Saptak
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Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of seven notes". It denotes the set of swaras, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni which comprise a musical scale in Indian classical music. In Sanskrit, saptak literally means "containing seven" and is derived from the Sanskrit word sapta which means "seven".¹

Generally, a raga would involve notes from three saptaks. The basic saptak is called the Madhya Saptak. For notes with lower frequencies, the artist may use the Mandra Saptak, which is the lower octave of the Madhya Saptak. For notes with higher frequencies, the upper octave or the Taar Saptak is used. The notes in the lower octave are denoted by an apostrophe before the note representation (or a dot below the note representation) and the notes in the upper octave are denoted by an apostrophe after the note representation (or a dot above the note representation).

For example:

Mandra Saptak : Ş or 'S

Madhya Saptak : S

Taar Saptak  : Ŝ or S'

References

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