anuvadi

Indian music

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

June 17, 2026

Quick Summary

The term "anuvadi" in Indian music refers to a concept related to consonance and dissonance within musical scales. In ancient Indian music theory, scales were structured using a system of intervals measured in units called shruti.

Within this system, anuvadi described a relationship between notes that was neither consonant nor dissonant, similar to the Western concept of assonant. This was distinct from vadi (sonant), samvadi (consonant), and vivadi (dissonant). The understanding of these relationships, including anuvadi, helped define the melodic frameworks and emotional qualities (rasa) evoked by different scales and modes.1

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

South Asian arts
Qualities of the scales
…dissonant (discordant; lacking repose); and anuvadi, comparable to assonant (neither consonant nor dissonant). As in the ancient Greek Pythagorean system, which influenced Western music, only fourths and fifths (intervals of four or five tones in a Western scale) were considered consonant. In the Indian system of measurement, tones separated by…
Read More
…dissonant (discordant; lacking repose); and anuvadi, comparable to assonant (neither consonant nor dissonant). As in the ancient Greek Pythagorean system, which influenced Western music, only fourths and fifths (intervals of four or five tones in a Western scale) were considered consonant. In the Indian system of measurement, tones separated by…
Read More