ग Gāndhāra (Ga)

E♭ (कोमल गा komal [陰/Gentle/Supple] gā)

E (शुद्ध गा shuddha [陽/Pure/Incorrupt] gā)

Gāndhāra/Gāndhār/Gandhar/Gandhara is the 3rd स्वर, svara from the seven svaras of Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Gandhara is the long-form of syllable ग. Gandhara is pronounced as Ga (notation - G) for simplicity in pronouncing while singing the syllable. It is also called as गान्धार or गंधार in the Devanagri script.

• Gandhara is the third svara in an octave or Saptak.
• Gandhara is the immediate next svara of Ṛiṣabha (Re).
• The svara of Gandhara is Komal and Shuddha.

It is said that Sadja is the basic svara from which all the other 6 svaras are produced. When we break the word Sadja then we get Shad (conspiracy) & Ja (h). It means that Shad is 6 and Ja is 'giving birth' in Marathi. So basically the translation is :

षड् - 6, ज -जन्म. Therefore, it collectively means giving birth to the other 6 notes of the music.

Hence the svara Ga is formed from Sadja.

The frequency of Gandhara is 300 Hz. The frequencies of the 7 svaras are also given below: Sa 240 Hz, Re 270 Hz, Ga 300 Hz, Ma 320 Hz, Pa 360 Hz, Dha 400 Hz, and Ni 450 Hz, Sa 480 Hz (Taar Saptak) ........ (and so on).

Consequently, Ga after the Re of 540 Hz (Taar Saptak) has a frequency of 600 Hz i.e. the double of the Lower octave Ga.

There are श्रुति, Śruti's of Gandhara. Previously the main Shruti, not only for Ga but for all the other svaras, was on the last Shruti but now it is considered to be on the 1st Shruti.

For example, if these are the 2 Shruti's of Ga then,

                 Previously this was the position of the main Shruti of Ga.

                 ^ 

             1   2

             ^

             But now this position has become the main Shruti of Ga.

The first स्वर, svara that is "सा" "Sa", and the fifth svara that is "पा" "Pa", are considered anchors (अचल स्वर, Achal svaras) that are unalterable, while the remaining have flavours (कोमल, Komal and तिवरा स्वर, Tivra svaras) that differ between the two major systems. Except for Sadja(Sa) and Pancham (Pa), all the other svaras can be Komal or Tivra svaras while Sa and Pa are always Shuddha svaras. And hence svaras Sa and Pa are called Achal Svaras since these svaras do not move from their original position. Svaras Ra, Ga, Ma, Dha, Ni are called Chal Svaras since these svaras move from their original position.

•     Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni - Shuddha Svaras
•     Re, Ga, Dha, Ni - Komal Svaras 
•     Ma - Tivra Svaras

Ragas from Kafi Thaat, Asavari Thaat, Todi Thaat and Bhairavi Thaat have Komal Gandhara, rest of the thaats have Shuddha Gandhara.

Ragas where Ga is the Vadi svara - Raga Kafi (raga), raga Bageshri, raga Bhoopali etc. Ragas where Ga is the Samvadi svara - Raga Sohni, etc.

Hypothetically speaking, Ga is said to be the Gandharvas, Gandharvas as in — the three main gods —Bhrama, Vishnu & Shiva that were first created; i.e. Sakar Bhrama (Sa) and then these three gods created Rishimuni, i.e. Re and then Gandharvas were created for singing. Ga is made the acronym of Gandharvas for showing the importance of the syllable Ga.

• Gandhara is said to be sourced from the bleating of a goat.
• Gandhara is associated with the planet Sun.
• Gandhara is associated with Golden colour.

Leila Goldkuhl by Richard Bush, 'Shades of Beauty' British Harper’s Bazaar May 2016