Songs and poems that have preponderance of soft and soothing sounds are called komalagiiti. Generally in poetry and lyrics, letters belonging to ca varga and ta varga are considered to be komala [soft], those of ka varga and pa varga are regarded as medium, and those of t́a varga⁽¹⁾ are considered hard. Lyrics sound sweet if letters belonging to the komala vargas [ca varga and ta varga] are used properly within the various lines. The sweetness is enhanced and becomes more pronounced if kathor dhvani [hard sounds – major notes or tones] are scattered through the lines, followed immediately by komala dhvani [soft sounds – minor notes or semi-tones]. Suppose one takes a lot of sweets and hence the tongue loses its desire to taste. If some piquant sauce is then taken, the capacity of the tongue to go on tasting will be restored and enhanced. The situation is exactly like that. Since the Bengali, Maethili, Gujarati, Urdu and French languages have predominantly komala svara [Soft-Sounding letters], they sound quite sweet.

Footnotes

(1) ca varga – ca, cha, ja, jha, iṋa
ta varga – ta, tha, da, dha, na
ka varga – ka, kha, ga, gha, uṋa
pa varga – pa, pha, va, bha, ma
t́a varga – t́a, t́ha, d́a, d́ha, ńa.
–Trans.