The great composer Purandara Dasa, hailed as the Father of Carnatic music, created a set of fundamental exercises nearly 500 years ago, which are followed even today.

Sarali Varishais: These fundamental sequences enable the student to get a feel of melody with rhythm. The logic is quite obvious here. The 1st varishai is a plain ascent and descent of the notes of the raga. The 2nd varishai focuses on the second note from S, namely R (in the ascent) and N (in the descent). The 3rd varishai centers on the third note (G and D) in the ascent and descent respectively. The fourth varishai concentrates on the fourth note M and P. This goes on up to the 7th varishai. The last 3 are general exercises. Some books have split the last sarali Swarams into 5 parts, but singing it as a single Varshai is more instructive. Swarams are the fundamental exercises which help you to understand the basic swaras (Notes) of Carnatic Music. The sequences follow a logical order ascending and descending, up to the 7th Swarali Swaram (first 7 exercises). the last 7 exercises help you move smoothly up and down the scale.

The two primary components of Carnatic Music are "Raga" (Musical Notes) and "Tala" (Rhythm). You need to understand the concept of both Raga and Tala before moving forward.

The Ragas are the musical notes and modes in which a song proceeds. These ragas are based on 7 Swaras of Carnatic Music. They are Sa - Ri - Ga - Ma - Pa - Da - Ni . Diverse permutations and combinations of these swaras produce various ragas.

There are two types of ragas - Aarohhanam and Avarohanam. Ascending notes of ragas are known as Aarohanam. Descending notes are called Avarohanam. Carnatic ragas are known to be relaxing and soothing to the soul.