Melakarta in the context of "Hanumatodi"

In Indian classical music, Sampūrṇa rāgas (संपूर्ण, Sanskrit for 'complete', also spelt as sampoorna) have all seven swaras in their scale. In general, the swaras in the Arohana and Avarohana strictly follow the ascending and descending scale as well. That is, they do not have vakra swara phrases (वक्र, meaning 'crooked').

In Carnatic music, the Melakarta ragas are all sampurna ragas, but the converse is not true, i.e., all sampurna ragas are not Melakarta ragas. An example is Bhairavi raga in Carnatic music (different from the Bhairavi of Hindustani music). Some examples of Melakarta ragas are Mayamalavagowla, Todi, Sankarabharanam and Kharaharapriya.

Sahana (pronounced sahānā) is a popular ragam (musical scale) in Carnatic music. It is a janya rāgam (derived scale) associated with the 28th Melakarta rāgam Harikambhoji.

The Hindustani music ragam Sahana is an upper-tetrachord-dominant Kanada-anga raga, from the Kafi thaat, also allied with Bageshree and Bhimpalasi. The shuddha Dhaivat is an important rest note (nyaas swara).

Darbari Kanada, or simply Raga Darbari (pronounced darbāri kānada), is a raga in Hindustani music. It is a janya ragam (derived scale) of 20th Melakarta raga Natabhairavi. It is believed to be borrowed into Hindustani classical music by Miyan Tansen, the famous 16th-century composer in the Mughal emperor Akbar's court. It belongs to the Kanada family. It is believed that the Mughal emperor Akbar was very fond of this raaga. Hence often made Miyan Tansen sing this raaga in his court. This is reflected in the name itself; Darbar is the Persian derived word in Hindi meaning "court." As the most familiar raga in the Kanada family, it may sometimes also be called Shuddha Kanada or pure Kanada. It belongs to the Asavari thaat. This raag is called raaga Kaanada in Yakshagana Karnataka state dance. It is also sometimes written as Durbari and Durbarikanada.

Bhairavi is a janya rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). Though it is a sampoorna rāgam (scale having all 7 notes), it has two different dhaivathams in its scale making it a Bhashanga Ragam, and hence is not classified as a melakarta rāgam (parent scale).

This is one of the ancient rāgams, said to have been prevalent about 1500 years ago. There are numerous compositions in this rāgam.

Mayamalavagowla (pronounced māyāmāḻavagauḻa) is a raga of Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is classified as 15th melakarta raga under Venkatamakhin's melakarta system. Originally known as malavagowla, "maya" was prefixed to it after the advent of the scheme of the 72 melas. The number 15 was assigned to it following the Katapayadi sankhya system. This is a morning raga.

Dhīraśankarābharaṇaṃ, commonly known as Śankarābharaṇaṃ, is a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 29th Melakarta rāga in the 72 Melakarta rāga system of Carnatic music. Since this raga has many Gamakās (ornamentations), it is glorified as "Sarva Gamaka Māṇika Rakti Rāgaṃ".

By scale wise, the Śankarābharaṇaṃ scale corresponds to Bilaval in the Hindustani music system. The Western equivalent is the major scale, or the Ionian mode. Hence this rāga is one of the most popular scales across the world, known with different names in different musical styles.

Kharaharapriya is a rāga in Carnatic music. It is the 22nd melakarta rāga (parent scale) in the 72 melakarta rāga system. It is possible that the name of the ragam was originally Harapriya but it was changed to conform to the Katapayadi formula. Kharaharapriya has a distinct melody and brings out the Karuna rasam, invoking pathos in the listeners. The Kafi thaat of Hindustani music is the equivalent of Kharaharapriya. Its Western equivalent is the Dorian mode. The Prati Madhyamam (M₂) equivalent of this raga is Hemavati

Janya is a term meaning "derive". In Carnatic (South Indian) music a janya raga is one derived from one of the 72 melakarta ragas (fundamental melodic structures). Janya ragas are classified into various types based on a variety of features.