What does Sa Re Ga Ma mean?

You’ve heard Sa Re Ga Ma Pa since you were a kid but do you know the beautiful meaning & logic behind these swaras of Indian music? Here’s the tea.

Music & dance, invented by Lord Shiva, the Natraj, is the oldest form of knowledge transfer or teaching in our Sanatan Dharma & like any language, it needs its own ABCs.

So the origins of the 7 notes sit with our Rishis who wrote the Vedas & books like the Natya Shashtra.

These were invented to produce specific vibrations to activate parts of our mind & body. And they are derived from sounds of nature, each representing an emotional quality & also corresponding to one of our 7 chakras.

Sa’s full-form is “Shadja,” meaning the creator of the 6 notes. It’s the sound of peacocks when the rain clouds gather in the sky.

Ra is “Rishbha” i.e. the Great or strong one, symbolising the bellowing of a bull or cow being separated from the calf.

Ga is Gandhaara i.e. a soft or sweet fragrance, associated with sadness or longing, and symbolising the bleating of a goat.

Ma means Madhyam, the note in the middle, paired with the cry of a heron bird while Pa comes from Panchama, the fifth note & has origins in the sound of the Indian kokila bird.

Dha is Dhaivata which is the divine note understood by sensitive minds, originating from the neighing of a horse.

And Ni is Nishaada, which means the final resting note, again representing karuna or sadness & longing, originating from the trumpet of an elephant.