Ragas of Carnatic Music - Hari's Carnatic

Raga

What is Raga ?

In classical music of India - Carnatic or Hindustani, Raga stands for a group of sounds decorated with musical expressions that creates a sense of pleasure to the listener. Tala controls the time measure and gives music its beat. Memory thus plays an important part in Indian music.

Raga can be loosely defined as melody type or expressive mode. It consists of series of up to seven Swaras (Notes), which bear a definite relationship to adhara shadja and which occur in a particular sequence. They derive their personality through notes of defined pitch entering into their formation. It is the arrangement of particular swaras, in conformity to recognised aesthetic laws that establish the rupa (form) of raga.

However, Raga is much more than a scale. It is defined as "that which colors the mind" in ancient text. (Raga in Sanskrit stands for: coloring, dyeing, tingeing). A raga is in some ways a kind of mystical expression with a musical personality of its own. The whole structure of Indian music is built around the concept of raga. Indian melodies of the classical type are based on ragas. As for folk melodies a good number of them will be in some recognizable raga and some are in mixed ragas. The same goes with popular film music tunes too.

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Classification of Ragas

Ragas are classified mainly into Janaka ragas and Janya ragas. Janaka ragas are also known as Melakartha Ragas or Sampurna ragas. A Janya raga is said to be derived from a janaka raga. It takes the same swaras as in its melakartha raga, but may take fewer swaras.

Janaka Ragas
These are parent ragas, also known as the Melakartha or Sampurna ragas, have all the seven notes Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni (saptha swara) in their arohana and avarohana. There are 72 such janaka ragas arranged in a definite serial order called Chakra and Melam, each with its own set of Janya ragas.
They fall into two groups, viz:
- Sudha Madhyama ragas - As ragas can take variations only in Re (Re1, Re2, Re3), Ga (Ga1, Ga2, Ga3), Ma (Ma1, Ma2), Dha (Dha1, Dha2, Dha3) and Ne (Ne1, Ne2, Ne3), the first 36 of 72 melams use Sudha Madhyamam (Ma1) and are called Sudha Madhyama ragas.
- Parathi Madhyama ragas - The later 36 use Prathi Madhyaman (Ma2) and are called Prathi Madhyama ragas.

So within each category they can differ only in Re, Ga, Dha and Ne. These are systematically divided into six chakras, with six melams per chakra.

Example: Kanakangi (1st Melakartha) and its Janyams
Ragam	Melam	No	Aarohanam	Avarohanam
Kanakangi	Kanakaangi	1	Sa Re1 Ga1 Ma1 Pa Da1 Ne1 Sa	Sa Ne1 Da1 Pa Ma1 Ga1 Re1 Sa
Kadagapriya	Kanakaangi	1	sa ga re ga ma pa da pa ne sa	sa da pa da ma ga re sa
Kanakambari	Kanakaangi	1	sa ga re ga ma pa da ne da sa	sa ne da pa ma ga re sa
Mukthambari	Kanakaangi	1	sa re ga ma pa ne sa	sa ne da ma ga re sa
Peragasindhamani	Kanakaangi	1	sa re pa ma pa da ne sa	sa da pa ma ga re sa
Vaageswari	Kanakaangi	1	sa re ga ma pa da sa	sa da pa ma ga re sa

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Janya Ragas

A Janya raga is said to be derived from a janaka raga. It takes the same swaras as in its melakartha raga, but may take fewer swaras. Janya ragas are further grouped into:

Upanga raga - those janyas that take only the swaras of the parent melakartha, as they usually do.
Pashanga raga - are those that take a foreign swara (from some other melakartha) either in arohanam, or in avarohanam or in both. These foreign notes is known as annya swara. There are 26 Bhashanga ragas in Carnatic music.
Vakra raga - if arohana or avarohana or both take zig-zag course or twist, ot is called a vakra raga.. Vakra ragas are further classifed into:
- Sampurna vakra if arohana and avarohana are sampurna (with all seven notes present)
- Vakra varja if they have less than seven notes.

Vakra ragas also are classified into:

Ekaswara vakra,

Dviswara vakra,

Triswara vakra

Chatusswara vakra

based on number of vakra swaras in the raga (one, two, three and four respectively). Four is the maximum number of vakra swara that a raga accommodate.

Varja Raga - A Janya ragas is called Varja raga if up to three swaras are deleted in the arohana, avarohana or both. Varja ragas are further classified into

shadava - only six swaras present in Aarohanam / Avarohanam of raga i.e. one Varja)

audava (only five swaras present; two being Varja).

As mentioned before, a raga with all seven notes is called sampurna raga.

Note that a raga with only four notes in aarohana or avarohana is not considered since atleast five swaras are required to give an individuality to the raga. Also janayas can have different number of swaras in arohanam and avarohanam giving rise to eight types of varja ragas.

