To Carnatic music as a presented art, there are broadly two aspects. The first is the Manodharma Sangeetham which is the creative, innovative outpouring of the artistes’ own thinking and study. It is performed impromptu, and can not be taught, as it is, by definition, ‘of one’s own mind’. The other aspect Kalpita Sangeetham, or the preset compositions. One such compositional form belonging to the Kalpita Sangeetham category is the Swarajathi, which we shall look at in detail.