Māyāmāḷavagouḷa

Māyāmāḷavagouḷa is the 15th mēḷakarta1 in the sampūrṇa mēḷa system2 . It is the third raga in the third chakra3 (Agni chakra). This rāga was known by the same name in the asampūrṇa mēḷa system4 as well. The svaras5 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, śuddha riṣabha, antara gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, śuddha dhaivata, kākali niṣāda6 .

Its ārōhaṇa 7 and avarōhaṇa 8 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 Bhairav thāṭ 9 of Hindustani music. It consists of a pair of symmetrical tetrachords separated by a major tone interval.

This scale is also found in Bulgarian music. It is a mūrchanakāraka mēḷa 10. It gives rise to two other rāgas through the process of grahabhēda or modal shift of tonic, namely Rasikapriya from riṣabha and Simhēndramadhyama from madhyama.

It offers ample scope for improvisation. Owing to its symmetry as well as closely placed adjacent notes, Purandara Dasa chose this rāga for the beginners’ lessons starting from Saraḷe varase upto Alaṅkārams, as it is easier for children to pick up the notes. Malahari, which is the rāga of the Piḷḷāri gītams starting from Lambodara lakumikara, is a derivative of this rāga.

It is a tristhāyi rāga, that is, it can be sung in all three octaves. It is maṅgaḷakara or auspicious. Gāndhāra and niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras11 . Besides ṣaḍja and pañcama, madhyama and niṣāda are nyāsa svaras12 . R-D, G-N are pairs of vādi-samvādi13 svaras.

It can portray rasas14 like karuṇā (compassion), śānta (tranquil) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva.

Some of the signature phrases of 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. 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

The above table gives you information on the notes as they are referred to between Sa on the middle octave to the Sa on the upper octave. It needs to be interpreted based on the Raga and its scale formation as given above. In the table given above, there are notes that use the same frequencies but, are spelt differently. For example, Rishaba 2 is equal to Gandhara 1, Dhaivata 2 is equal to Nishad 1. However, because of the ornamentation (Gamakas) most often the notes are not portrayed as it is played out on the Piano. There is a certain distortion in the frequencies making it difficult to identify the actual notes involved in the Scale formation.

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.