Mayamalavagowla Scale

Mayamalavagowla (pronounced ) is a raga of Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is classified as 15th ''melakarta'' raga under Venkatamakhin's ''melakarta'' system. Originally known as ''malavagowla'', "maya" was prefixed to it after the advent of the scheme of the 72 ''melas''. The number 15 was assigned to it following the Katapayadi sankhya system. This is a morning raga.

Structure and Lakshana

Venkatamakhin defines its lakshana thus:

पूर्णो माळवगोळाख्यः
स ग्रहो गीयते सदा

''Mayamalavagowla'' is the 3rd raga in the 3rd ''chakra, Agni''. Its mnemonic name is ''Agni-Go''. Its mnemonic phrase is ''sa ra gu ma pa dha nu''.''Ragas in Carnatic music'' by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications Its ' structure is as follows (see ''swaras'' in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):

* :
* :

The notes in this raga are ''ṣaḍjam, śuddha r̥ṣabham, antara gāndhāram, śuddha madhyamam, pañcamam, śuddha dhaivatam'' and ''kākalī niṣādam''. As it is a ''mēḷakarttā'' rāgam, by definition it is a ''sampurna'' rāgam (has all seven notes in ascending and descending scale). It is the ''śuddha madhyamam'' equivalent of ''Kamavardhini'' (also known as ''Pantuvarāḷi''), which is the 51st in the ''mēḷakarttā'' scale.

The gamakas in the raga are unique in that conversely to the G-M relationship in Śankarābharaṇaṃ, G is sung in oscillation (M,G M,G M,G) while M is held constant. There is no bold M-P gamaka as in Śankarābharaṇaṃ as well. R and D are also usually sung in oscillation with S and P respectively, making the only constant notes S, M, and P. Of course, these rules are occasionally broken for effect (e.g., holding N flat before ascending to S).

Nature of raga

This auspicious raga evokes ''śānta'' (peace) '' rasa'' and pathos. It creates a soothing effect, suitable to sing at all times, particularly, the first ''prātaḥ-sandhyā-kālaṃ'' (dawn). It is commonly used for beginners' lessons such as '' Sarali Varisais'' or ''Sarala Svarās'' (Kannada), etc. Since it eschews ''vivadi swaras'' (relatively discordant notes), has a uniform distance between ''svara sthānas'' (relative position of notes) and has symmetry, they are easier to learn. It is an ancient rāgam.

It is a '' Sampurna raga''. Also, it is a ''sarva svara gamaka vārika rakti rāga''. It has a large number of ''janya'' ragas (derived scales) assigned to it. This rāgam corresponds to '' Bhairav'' in Hindustani music. It is called as a "rakti" raga because of its high melodic content.

It is also defined as a ''mūrcana kāraka méLa'' since it can be used for ''Graha bhedam'' on ''madhyamam'' and ''rishabham'' to result in '' Simhendramadhyamam'' and '' Rasikapriya'' respectively. ''Graha bhedam'' is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the ''Shruti'' (or drone) to another note in the rāgam. For further details and an illustration refer '' Graha bhedam on Māyamālavagowla''.

''Janya'' ragams

''Mayamalavagowla'' has quite a few '' janya'' ragams associated with it, of which ''Bowli'', ''Jaganmohini'', '' Gowla'', ''Gowlipantu'', ''Janaranjini'', ''Lalita'', ''Nadanamakriya'', ''Revagupti'', '' Saveri'' and '' Malahari'' are quite well known. See List of ''janya'' Ragas for a full list of ''janyas''.

Popular compositions

All the basic '' swara'' exercises (''Sarali, Janta, Daattu'', etc.) are set to the ''Mayamalavagowla'' raga. These are learnt by beginners in Carnatic music. It is commonly used in the basics, credited to Purandara Dasa's work in his time, when he did much work towards standardizing the teaching of Carnatic music into a fully graded system. ''Lambodara lakumikara'' by Purandaradasa is generally used for this raga. The first mini-songs (''geetam'') that are taught after the completion of basic exercises are set to ''Malahari'', a ''janya'' of ''Mayamalavagowla''. Muthuswami Dikshitar's famous '' kritis'' (eight compositions with their raga names ending as ''gowla''), on Goddess Nilothpalamba has ' for one of them.

