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Melakarta is the collection of Ragas in Carnatic music. Melakarta ragas are fundamental ragas from which other ragas may be generated. For this reason the melakarta ragas are also known as janaka(parent) ragas. Melakarta ragas are also known as sampoorna ragas as they contain all seven swaras (notes) of the octave in both the ascending and the descending mode. There are 72 melakarta ragas.

The mela system of ragas was first propounded by Raamamaatya in his work Svaramelakalanidhi c. 1550. He is considered the father of mela system of ragas. Later Venkatamakhi expounded in the 17th century in his work Caturdandi Prakaasikaa a new mela system known today as melakarta. He had made some bold and controversial claims and defined somewhat artificially 6 swaras from the known 12 semitones at that time to arrive 72 melakarta ragas. The controversial parts relate to his double counting of R2 etc. and his exclusive selection of madyamas for which there is no basis. However, today the 72 melakarta ragas have gained significant following, though to this day this system is being criticized. Venkatamakhi was known to be extremely critical of Raamamaatya.

A hundred years later than Venkatamakhi's time the Katapayadi sankhya rule came to be applied to the nomenclature of the melakarta ragas. The sankhya associates Sanskrit consonants with digits. The digits corresponding to the first two letters (syllables) of the name of a raga, when reversed, give the index of the raga. Thus the scale of a melakarta raga can be easily derived from its name.

Each melakarta raga has a different scale. The scales are constructed as follows: out of the twelve semitones of the octave S, R1, R2=G1, R3=G2, G3, M1, M2, P, D1, D2=N1, D3=N2, N3, a melakarta raga must necessarily have S and P, one of the M's, two of the R's and G's, and two of the D's and N's. Also, R must necessarily precede G and D must precede N. This gives 2 × 6 × 6 = 72 melakarta ragas. Finding melakartha ragas is a mathematical problem and following a simple set of rules, we can find the corresponding raga and the scale associated with it.

This scheme envisages the lower Sa (Keezh Shadjamam), upper Sa (Mael Shadjamam) and Pa (Panchamam) as fixed swaras, with the Ma (Madhyamam) having two variants and the remaining swaras Ri (Rishabam), Ga (Gandhaaram), Dha (Dhaivatham) and Ni (Nishaadham) as having three variants each. This leads to 72 seven-note combinations referred to as the Melakartha ragas.

A raga which has the same scale as a Melakartha raga (or a subset thereof) is said to be a janya of it (janya means born or derived from). Every raga is the janya of a melakarta raga. Ragas whose notes are found in more than one melakarta raga are assigned janyas based on subjective notions of similarity.

It can be said that the entire set of 72 melakarta ragas can be divided into two parts. viz.,. suddha Madhyamam and prati Madhyamam ragas. When a given suddha madhyamam raga's M1 is replaced by M2, we get the corresponding Prati Madhyamam raga. See Katapayadi sankhya for more information on how to derive the various swaras of a raga from its Melakarta number.

• The katapayadi sankhya applied to the melakarta ragas
• Explanation of the two melakarta systems
• Explanation of the melakarta and demonstration of ragas with piano keys