Nāda

Saint Tyagaraja defines Nāda in his Chittaranjani composition as

Nādatanumanisham shankaram namami me manasa shirasa

The body of Lord Shankara is Nāda, the embodiment of Pranava or Omkara.

He further elaborates :

Modakara nigamottamasamaveda saram varam varam

Sadyojātādipanchavaktraja saragamapadani

Vara saptaswara

Here he mentions that Lord Shiva is the quintessence of Samaveda and from his
five faces ( Sadyojātam, vāmadevam , Agoram, Tatpurusham and Eshānam) the
five swaras rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, daivatha and nishāda have emanated.

Nāda is a musical sound. A musical sound is produced by a regular and periodic

vibrations of some sounding body. If the vibrations are non periodic and irregular
it result in noise. Thus, Nada, which produces a pleasing sensation, is the very
essence of music.

Our ancient writers have given a divine stature to nāda and quote that even by
upāsana of this musical sound one can get the blessings of the Trimurti – Brahma,
Vishnu and Maheshwara. This concept reflects in the Sangeetha Ratnakara of
Sarangadeva mentioned below:
According to Matanga,

ननादेनविनागीतंननादेनविनास्वर I

ननादेनाविनानृत्तंतस्मन्नादत्मकं जगत II

There is no music without Nāda, no Swara without nāda and no nritta without
nāda.

In order to understand the scientific angle of nāda, it is important to define the

concept of sound. Sound is the effect on the ear of a wavelike motion of an elastic
medium caused by vibrations. The vibrations impinge on the ear drum of a human
being or animal and set up a nervous disturbance which we call sound. In order to
hear a sound, we need a vibrating object; for transmitting sound waves - a medium
and a receiver; the ear for absorbing the energy passed through the transmitting
medium.
Sound can be classified as

1. Non Musical
2. Musical

Non-Musical sounds: These are complex mix of different (and changing)

frequencies. The human ear is able to follow these frequencies, but there is no
strong regularity from which one can pick up a musical tone.

Musical sound: Musical sounds are vibrations which are strongly regular. When
one hears a regular vibration, the ear detects the frequency and is able to perceive
this as the pitch of a musical sound. Musical sounds can be thought of as having
three defining characteristics viz. pitch, loudness and timbre.

Pitch or frequency

The pitch of a sound is determined by the frequency of the vibrations of the

original sound-producing body. In other words the sensation produced by a note is
known as pitch. It is the sensation conveyed to the brain by the sound waves falling
on the ears. This sensation depends directly on the fundamental frequencies of
incident sound waves. Greater the frequency of the musical notes, higher the pitch.
Slowly succeeding vibrations produce low sounds and rapidly succeeding ones
cause high sounds.

The frequency of a note is a physical quantity and can be measured accurately.

Although the pitch is directly related to the frequency they are different. The
frequency of a note is a physical quantity and can be measured accurately. On the
other hand, pitch of a note is merely the sensation experienced by the listener. Thus
frequency is a physical quantity whereas pitch is a psychological quantity.
The human ear is sensitive to pitch ranging from approximately 20 to 16000 cycles
per second (c.p.s). In simple words quality of musical sound which distinguishes
the sound of one instrument from another instrument and one voice from another
voice is called Timber.

Absolute pitch and relative pitch

When pitch is expressed in terms of number of vibration per second or through

number of cents or through fractional relationship with Shadja, it is known as
absolute pitch. For example, Sadharana gandhara has 288 vibrations per second or
365 cyclic cents or 6/5 in relation to the Madhya Sthayi Shadja.

Intensity and loudness

Intensity, which depends on the extent of the vibrations, regulates the loudness or
softness of a sound. Extensive vibrations of the sound producing agent generate
intensive sound whereas subdued sound is obtained when the vibrations of that
same note are small. It may be noted that the frequency of vibration determines
pitch, while the amplitude of frequency is the governing factor which determines
intensity.

Pitch can be controlled only by altering the condition of the sounding agent.
However by changing the force of breath or bow, the intensity can be controlled.

Quality or Timbre

Sound ‘quality’ or ‘timbre’ or ‘color’ describes those characteristics of sound

which allow the ear to distinguish sounds which have the same pitch and loudness.
The timber is a unique property that depends on the form of the vibrations. It is
determined by the number of harmonics present, their order and relative
intensities.
Node

A node is a point along a standing wave where the wave has minimum amplitude.
For instance, in a vibrating guitar string, the ends of the string are nodes.

node

antinode

By changing the position of the end node through frets, the guitarist changes
effective length of the vibrating string and thereby the note played. The opposite of
a node is an antinode, a point where the amplitude of the standing wave is
maximum. These occur mid-way between the nodes. In Physics a harmonic is a
wave which is added to the basic fundamental wave. In other words, the nodes of
vibrating string are harmonics.
In music, harmonics are used on string instruments and wind instruments. In order
to understand this concept clearly, let us consider production of sound in the string
of a musical instrument.

A string in motion produces from its whole length vibrations, a sound which we
call the fundamental note of the string. At the same time from the other portion of
the screen considerable number of higher sounds are produced. It is the presence or
absence of particular individual notes amongst these higher sounds that determines
the quality or timbre of the sound.
When a violinist plays a note on a violin string, the string starts to vibrate very fast.
If the note were absolutely pure, the string would move in a perfect sinusoidal
shape & produce only one frequency, but instead there are multiple frequencies
being produced at the same time along with the main one. Hence, there is a basic
note (the fundamental) to which are added a lot of other little notes that add up to
produce a sound which tells us that the instrument played is a violin and not a
saxophone or the flute or the human voice.

In simple words, the quality of musical sound, which distinguishes the sound of
one instrument from another and one voice from another, is called timbre.

