Hindola

Hindōḷa is an upāṅga janya1 of the 8th mēḷakarta2 Hanumatōḍi. It is an auḍava3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, sādhāraṇa gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, śuddha dhaivata, kaiśiki niṣāda5. Its ārōhaṇa6 and avarōhaṇa7 are

In terms of Western notes, if C is taken as the base, then the scale is

This is an ancient rāga. It corresponds to Raag Mālkauns of Hindustani music. This scale figures among the tonal pentatonic scales of Western music. Hindōḷa is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously. It is a major rāga that offers ample scope for improvisation. It is a tristhāyi rāga, that is, it can be sung in all three octaves. It gives rise to four other rāgas through the process of grahabhēda or modal shift of tonic. The four rāgas are Śuddha Sāvēri from gāndhāra, Śuddha Dhanyāsi from madhyama, Mōhana from dhaivata and Madhyamāvati from niṣāda. Gāndhāra, dhaivata and niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras8. All the svaras are nyāsa svaras9. G-D, G- N, M-N are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes). It can portray rasas10 like karuṇa (compassion), śṛṅgāra (romantic), adbhuta (wonder), śānta (tranquil), vīra (valour) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva.

Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are

A few compositions in this rāga are-

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.

4 Notes

5 There are 16 varieties of svaras in Carnatic music. They are

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.