What is sahityakshara?

• A. A rhythmic cycle
• B. One bow for one swara
• C. A method of notation
• D. A type of melody

Answer: (B)

Sahityakshara refers to the alignment of lyric syllables with the notes of a melody. In Indian music, sahitya means the words of the song and akshara is a syllabic unit. The idea is to map each syllable of the lyrics to a distinct note so the text remains clear and the phrasing is preserved. In performance practice, especially for bowed instruments, this is often achieved by one bow stroke for each swara (note), creating a regular, syllable-for-note articulation. This one-to-one correspondence ensures that every syllable gets its own clear musical moment, which is why the concept is described as sahityakshara. The other options describe different ideas (a rhythmic cycle, a notation method, or a type of melody) and do not capture the specific link between lyric syllables and notes.