Malahari

Malahari is a Carnatic raga. This raaga is a janya of the 15th Melakarta raga Mayamalavagowla. This raga is known to be a morning raga which brings out a sense of calmness.[1] It is associated with the rainy season.[2]

Malahari
ArohanamS R₁ M₁ P D₁ Ṡ
AvarohanamṠ D₁ P M₁ G₃ R₁ S
Carnatic music
Tanjavur-style Tambura
Concepts
Compositions
Instruments
Melody
Sarasvati Vīṇa
Veṇu
Nāgasvaraṃ
Gottuvadhyam (Citra Vīṇa)
Violin
Percussion
Mr̥daṅgaṃ
Ghatam
Morsing
Kanjira
Thavil
Drone
Tambura
Shruti box

In classical carnatic training, it is often used as a raaga for beginners using geetha right after the swara-based exercises in Mayamalavagowla. Many of the Geetha's in this raga have been composed by Purandara Dasa and Muthuswami Dikshitar.

Ascending scale with C as Shadjam (tonic note)

Structure and Lakshana
Descending scale has one extra note G3

This raga is an asymmetric scale and is classified as an audava-shadava raga (five notes in the ascending scale and six notes in the descending scale).[1][2]

The notes in this scale are 'shuddha rishabha, shuddha madhyama, shuddha dhaivata in arohana and additional antara gandhara in avarohana. Since this scale does not have a nishadha, it can be derived from Gayakapriya (13th melakarta) or Vakulabharanam (14th) too, but has been traditionally associated with Mayamalavagowla (15th) as the parent.

Select compositions

Geeta's

Kritis
  • Panchamatanga in Rupaka composed by Muthuswami Dikshitar
  • Ananta Padmanaabam in Rupaka composed by Muthiah Bhagavatar
  • Kalaye Devadeva in Jhampa composed by MaharajaSwathi Thirunal
  • Melukovayya in Adi composed by Shahji Maharaja

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāga.

Scale similarities
  • Karnataka Shuddha Saveri is a rāga which has a symmetrical scale matching the ascending scale of Malahari (gandhara is entirely omitted). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R1 M1 P D1 S : S D1 P M1 R1 S

Notes
  1. Alternate notations:
    • Hindustani: S Ṟ M P Ḏ Ṡ
    • Western: C D♭ F G A♭ C
  2. Alternate notations:
    • Hindustani: Ṡ Ḏ P M G Ṟ S
    • Western: C A♭ G F E D♭ C

References
  1. Raganidhi by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras
  2. Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.