Hamsanāda is an upāṅga janyai of the 60th mēḷakartaii Nītimati. It is an auḍavaiii rāga. The svarasiv occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, chatuśruti riṣabha, prati madhyama, pañchama, kākali niṣādav. Its ārōhaṇavi and avarōhaṇavii are
S R2 M2 P N3 Ṡ – Ṡ N3 P M2 R2 S.
In Western music notation, if C is taken as the base or tonic note, then the scale is
C D F# G B C – C B G F# D C.
It is a mūrchanakāraka janya rāgaviii. It gives rise to two other rāgas through the process of grahabhēda or modal shift of tonic. The two rāgas are Gambhīranāṭa from pañcama and Bhūpāla from niṣāda.
It is a rāga which has existed since olden times. It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously.
Riṣabha, madhyama, niṣāda are rāgachāyā svarasix. Riṣabha, pañcama and niṣāda are nyāsa svarasx. Sa-pa, ri-pa, ma-ni are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes).
It can portray rasasxi like vīra (valour) and 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
M P, M R, – R M P M R S Ṇ, – Ṇ S R M, – P M R M P N, P, – M P N Ṙ Ṡ Ṡ N, – N Ṙ Ṁ Ṙ N, – P N Ṙ N P, – M N P M R S Ṇ S R M P N Ṡ Ṙ, Ṡ, – N Ṙ Ṡ Ṙ N Ṡ, N P, – N Ṡ Ṙ Ṁ Ṗ, Ṁ Ṙ, Ṡ N P, – M P N N P M R, – M R, M R S Ṇ, – Ṇ S R, S,
A few compositions in this rāga are-
Baṇṭurīti
Tyāgarāja
Bhārama
G.N.Balasubramaniam
Kalyāṇa rāma
Ootukkāḍu Venkata Subbayyar
Bibliography
Hariharan, M. and Kuppuswamy, Gowri. 2011. Comparative Music- Fundamentals of Western Music. Nagercoil: CBH Publications
Keshavamurthy, 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
Web Links
- Trichur Brothers (vocal)
- M. S. Gopalokrishnan (vocal)
- Jayalakshmi Sekhar (veena)
Sudha Ragunathan presents Raga Hamsanada in 2019.
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