| Sabha |
An organisation that gives patronage to music/dance. |
| Sabha gana |
Denotes singing in a sabha or to a large audience - public concert. |
| Sadhana |
Is a word commonly used to indicate practice |
| Sahitya |
Lyrics or prosody |
| Samasthana or Asthana vidwan |
Refers to a musician recognized by the royal court or a respected musical establishment. |
| Sampoorna Jati / Raga |
Refes to a raga that has all the seven notes in it. |
| Samvadi |
Refers to the relationship between any given swara (which becomes the vadi swara) to its perfect fourth or perfect fifth. Eg. The relationship between Sa and Ma or Sa and Pa, where Sa is the Vadi swara and Ma/Pa become the Samvadi swara. |
| Sanchara |
Literally means motion. In music, it indicates a manner of exploration of the terrain of a raga with a particular gait, geometry, progression and rest.
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| Sangeeta or Sangita |
Is a Sanskrit term that means music. It has two parts, 'san', which is derived from 'sam', which means together and 'geet' , which means song. |
| Sangeeta Makaranda |
Is a treatise on music, by Narada around the ninth century. |
| Sangeeta Parijata |
A treatise on music, written by Pandit Ahobal around 1750 AD. |
| Sangeeta Ratnakara |
One of the major treatises on Indian music, written around the thirteenth century, authored by Sarangadeva. It covers a wide area of scholarship and understanding and has influenced all subsequent writings on music. |
| Sangeeta Saramrita |
Was written by the Maharaja of Tanjavur, Tulaja between1763-68. |
| Sangeet upasana |
The devoted practice of music. |
| Sarani |
Refers to the first of the two middle strings of the tambura and is tuned to Shadja, the tonic note. |
| Sarangadeva |
Was a musicologist who lived between 1175 and 1247 AD and authored the well-known treatise on music Sangeeta Ratnakara. |
| Shadava |
Refers to a sequence of six notes either in the ascent or descent. |
| Shadja or Sa |
The very first note of the Indian scale. It is a fixed note with no variable values. |
| Shankha |
Refers to the conch shell and is believed to be the instrument of Lord Vishnu. |
| Shehnai |
A wind instrument similar to the clarinet, used in Hindustani music. Its Carnatic counterpart is the Nagaswaram. |
| Sishya |
A student or disciple. |
| Sloka |
A Sanskrit word for poetry, usually of four lines and considered sacred and powerful. |
| Sringara |
Is one of the nava rasas (nine emotions) and indicates love. |
| Sruti |
Refers to the microtonal intervals between notes. Twenty-two such microtonal points have been identified in Carnatic music. |
| Solkattu |
Refers to the mnemonics of Indian dance, specifically Bharatanatyam. |
| Sthayi |
Means octave in Carnatic music. |
| Suddha |
Sanskrit word for pure or untainted. |
| Swara |
The solfa note in Indian music. |
| Swara bedha |
Refers to the technique of modal shift of the tonic note. |
| Swara lipi |
It is the notation or the score of a musical composition. Lipi means script and thus the writing of the swara is a literal translation. |
| Swaramela Kalanidhi |
A treatise on Carnatic music authored by Ramamatya in 1550. |
| Swara prasthara |
See Kalpanaswara |
