Stationary and moving.. This is how Saint Tyagaraja describes Rama-‘Sthaavara jangama rupa’ in his marvelous kriti ‘Raghuveera RaNadheera’. How can a person or for that matter anything have two contrasting qualities? I do not want to sound philosophical now and one might find the answer after reading the post and after listening to the song. Let me go into the Malakarta system. Before we proceed to this system, let us see the names of the swaras. ‘sa’ is the Shadja, ‘ri’-rishabha, ga-gandhara, ma- madhyama, pa- panchama, dha-dhaivata, ni- nishaada. The 2 variants- ri-Shuddha rishabham and Chatushruti rishabham, ga-SaadharaNa gandharam and Antara gandharam, ma- Shuddha madhyamam and Prati madhyamam, dha- Shudhdha Dhaivatam and Chatushruti dhaivatam, ni-Kaisiki Nishadam and Kaakali nishadam. While classifying the Janaka ragas, Venkatamakhi followed a pattern( I have a feeling that he was a mathematician too.Music and Maths go hand in hand right?). First, he used the ‘vivadi’ swaras. Let me clarify again that it was not Venkatamakhi who invented these swaras. These swaras were already existent in ancient ragas and paNs –like ‘Nattai’, ‘Gowlai’. But it was he who gave a shape to these by including these in the Raga System. Thus, one more set of ‘ri’, ‘ga’ ‘dha’ and ‘ni’ was added- Shatshruti rishabha, Shuddha gandhara, Shatshruti dhaivata and Shuddha nishada and the number of swaras became 16. But there is a catch here. Before saying what it is, time now to define shruti. In very simple terms, it is the smallest shift of pitch a listener can discern and appreciate. Now, the vivadi swara ri3 is nothing but the sadharana ga. Similarly, the vivadi swara ga1 is the same as the chatushruti ri, the second ri variant, vivadi dha3 is the same as first variant of ni and the vivadi ni1 is the same as the second variant of dha. But this is only on paper. While rendering or playing the vivadi swaras, a different shruti value(either less or more) is given. This comes by practice. We have 1 sa, (3 ri+ 3 ga), 2 ma, 1 pa,(3 dha+ 3 ni). Multilply these 1x(6)x2x1 x(6) and we get 72 different combinations. Venkatamakhi went step by step. He divided this 72 into 12 subgroups-each with 6 melas. Then he took the ‘ma’(being the swara in the middle)- and equally divided the melas with Shuddha madhyama and the ones with Prati madhyama. Keeping the same variants of ri and ga in each chakra(subgroup) as constant, and varying only the dha and the ni, he proceeded to classify the melas. The first melam therefore has- sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha1 ni1, the second one sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha1 ni2, the third one sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha1 ni3, the fourth- sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha2 ni2 , fifth-sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha2 ni3 and the last one in the chakra- sa ri1 ga1 ma1 pa dha3 ni3. The same pattern followed in all the 12 chakras except that the ‘ma1’ changed to ‘ma2’ in the melas starting from the 37th. Therefore, we have the same ri and ga in a particular chakra while the dha and ni change following the same pattern in all the chakras. In carnatic parlance, the poorvanga(sa ri ga ma) remains the same while the uttaranga(pa dha ni Sa) changes in a particular chakra. Therefore, the uttaranga of melas 1, 7, 13, 19, 25, and 31 will be the same and so on.. For example, Mayamalavagowla which is the 15th mela has the same uttaranga of Ganamurti( 3), Dheuka(9), KiravaNi(21), Sarasangi(27) , and Gangeyabhushani(33). Similarly, if one adds 36 to a particular mela number, all the swaras are the same except for the ‘ma’. Therefore, Kamavardhini a.k.a Pantuvarali which is mela no.51 is the pratimadhyama counterpart of Mayamalavagowla. In a similar vein, there are melas which have all the variants of swaras totally different from each other. A clear example is Kharaharapriya and Pantuvarali. The former has sa ri2 ga2 ma1 pa dha2 ni2 Sa while the latter has sa ri1 ga3 ma2 pa dha1 ni3 sa. (note that the ragas of the songs in the first 3 posts are Mayamalavagowla, Pantuvarali and Kharaharapriya). This is an effort to explain the basic theory of carnatic music. I have tried to sound as simple as possible. Yet, since the theory is slightly complex (only initially), certain technical terms are inevitable. Let me also clarify that this is meant for members who have not been exposed to the theory and have often felt a need to understand the same to explore more. In case any member needs any clarification, please feel free to message me in fb. These 72 melas are only scales and the life given to each swaras while rendering/playing is what makes it a raga. Listen to the song of the day ‘Rajan Maharajan’ (Shyamala-1952), rendered by the great master M.K.Tyagaraja Bhagawatar. The song set to tune by G.Ramanathan, is in Huseni raga. The Tyagaraja kriti quoted in the beginning ‘Raghuveera raNadheera’ is in Huseni as well. Huseni is a raga full of compassion and very deep emotions. It is a janya of Kharaharapriya though the shuddha ‘dha’ is used in some prayogas occasionally. Its arohana/avarohana is sa ri2 ga2 ma1 pa ni2 dha2 ni2 Sa/ Sa ni2 dha2 pa ma1 ga2 ri2 sa. Note that the swaras in the arohana are the same as that in Kharaharapriya except that it goes devious ‘pa ni dha ni’. You may also notice how different ‘endhan idathu thoL’ is from ‘Rajan Maharajan’ despite using the same swaras. This is where the greatness of carnatic music lies. As I said, a raga is not just a set of notes/swaras. Each swara has uniqueness and it varies from raga to raga. The other important prayogas of Huseni are ‘sapamapa’ , Saanisapadhapa’, ‘rigamarigasari’, ‘sasa papa sasa..’. To make us easily understand the nuances, Shri.G.Ramanathan has composed a lot of ‘kalpana swara’ phrases in the composition. The ‘thiruvaaLar’ in the beginning itself establishes Huseni. After the sangati in ‘tejaswaroopan’, there is a rain of swaras which have the unique distinct prayogas of Huseni with the climax being the ones centred around ‘ma’. The Veena with its repartees glows with Huseni. ..makes even the ‘unmovable’ move..
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 11:20:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015