Some of the popular compositions in ''Mayamalavagowla'' are ''Deva Deva'' composed by Swathi Thirunal and ''Adikkondar'' by Muthu Thandavar. A list of popular compositions in Mayamalalavagowla is as follows.

* ''Varṇaṃ - śrī rājarājēśvari'' – nknown Composer* ''tulasī daḻamulacē saṃtōṣamuga'' – Tyagaraja in Telugu
* ''Mēru-samāna-dhira'' – Tyagaraja in Telugu
* ''Dēvī Śrī tulasammā'' – Tyagaraja in Telugu
* ''Vidulaku Mrokkeda'' – Tyagaraja in Telugu
* ''Dēva Dēva Kalayāmi'' – Swathi Thirunal
* ''Kailāsa nilaya dayāsāgara -'' Mahesh Mahadev in Sanskrit
* ''Māyātīta Svarūpiṇi'' – Ponnaiyya Pillai (Direct Disciple of Muthuswami Dikshitar) in Sanskrit
* ''Śrīnāthādi Guruguho jayati'' – Muthuswami Dikshitar (The very first composition of Muthuswami Dikshitar) in Sanskrit
* ''Śyāmalāmbikē pāhi māṃ'' – Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna
* ''ādityaṃ dēvādi-dēvaṃ akhilāṇḍa-nāthaṃ āśrayē'' – Muthiah Bhagavatar
* ''Dina-maṇi-vaṃśa dīna-janāvana'' – Muthiah Bhagavatar
* ''Hara mṛtyuñjaya ambikā-nāyaka hari kamalāsana'' – Muthiah Bhagavatar
* ''Popular Adithala Varnam- Sarasija-nābha'' – Swathi Thirunal
* ''Ambā yuvati jaganmātē akhila-janani dayānidhē'' – Ashok R Madhav
* ''Avadh sukhdāyi bājē badhāyī ratan simhāsan par'' – Swathi Thirunal
* ''Bhaja rē mānasa vraja-bālaṃ'' – Swarajāti – H Yoganarasimhan
* ''Caraṇaṃ śaraṇaṃ ayyappā'' – Ganapati Sacchidananda
* ''Cintayāmi santataṃ'' – G Sampath
* ''Cintaye'haṃ jānaki-kāntaṃ santataṃ cintitārtha'' – Mysore Vasudevacharya
* ''Daśaratha-nandana'' – Mysore Vasudevacharya
* ''Dēva-dēveśa'' – R K Suryanarayana
* ''Dēva-dēvōttama'' – Govindacharya
* ''Dēvi kāmākṣi para-śiva-dēhārtha'' – Ogirala Viraraghava Sharma
* ''Durgā lakṣmi sarasvati'' – Lalita Venkataraman
* ''Kāmākṣīṃ kamalākṣīṃ'' – R K Padmanabha
* ''Jaya jagadisha hare'' – from eulogy composed by Jayadeva
* ''Krpakari shankari karunakari kapalishvari'' – Rukmini Ramani
* ''Mantra svarupam'' – Bangalore S Mukund
* ''Kshira jaladhi niketana'' – Pallavur Mani Iyer
* ''Kshira sagara shayana raksha shara nivasini'' – Jayachamaraja wodeyar
* ''Maya mohini maheshvari'' – Mangalam Ganapati
* ''Kaladevathe Saraswathi'' – V. Dakshinamoorthy

This raga has also been very popularly used in film music. Numerous well recognized songs have been set in this raga. Ilayaraja has composed many hit songs in this raga.

Telugu film songs

Tamil film songs

Malayalam film songs

Notes

References

{{Janya, state=collapsed

Melakarta ragas