Alankaar in Sanskrit (or Hindi) literally means Ornaments. Ornaments enhance beauty. Musical ornaments enhance the beauty of music. Alankaars (also called by some as Paltas – which literally refers to abrupt turnaround) are usually the first things most teachers insist their students practice.

Purpose of such practice is really two fold – practicing these gets one comfortable with the instrument one is playing (or in case of vocal music, it trains the voice). Less obvious reason for this practice is that it trains the brain about musical patterns. More the patterns learnt, more ideas one can get – and execute.

Alankaars in this book are not specifically for any one instrument. They can be used in general by any student of Hindustani Classical music.

Five Thousand! That is clearly a lot!! I really do not expect everyone to practice all of the five thousand Alankaars. I have listed some core Alankaars that I think everyone should definitely practice. Beyond those, one might choose one Alankaar in this book at random every day. I am quite confident that if one masters the basic Alankaars and then practice the advanced Alankaars at random, one may very likely notice remarkable improvement in one’s musical capabilities over period of surprisingly short time.