By the time Venkatamakhin formulated the melakarta ("mela") system, the grama system was no longer in use. Unlike the grama system, the mela system uses the same starting swara. It forms the scales by varying the intervals of the subsequent swaras, and does not specify a fixed interval for a swara in terms of shrutis. For example, the intervals of "kakali-nishad" and "shuddha-madhyam" vary depending on the dhaivat and the gandhar that precede them, respectively. The interval of "kakali-nishad" is of three different shruti values depending on whether shuddha, pancha-shruti or shat-shruti-dhaivat preceded it. Thus shruti as a measure of interval is not fully employed in the mela system.