SrI:
Dear Sangeetha RasikAs and
NaadhOpAsakAs :
Today we will cover MeLa
KarthA rAgams and Janya rAgams briefly .
Janya Raagams are born
(derived) from MeLa Raagams . Each MeLa KarthA has many Janya Raagams .Janya
Raagams will possess the svarams of the MeLa rAgams .
When a versatile
composer handles both MeLa and Its Janya Raagams , good care has to be
taken by the composer .
Even more care has to be
taken about
SvarasthAnams , when
handling adjascent MeLa karthA rAgams .
Let us make some general
comments on
the Janya Raagams before
focusing on the MeLa Raaga krithis composed by Kaimkarya SrI Srimathi
Padma
VeerarAghavan .
There are 3 Kinds of
Janya Raagams:
(1)SampoorNam with 7
svarams
(2) ShADavam with Six
Svarams
(3) OuDavam with five
svarams
In each of the MeLa
KarthA Raagam , there are 8 kinds of bhEdhams . They range from 6 for
SampoorNa-ShADava
BhEdham to 225 for
ouDava-ouDava bhEdhams , With all these combinations ,
the bhEdhams add up to
483 possibilities .
(1) When we say ,
SampoorNa-ShaDava bhEdham , we mean that there are 7 svarams in the ascent(
ArOhaNam) and 6 in descent ( avarOhaNam) . An example of such a Janya
Raagam is Bhairavam ( MariyAdha gAdhyaa krithoi of Saint ThyagarAja) .
Bhairavam is a janyam of
the 17th MeLam , Soorya
kAntham .
(2)When we refer to the
BhEdham of ShADava-sampoorNam , the ArOhaNam has 6 Svarams
and the
avarOhaNam has 7 svarams .The case in point is the Raagam BhUshAvaLi , the
janyam of the 64th MeLa Raagam ,Vaachaspathy .
(3) SampoorNa-Oudavam
has 7 in ascent and 5 svarams of the MeLa Raagam in descent . One of the 15
variations( bhEdhams ) of such a Janya Raagam is Garudadhvani , the derivative
of 29th MELam , Dheera SankharAbaharaNam.
Saint ThyagarAja
composed Tattvameriya taramA and Aanandha sAgaramE in Garudadhvani
.
5) An example of
Oudava-SampoorNam is the mid-morning Raagam of SaaVeri with 5 svarams in
avarOhaNam and 7 savarams in avarOhaNam . SaavEri is a Janyam of the 15th
MeLa KarthA rAgam, MaayA MaaLava GouLai . SrI Mutthuswami Dheekshithar
has composed in many Janya Raagams of the 15th MeLam just as Saint ThyagarAja
was partial to the Janya Raagams of Karahara Priya , the 22nd MeLam
.
(6) The beautiful
SrIranajani is a Janya Raagam of KaraharapriyA , the 22nd Suddha Madyama MeLam
.It is a ShADava-ShADava Janya Raagam with 6 svarams each in ArOhaNam and
avarOhaNam .
7) ShaDava-Oudavam ( 6
in ascent and 5 in avarohaNam) , The krithi BhrOva BhAramA of Saint
ThyagarAjA in Raagam BahudhAri is one such raagam and it is derived from the
28th MeLam ,Hari KaambhOji . Some times the Janya Raagam outshines its MeLa
raagam such as KambhOji and Hari KaambhOji . Bhairavi and Nada Bhairavi
is another such example .
8)
Oudava-ShAdavam is the one with 5 svarams in the ascent and 6 in the
descent .This kind has 90 bHEdhams
( varieties in
combinations). Janya Raagam Bhouli is one such and is another Janya Raagam of
the 15th MeLam , MaayA MaaLava GouLam .
9) Oudava-Oudavam ( 5
svarams in ascent and 5 in descent).
For one MeLa karthA rAgam, there are the
possibilites of 483 Janya Raagams , when we look at the subdivisions of the
above 9 main variations ranging from SampoorNa shADavam to OuDava- ouDava
bhEdhams ; hence for the 72 MeLa Karthas , there would be a total of 34,776
Janya rAgams
(72 times 483 bhEdhams
).
All the 34,776 janya Raagams have not
been used by the composers.
The 72 MeLa Raagams have been handled
by the likes of Mahaa VaidhanAtha Iyer , Kavi Kunjara BhArathi , Bala MuraLi
KrishNa,
AchArya ratnam S.Rajam and now
Srimathi Padma VeerarAghavn has joined the ranks of these famous composers
thanks to the anugraha Balam of BhUmi Devi SamEtha Sri Oppiliappan of
ThiruviNNagara Dhivya dEsam .
Three
kinds of Janya Raagams :
They break up
into (1)upAnga (2) BhAshAnga and (3) vakra rAgams.
UpAnga Raagam has
always the svarams of the MeLa KarthA rAgams in ArOhaNam and avarOhaNam . All
of the 34,776 janyams referred to above are
UpAnga Janya
Raagams.
BhAshAnga Raagam
will include also svarams from another MeLa karthA raagam in its
ArOhaNa-avarOhanams .
Vakra Raagam has
either in ArOhaNa-avarOhaNams or in both have the svarams not in the natural
order . When one considers the formation of vakra Raagams from the 34,776
upAnga Raagams , the possibilites are mind boggling
.
I am indebted to
Sangeetha AchArya Sriman B.Rajam for the above insights to share with
you.
In the next
posting , I will take up some of the MeLa raaga and Janya Raaga krithis of
Smt. Padma Veeraraghavan on Lord Oppiliappan of Thiruvinnagar eulogized by 4
AzhwArs .
NamO SrI VenkatEsAya ,
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri
Sadagopan