Sargam basics — Sa Re Ga Ma explained
A complete guide to the seven swaras of Hindustani music: shuddha, komal, tivra, octaves, and how to read sargam notation.
Last updated 4/16/2026
Beginner · ~12 min
What sargam means
“Sargam” is a contraction of the first four syllables — Sa, Re, Ga, Ma — used as the name for the system as a whole. The complete sequence is:
| Sargam | Syllable name | Western (if Sa = C) |
|---|---|---|
| S | Shadja (Sa) | C |
| R | Rishabh (Re) | D |
| G | Gandhar (Ga) | E |
| M | Madhyam (Ma) | F |
| P | Pancham (Pa) | G |
| D | Dhaivat (Dha) | A |
| N | Nishad (Ni) | B |
Two of those — Sa and Pa — are fixed; they cannot be altered. They are the gravitational anchors of every raga.
The other five (Re, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni) each have two forms.
Komal, shuddha, tivra
| Form | Sargam | Western (if Sa = C) |
|---|---|---|
| Komal Re | r (lowercase) | D♭ |
| Shuddha Re | R (uppercase) | D |
| Komal Ga | g | E♭ |
| Shuddha Ga | G | E |
| Shuddha Ma | M | F |
| Tivra Ma | M’ (with apostrophe) | F♯ |
| Komal Dha | d | A♭ |
| Shuddha Dha | D | A |
| Komal Ni | n | B♭ |
| Shuddha Ni | N | B |
The rule: lowercase = komal (flat); uppercase = shuddha (natural); apostrophe on Ma = tivra (sharp). Only Ma can be tivra; only Re, Ga, Dha, Ni can be komal.
Octaves
The middle octave is written as plain syllables: S R G M P D N. To go up an octave, append a caret: S^. To go down, append an underscore: S_. The trailing form is the convention used throughout this site (and in our sargam converter):
S^= high Sa (one octave above)S_= low Sa (one octave below)
A worked example
Here is the aroha (ascending phrase) of Raga Yaman in sargam:
N_ R G M' D N S^Reading left to right with Sa = C:
- N_ = Ni in the lower octave (B3, just below middle Sa)
- R = Re (D)
- G = Ga (E)
- M’ = tivra Ma (F♯) — the defining swara of Yaman
- D = Dha (A)
- N = Ni (B)
- S^ = upper Sa (C5)
Same phrase in Western notation: B3 – D4 – E4 – F♯4 – A4 – B4 – C5.
Movable Sa
The most important thing about sargam: Sa is whatever pitch you choose as your tonic. A bhajan written in sargam can be performed by a low-voiced singer with Sa = C3, or by a child with Sa = G4. The syllables don’t change. The pitches do. Use our transposer tool to convert sargam to any Western key.
Where to go from here
- Practise the Western ↔ Sargam converter to build fluency.
- Learn how Sa, Re, Ga group into thaats — the ten parent scales of Hindustani music.
- Try a real raga: start with Yaman, the most beginner-friendly.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is sargam the same as solfège?
It serves the same purpose as Western solfège (do re mi fa sol la ti) — naming the seven scale degrees with syllables — but the rules differ. Sargam syllables are movable (Sa = whatever pitch you want as tonic), and komal/tivra alterations are encoded directly into the syllable spelling.
Why does the spelling change for flat and sharp notes?
Western notation needs accidentals (♭, ♯) because the staff lines are fixed. Sargam encodes alteration into the syllable itself — uppercase for shuddha (natural), lowercase for komal (flat). This makes sargam easier to read aloud while singing.
How do I find Sa for my voice?
Use our [Find your Sa tool](/tools/find-your-sa/) — sing your most comfortable middle pitch into the microphone and the tool detects it. As a rule of thumb: most male voices land Sa around C3–E3 (low to middle C), most female voices around F3–A3 (middle to upper C).