Nīlāmbari

Nīlāmbari is a bhāṣāṅga janya1 of the 29 th mēḷakarta2 Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇa. It is a vakra sampūrṇa-vakra ṣāḍava3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga in ascent are ṣaḍja, chatuśruti riṣabha, antara gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, chatuśruti dhaivata, kākali niṣāda5 . Kaiśiki niