Ārabhi is an upāṅga janya1 of the 29th mēḷakarta2 Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇa. It is an auḍava- sampūrṇa3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, chatuśruti riṣabha, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, chatuśruti dhaivata. Kākali niṣāda and antara gāndhāra occur in descent5
. Its ārōhaṇa6 and avarōhaṇa7 are
S R2 M1 P D2 Ṡ – Ṡ N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S.
In terms of Western notes, if C is taken as the base, then the scale is
C D F G A C – C B A G F E D C
It is an ancient rāga and corresponds to the paṇṇ Pazham Takka Rāgam. It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously. It is a tristhāyi rāga, that is, it can be sung in all three octaves. It is one of the ghana pañchaka rāgas. Medium or fast-paced phrases bring out the flavour of the rāga effectively. It is an auspicious rāga.
It is symmetric in descent. Riṣabha, madhyama and dhaivata are rāgachāyā svaras8. Riṣabha and pañchama are nyāsa svaras9
. R-D are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes). Niṣāda and gāndhāra have the quality of alpatva (cannot be elongated) and should not be stressed upon too much.
It can portray rasas10 like vīra (valour), śṛṅgāra (romantic), hāsya (joy), adbhuta (wonder) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva.
Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are
P, M, G R S R M, G R, – R M P D, – D Ṙ Ṡ N D, P, – D P M P D Ṡ, N D, – D Ṙ Ṡ Ṙ, – Ṡ Ṙ Ṁ, Ġ Ṙ, – Ṁ Ġ Ṙ Ṙ Ṡ N D D P P M G R, – R R M M D D Ṙ, Ṡ N D P M G R, – R, P M G R, – S R M G R S Ṇ Ḍ, – Ḍ R S R, – R D P D, – D Ṙ, D Ṡ, P D, P M, G R, – R R S Ṇ Ḍ, – R Ḍ S,
A few compositions in this rāga are-
Rē rē śrī rāma (gītam)
Sarasijamukhi (varṇam) – Pallavi Duraisāmi Ayyar
Sādhiñchene – Tyāgarāja
Nādasudhārasambilanu – Tyāgarāja
Chālakallalāḍukonna – Tyāgarāja
Jūtāmu rāre – Tyāgarāja
Sundari ninnu – Tyāgarāja
Nā moralanu – Tyāgarāja
Śrī saraswati – Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar
Pāhi parvatanandini – Maharāja Swāti Tirunāḷ
Footnotes
1 A derived rāga which has notes only from its own parent rāga.
2 Parent rāga
3 Auḍava- A scale with 5 notes- Pentatonic. Sampūrṇa- A scale that has all 7 notes. Auḍava-sampūrṇa is a scale
with 5 notes 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.
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
Sisters Ranjani and Gayatri sing Raag Arabhi
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