Ānandabhairavi is a bhāṣāṅga janya1 of the 20th mēḷakarta2 Naṭhabhairavi. It is a vakra ṣāḍava-sampūrṇa3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga in ascent are ṣaḍja, chatuśruti riṣabha, sādhāraṇa gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, chatuśruti dhaivata. Kaiśiki niṣāda occurs in descent5
. Kākali niṣāda, śuddha dhaivata and antara gāndhāra are extra notes that are seen in some phrases. Its ārōhaṇa6 and avarōhaṇa7 are
S G2 R2 G2 M1 P D2 P Ṡ – Ṡ N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S.
In terms of Western notes, if C is taken as the base, then the scale is
C D# D D# F G A G C – C A# A G F D# D C
It is an ancient rāga. It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously. It is a versatile rāga and is used for diverse variety of tunes ranging from folky lyrics to purely classical compositions that can be elaborated as main items in concerts.
Gāndhāra, madhyama, niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras8
. Gāndhāra is a nyāsa svara9
. M-N are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes).
It can portray rasas10 like vīra (valour), karuṇa (compassion) and śṛṅgāra (romantic) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva.
Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are
N, P, – M P N P, N P, M, – M P, P M G, R G, – G M P D P Ṡ,
– Ṡ Ṙ Ṡ N, – N Ṡ Ṁ, Ġ Ṙ, Ṡ,
– N
Ṡ Ṙ,ĠṘ Ṡ,ṘṠ N D P, – G M P,DP M,PM G R G, – G M P D P Ġ, Ṙ, Ṡ,
– G M P N, P, M, – M
P, M G, R – G M P D1, G, D1, P, G, R, – Ṇ, S Ṇ – S, G S – G, M G – G M P, M,,, M G3 G3, R
G3, M P, M, – D P P M G, R, – S R G R P M G R S, – S Ṇ3 Ṇ3 Ḍ Ṇ3 S R, S,
A few compositions in this rāga are-
Kamalasulōchana (gītam)
Rāve maguva (svarajati) – Chinnikṛṣṇadāsa
Sadbhaktiyu – Rāmanāthapuram Śrinivāsa Iyengār
Kṣīrasāgara vihāra – Tyāgarāja
Kamalāmbā samrakṣatu – Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar
Marivēre – Śyāmā Śāstri
O jagadamba – Śyāmā Śāstri
Himāchalatanaya – Śyāmā Śāstri
Paluke baṅgāramāyena – Bhadrāchala Rāmadāsu
Kaṇṭi śukravāramu – Tāḷḷapākam Annamāchārya
Hariharan, M. and Kuppuswamy, Gowri. 2011. Comparative Music- Fundamentals of Western
Music. Nagercoil: CBH PublicationsKeshavamurthy, R.R. 1964. Rāgalakṣaṇa mattu Rāgakōśa. Bengaluru: Gāna Viśārada Biḍāram
Kṛṣṇappa Smāraka Saṅgīta Vidyālaya
Rajarao, Mysore L. 2003. Saṅgīta Śāstra Chandrike. Bengaluru: Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya
Academy
Rao, B. Subba. 1980. Raganidhi. Madras: The Music Academy
Sambamoorthy, P. 2018 (reprint of eighth edition published in 1998). South Indian Music
(Volumes 1 to 6). Chennai: The Indian Music Publishing House
Vasantalakshmi, R. 2007. Karnāṭaka Saṅgītaśāstra vāhini. Mysore: Bharathi Prakashana
Footnotes
1 A derived rāga which has other notes in addition to the notes of its own parent rāga.
2 Parent rāga
3 Vakra-Ṣāḍava- A scale with 6 notes- Hexatonic, but not in their usual order. Sampūrṇa- A scale that has all 7
notes. Vakra ṣāḍava-sampurna is a scale with 6 notes not in the usual order in ascent and 7 notes in descent.
4 Notes
5 There are 16 varieties of svaras in Carnatic music. They are
Sa (ṣaḍja)
ṣaḍja
Ri (riṣabha)
śuddha riṣabha
chatuśruti riṣabha
ṣaṭśruti riṣabha
Ga (gāndhāra)
śuddha gāndhāra
sādhāraṇa gāndhāra
antara gāndhāra
Ma (madhyama)
śuddha madhyama
prati madhyama
Pa (pañchama)
pañchama
Da (dhaivata)
śuddha dhaivata
chatuśruti dhaivata
ṣaṭśruti dhaivata
Ni (niṣāda)
śuddha niṣāda
kaiśiki niṣāda
kākali niṣāda
6 Scale in ascent
7 Scale in descent
8 Notes which most effectively bring out the mood of the rāga
9 The landing notes for elaboration in various stages during improvisation.
10 Emotions or moods.
Jayanthi Kumaresh gives a magnificent performance of Raga Ananda Bhairavi in this concert at the Darbar Festival in London.
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