The word gamaka is derived from the sam.skr.ta root gam - to go. The term daSa-gamaka is very familiar to most people. muttuswAmi dIkshitar uses the phrase daSagamakakriye in his kr.ti mInAkshi me mudam dehi. Nowadays, it is usual, especially among Carnatic music cirlces, to talk of gamaka as oscillation of the swara, or as ornamentation of the swara. It is also fashionable to say that Carnatic music is charaterized by the presence of gamakas and Hindustani music by the absence of them. I think this is a gross misrepresentation, arising out of a misunderstanding of the term gamaka. Old sources refer to ten kinds of gamakas. These are -

1) kampita - refers to an oscillation of the swara, small or large in amplitude, depending on the context. Examples are the ma in Sankarabharanam or the ga in Todi. The oscillation can start from a lower swara or a higher one. It may also center around the actual swarasthana, like the ri in Madhyamavati, in which case it is called andolana. However, the kampita gamaka is not an oscillation from a lower swara to a higher one without touching the actual swara itself. The enduring sound heard is the appropriate swara accompanied by the band of microtones allowed by the raga lakshana.

2) sphurita - refers to a repeated swara in which the intermediate anuswara is a lower sruti e.g. - the phrase ss rr gg mm pp (Chalamela - Ata tala varnam in Sankarabharanam), is heard as sns rsr grg mgm pmp with an additional emphasis on the second time the note is repeated. The characteristic nrssn with which a Hindustani singer begins an alap of Yaman is an example of spurita gamaka.

3) pratyAhata - refers to a repeated swara in which the intermediate anuswara is a higher sruti e.g. In nn dd (Vanajakshi - Adi tala varnam in Kalyani), the phrase is heard as nsn dnd, again with extra emphasis on the second time the swara is repeated. The pratyahata is seen in Hindustani music in a phrase like rrr (rgrgr) in Ahir Bhairav.

There is often confusion between the spurita and pratyahata gamakas. Also, all instances of repeated swaras need not be one of the two. A few examples will illustrate this. In the varnam ninnu kori (Mohanam- Adi tala), the Pallavi phrase ss rr gg rr actually has both types of gamakas - ss rr gg is spurita (sds rsr grg) while the rr which follows immediately afterwards is pratyahata (rgr). In Abheri the phrase gg rs is pratyahata, and the phrase rs sn nd dp actually sounds like rsrs snsn ndnd dpdp in madhyamakala and cannot be classified under either. It is neither like r sns ndn dpd p as sphurita demands, nor is it like r srs nsn dnd p as in pratyAhata. An instance of repeated swaras in which equal emphasis is given without anuswaras is the kalyANi gItam in miSra cApu, kamalajAdaLa (sss ndns).

4) jAru - is a slide between any two swaras. If the slide is in the ascent, it is called eRRajAru and in the descent it is an eRakkajAru e.g. the phrase srgsa in Kambhoji is sung with a slide from the ga to the sa. Anandabhairavi gets its special character because of the jArus involving sa and pa. jAru is found to a great extent in Hindustani music. The wrong use of jaru in Madhyamavati would impart to it a flavour of Brindavanasaranga.

5) kaNDippu - is common in the descent. Its characteristic is a pause between two swaras e.g. in Surati, the phrase ma gpam ri is rendered with a pause between the ma and the ri. The presence of the ga is strongly apparent. kaNDippu gives a unique touch to ragas like hindolam and shaNmukhapriyA in which the kaiSiki ni is strongly felt in the phrase s da. Similarly in the phrase ri s da p in dhanyAsi. Examples in Hindustani music are in ragas like mAlkauns (s da) and pUrvI (where a kaNDippu is given to the ga in the phrase pa ma ri).

6) nokku - refers to the gamaka when a swara is rendered with a stress accompanying the higher swara e.g. the ga in Mayamalavagoula. Arabhi's distinct nature is a consequence of the nokkus given to the ni and the ga. In Hindustani music, nokku is seen in ragas which have Suddha dhaivata (komal dha) and panchama, in which the pa is invariably reached with a stress on the da.

7) odukkal - refers to the gamaka when a swara is rendered with a stress on the lower swara e.g. the ri in Saveri. odukkal is not used much in Hindustani music.

8) orikkai - is the name of the gamaka when the swara is reached after a landing on a lower swara e.g. in Mayamalavagoula and in Kamalamanohari, the phrase ndp can be rendered with a landing on ma before touching pa.

9) Ravai - In some combinations of swaras, e.g. pa ma, the pa is repeated softly with a touch of sphurita i.e. pa ma is rendered as pa pmma, as in nATTai.

10) vaLi - is seen generally with a long swara with two or more matras. Stabilizing on one swara, a circular movement is produced using two or three swaras e.g. in rAgas like Ahiri, Asaveri, Punnagavarali etc.

Thus we see that out of the ten gamakas listed, only kampita and its variety andolana refer to an oscillation of the swara per se. Other gamakas arise as a result of an emphasis or stress on a swara. The word "ornamentation" does not convey any meaningful sense. gamaka can be better understood as relating to musical movement, rather than as oscillation or ornamentation of a swara. orikkai and vaLi are the only two varieties of gamakas unique to Carnatic music. Hindustani music uses the other varieties to a larger or smaller extent compared to Carnatic music. The claim that Carnatic music uses gamakas as `oscillations of swaras' as against Hindustani music is an unsubstantiated myth.