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{{Short description|Term in Indian classical music}}
{{Indian classical music}}
'''''Alankara''''' ({{Lang-sa|अलंकार|translit=Alaṃkāra}}), also referred to as palta or '''''alankaram''''', is a concept in [[Indian classical music]] and literally means "ornament, decoration". An ''alankara'' is any pattern of musical decoration a musician or vocalist creates within or across tones, based on ancient musical theories or driven by personal creative choices, in a progression of ''[[svara]]s''. The term ''alankara'' is standard in [[Carnatic music]], while the same concept is referred to as ''palta'' or ''alankara'' in [[Hindustani music]].

The ancient and medieval music scholars of India state that there are unlimited creative possibilities available to a musician, but each scholar illustrated the concept with a set of ''alankara''. Datilla discussed 13 ''alankaras'', Bharata Muni presented 33, Sarngadeva described 63 ''alankaras'', while mid medieval scholars presented numerous more.<ref name="Rowell2015p163">{{cite book|author=Lewis Rowell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5_UCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA162|title=Music and Musical Thought in Early India|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-226-73034-9|pages=162–164}}</ref> The Indian music tradition classifies ''alankara'' as rational or irrational, wherein irrational ''alankara'' being those that cannot be reduced to a fixed scale degree pattern. The Indian theory of ''gamaka'' covers the group of irrational ''alankara''.<ref name="Rowell2015p163"/> The concept of ''alankara'' applies to both vocal and musical instrument performance.<ref name="Rowell2015p163"/>

[[Purandara Das|Purandara Dasa]], the father of modern Carnatic music, developed learning exercises for students based on ''alankara'' and ''svaravali'', where the student systematically repeats a certain set of patterns over three octave registers, across various ''[[raga]]s'' and ''[[tala (music)|tala]]s''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Bruno Nettl|author2=Ruth M. Stone|author3=James Porter|display-authors=et al|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC |year=1998|isbn=978-0-8240-4946-1|page=216}}</ref>

==Types==
{{Quote box
|quote =
<poem>
A song without any ''alankara'',
would be like a night without a moon,
a river devoid of water,
a vine without any flower,
and a woman without any ornament.
</poem>
|source = —''[[Natya Shastra]] 29.75''<br>Bharata Muni (200 BCE-200 CE)<ref name="Rowell2015p163"/>
|bgcolor=#FFE0BB
|align = right
}}
Here are some common types of ''alankara'' used in classical music are
* ''[[meend]]'', a technique of singing notes in a fluid manner with one note merging into the next - there are many different kinds of ''meend''
*''kan-swar'', [[grace note]]s - the use of grace-notes depends on the [[raga]] being performed
*''andolan'', a gentle swing on specific notes, used selectively
*''[[gamaka (music)|gamaka]]'', a heavy to-and-fro oscillation involving two or three distinct notes
*''khatka/gitkari'', a rapid rendition of a cluster of notes distinctly yet lightly
*''[[murki]]'', an even lighter and more subtle rendition of a cluster of notes

==Other definitions==
''Alankara'' also refers to:
* a pattern on a [[swara|svara]] group within a given octave, in ancient Indian music.<ref name="sim2007">{{Citation|author=Prof. P Sambamoorthy|title=South Indian Music - Vol I|page=51|year=2005|publication-place=Chennai, India|publisher=The Indian Music Publishing House}}}</ref>
* a type of exercise based on the 7 main [[Tala (music)|talas]] and their variations.<ref name="sim2007" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://raag-hindustani.com/Embellishment.html Ornamentation in Indian Classical Music]

[[Category:Indian classical music]]
[[Category:Carnatic music terminology]]
[[Category:Hindustani music terminology]]

Alankāra - Revision history

WikiDwarfBOT at 04:19, 22 July 2023