In Rāga Vivodha, Pt. Somnath defined a rāga through Devamāyā svarūpa (ethos). Which of the following, denoting its tonal structure?

Correct — C. The question wants the term for a rāga's tonal structure, meaning its notes.

Svara means a musical note and lakṣaṇa a defining feature, so Swarlakshana is literally 'the features of the notes': which svaras a rāga uses and how they behave.

Somanatha's Rāga Vibodha describes rāgas in these note terms, through graha, aṁśa and nyāsa: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Tālanga — Tālanga belongs to tāla, the rhythmic cycle: the aṅgas are the parts a tāla is built from. It measures time, not the notes of a rāga.
• (b)
  Rūpa — Rūpa means form, close to the svarūpa the stem already names as the rāga's ethos. The tonal structure is the svara detail, which is Swarlakshana.
• (d)
  Jāti — Jāti classifies rather than describes: in rāga theory it counts the notes used, five, six or seven (auḍava, ṣāḍava, sampūrṇa), and in older texts it names ancient melodic types.

Rāga Vibodha is an early-17th-century Sanskrit treatise on music by Somanatha, a scholar from the Andhra region. It groups rāgas under parent scales called melas and then sets out each rāga's lakṣaṇa.

In this tradition a rāga is identified by its notes: the graha (starting note), the aṁśa (predominant note) and the nyāsa (closing note).

Key facts

• Rāga Vibodha is an early-17th-century Sanskrit music treatise by Somanatha.
• Svara means a note and lakṣaṇa a defining feature, so svara-lakṣaṇa describes a rāga's notes.
• Graha, aṁśa and nyāsa are the starting, predominant and closing notes of a rāga.
• By jāti, a rāga is auḍava (5 notes), ṣāḍava (6 notes) or sampūrṇa (7 notes).

Common traps

• Picking Jāti because it sounds technical: it counts a rāga's notes, it does not describe them.
• Reading Tālanga as a melodic term: tāla is rhythm.

No directly related past PYQ was found.