Note-and-Syllable Example

Here is a neutral practice phrase with one spoken syllable per note:

S  R  G  M  G  R
aa re ga ma ga re

Reading left to right:

1. Play Sa (C) on “aa”
2. Move to Re (D)
3. Move to Ga (E)
4. Reach Ma (F)
5. Return to Ga (E)
6. Return to Re (D)

Ornament Marks

Printed swaralipi often marks ornaments such as meend (a slide between notes), kan (a quick grace-note touch), murki (a fast turn around a note), and gamak (a heavy oscillation on a note). There is no single symbol convention for these marks. Bhatkhande-style books, teaching lineages, and modern songbooks each notate them differently, so learn the markings from the specific book or teacher you follow.

The notation on this site does not use ornament symbols at all. Song and raga pages record plain pitch events, and the player ignores anything that is not a sargam token, an octave mark, or a hyphen. For beginners this is a sensible order anyway: play the notes cleanly first, then add ornaments by ear from a teacher or a recording.

Practice Reading

Try reading this simple pattern and playing it on the harmonium:

S R G M P D N S'
S' N D P M G R S

This ascending and descending scale is the most fundamental swaralipi exercise. Practice reading and playing simultaneously on the web harmonium until you can sight-read without hesitation.

Reading Swaralipi for Harmonium Songs

Once you are comfortable with the basic notation system, you can start following the harmonium songs on this site. Each song page provides a short sargam practice transcription. Here is how to approach a new melody:

1. Read through the entire notation without playing. Identify the range (lowest and highest notes) and any vikrit notes used.
2. Identify the note set. Check which shuddh, komal, or tivra notes appear. The raga guides provide separate scale-orientation exercises, but a note set alone does not establish a song’s raga.
3. Play the note set slowly on the online harmonium before attempting the melody.
4. Play one line at a time. Follow the sargam notation slowly and listen for each pitch change.
5. Connect the lines. Once each line is comfortable, play through the excerpt without stopping.
6. Check your phrasing. Repeat the excerpt at full tempo without losing the beat.

With practice, you will be able to sight-read new harmonium notation fluently. The more songs you learn, the faster your reading becomes, until common sargam patterns (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa ascending runs, Pa Ma Ga Re Sa descending phrases) register automatically.

Reference

The underline-and-dot printed conventions summarized above come from V. N. Bhatkhande’s swaralipi system, published in his Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati: Kramik Pustak Malika, which remains the most widely used notation standard in North Indian music education. This site’s ASCII shorthand (lowercase komal, Ṁ, apostrophe octaves) is a keyboard-friendly adaptation, not a replacement for that standard.

Next Steps

• Harmonium Keyboard Layout to see which keys play which sargam notes
• Harmonium Finger Placement for playing technique
• Harmonium Songs to practice reading notation with real compositions
• Tum Hi Ho, an accessible modern song to start reading with
• Play Harmonium Online to practice alongside this lesson