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Eight kinds of Varja Ragas with examples
Ragam	Melam	No	Aarohanam	Avarohanam	Varja Type
Kamboji	Hari Kamboji	28	sa re ga ma pa da sa	sa ne da pa ma ga re sa	Shadava (6)- Sampurna (7)
Bilahari	Dheera Shankarabharanam	29	Sa re ga pa da sa	Sa ne da pa ma ga re sa	Audava (5) - Sampurna (7)
Bhairavam	Suryakantham	17	Sa re ga ma pa da ne sa	Sa da pa ma ga re sa	Sampurna (7) - shadava (6)
Saramathi	Natabhiravi	20	Sa re ga ma pa da ne sa	Sa ne da ma ga sa	Sampurna (7) - Audava (5)
Sriranjani	Karagapriya	22	Sa re ga ma da ne sa	Sa ne da ma ga re sa	Shadava (6) - Shadava (6)
Natakurunji	Hari Kamboji	28	Sa re ga ma da ne sa	Sa ne da ma ga sa	Shadava (6) - Audava (5)
Malahari	Mayamalavagaula	15	Sa re ma pa da sa	Sa da pa ma ga re sa	Audava (5) - Shadava (6)
Mohanam	Hari Kamboji	29	Sa re ga pa da sa	Sa da pa ga re sa	Audava (5)- Audava (5)

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Sudha Madhyama Ragas
Indu	Netra	Agni	Vedha	Baana	Ruthu
Kanakaangi	Seanavathi	Gaayaga Priya	Jangharadhwani	Maara Rajnani	Yaagha Priya
Ratnaangi	Hanumat Thodi	Vagulaa Baranam	Nata Bhiravi	Chaarukesi	Raaga Vardhani
Ganamurthi	Dheanuka	Maaya Malava Gaula	Keeravani	Sarasaangi	Kaangheya Bhushani
Vanaspathi	Naataka Priya	Chakra Vaagham	Karagara Priya	Hari Kaamboji	Vaagha Dheeswari
Maalavathi	Kokila Priya	Suurya Kantham	Gauri Manogari	Dheera Shankara Bharanam	Seelini
Dhaana Roopini	Roopavathi	Haatakambhari	Varuna Priya	Naaga Nandhini	Chala Naata
Prathi Madhyama Ragas
Rishi	Vasu	Brahma	Dishi	Rudra	Aditya
Jaalakam	Kavaambhodi	Thavalaambari	Syamalaanghi	Kandhaamani	Su Charithra
Jaalarnavam	Bhava Priya	Naama Naarayani	Shanmughapriya	Rishabha Priya	Swodhis Ruupini
Jaala Varaali	Subha Bhandhu Varali	Kaama Vardhani	Simmhendhra Madhyamam	Lathaangi	Thadhu Vardhani
Navaneetham	Shatvidha Maarghani	Raama Priya	Heamavathi	Vaachaspathi	Naasigha Bhushani
Bhaavani	Swarnaanghi	Gamana Priya	Dharmavathi	Measha Kalyani	Koochalam
Raghupriya	Dhivyamani	Viswambhari	Neethimathi	Chitraambhari	Raghasya Priya

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Examples of Bhasanga and Vakra Janya ragas
Ragam	Melam	No	Aarohanam	Avarohanam	Type
Kathana kuthuhalam	Deera Sankarabharanam	29	Sa re ma da ne ga pa sa	Sa ne da pa ma ga re sa	Sampurna vakra
Karnataka Byag	Hari Kamboji	28	Sa re ga ma pa da ne sa	Sa ne da ne pa da ma ga re ga sa
Sahana	Hari Kamboji	28	Sa ra ga ma pa ma da ne sa	Sa ne da pa ma ga ma re ga re sa
Nalinakanthi	Sarasangi	27	Sa ga re ma pa ne sa	Sa ne pa ma ga re sa	Vakra varja
Devamanohari	Karagarapriya	22	Sa re ma pa da ne sa	Sa ne da ne pa ma re sa
Bangala	Karagarapriya	29	Sa re ga ma pa ma re pa sa	Sa ne pa ma re ga re sa
Nilambari	Deera Sankarabharanam	29	Sa re ga ma pa da pa ne sa	Sa ne pa ma ga re ga sa	Ekasvara
Suposhini	Deera Sankarabharanam	29	Sa re sa ma pa ne da sa	Sa da ne pa ma re ma sa	Dviswara
Bhairavi	Natabhiravi	20	Sa ga re ga ma pa da ne sa	Sa ne da pa ma ga re sa	Bhasanga Chathusruthi dhivatham (annya swaram) in aarohanam, Sudha dhivatham in avarohanam

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Acknowledgement:
http://raaga.net
Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, Subbarama Dikshitar
Ragas in Carnatic Music, Dr S. Bhagyalekshmy
Posting on behalf of Dr Narayanaswami, having trouble with the internet, by Pramila Srinivasan