Coming back to the classic concept of nāda, according to our ancient philosophers,
the entire universe is supposed to be pervaded by nāda. In fact as per the latest
findings of the NASA, the sound emanating from the sun when compressed into
the audible range of frequency sounds like the chant of the Omkara.

Emanation of Nada
According to the treatise on music, the word nāda can be split into na + da. ‘Na’
denotes the vital air or prāna and ‘da’ denotes fire of agni or anala. The unison of
prāna and agni gives rise to nada.

The process of manifestation of sound in the human body is explained in the

Sangeetha Ratnakara of Sarangadeva:

Desirous of speech the being impels the mind, and the mind activates the fire in the
body which in turn stimulates the vital force. The vital force stationed around the
root of the navel, rising upwards gradually manifests nāda in the navel, the heart,
the throat, the cerebrum and the cavity of the mouth as it passes through them.

This mechanism of production of nada has been explained at length even in the
grantha Raga Vibodha of Somanatha.

The above passage can be translated as ‘the soul aspiring to express itself initiates
the mind and the mind so excited strikes the vital heat of the body; and the heat
sets the air in motion, stays in the brahmaganthi, rises up and passes through the
navel, chest, the throat, the head and the mouth. Thus sound is produced.’

It is interesting to note that the great saint Thyagaraja has brought about the same
concept of nāda in few of his lofty compositions viz.

‘Nāda tanumanisham shankaram namami me manasa shirasa’

To Lord Shankara, the embodiment of nada, I bow my head with all my heart

In the kriti ‘Mokshamugalada’ in the raga Saramati, Saint Thyagaraja quotes

‘prānanala samyogamu valla pranava nadamu sapta swaramulai baraga’

The vital force prāna and (anala) fire combine to generate pranava, the omkara.

In the kriti ‘ShobhilluSaptaswara’ saint Thyagaraja quotes ‘nābhihrutkanta rasana

nāsādulayandu’

Emanation of nada from the nabhi-navel, hrut-chest, kanta-throat, rasana-tongue,

nāsa-nose which is the scientific explanation for sound production in the human
body has been beautifully interwoven it the sāhitya of the composition.

In the actual singing process, only threefold Nāda called Mandra, Madhya and
Tara come into play. This can be seen in Sarangadeva’s Sangita Ratnakara :

He quotes that in actual practice the threefold classification of Nāda in into

‘mandra’ meaning low, ‘madhya’ meaning medium and ‘tāra’ meaning high. Nāda
when produced from the heart is called mandra, when produced through the throat
is called Madhya and when produced from the head is known as tāra.

Classification of Nāda: Ahata Anāhata

1. Ahata nāda is the nāda produced by the conscious effort of man, Ahata
literally means struck.
2. Anahata nāda is the nāda that is heard without the conscious effort of man.
Anāhata literally means unstruck. This is known to be the music of the
spheres. The nāda emanating from the muladhara chakra is audible only to
the great Yogis. In the ancient treatise Sangeetha Makaranda, Narada defines
anāhata as the sound that emanates from the sky( without the effort of man).
It includes the nada originating from the muladhara part of the human
chakra. This is audible only to Yogis. Saint Thyagaraja has established this
fact in his composition ‘Swararāga sudharasayuta bhakti’ in
Shankarabharana as follows:

Muladharaja nāda merugute

Mudamaku mokshamura

The nāda that originates from the muladhara part of the human body leads to
salvation.

The āhata nāda admits of the following three divisions viz. Gita, Vadya &
Nritya as quoted in SangeetaRatnakara, first chapter , 21st stanza.

गीतंवध्यंतथानृत्यंत्रयंसंगीतमुच्यते

The āhata nāda can be classified based on several other parameters:

1. Strength of production of sound in human body
a. Atisukshma – very subtle, originates from the navel
b. Sukshma – subtle, originates from the chest
c. Pushta- nourished or developed, arises in the throat
d. Apushta- under-developed, rises in the head
e. Kritrima – artificial in nature, originates in mouth

2. Timbre or tonal quality:

a. Shariraja- nāda produced by vocal chords of the human body
b. Nakhaja- nāda produced by plucked instruments like Veena and
Votuvadya
c. Dhanurja- nāda produced by bowed instruments like the Violin,the Sarod
and the Yazh
d. Vayuja- nāda produced by wind instruments like the Nagaswaram, the
Flute, the Shehnai and the Magudi
e. Charmaja -nāda produced by skin-covered instruments like the
Mridangam, the Tavil and the Tabla.
f. Lohaja- nāda produced by metallic instruments like the Cymbals and the
Gongs.

3. Based on source of emanation of nāda

a. Prani-Sambhava- emanating from animal source,eg. human voice
b. Aprani-Sambhava – emanating from inanimate objects. Eg. the Veena
c. Ubhaya-Sambhava –emanating from both animate and inanimate objects.
Eg. Flute
It may be noted that Haripala in his SangitaSudha calls these three kinds
of nāda as Chetana, Achetana and Mishra. Also, Umapathy in his
 Aumapathiyam has classified Nāda under the heads Sajiva, Nirjiva and
Mishra which is the same as the above classification.

The word Nāda implies pure sound. The concept of sound is purely objective, but
Nāda is not merely an object of the sense of hearing. Its essence refers to the
perception wherein, both the subject and the object are in unison. Nāda is a very
difficult word to translate since it encompasses within its gamut metaphysical and
mystical connotations. Although it is an esoteric concept, for practical purposes it
can be translated in scientific language as musical sound. The significance of Nāda
lies in the fact that it is Nāda that gives rise to Shrutis, from Shrutis emanate Swara
and Swaras by their various permutation and combination give birth to Ragas.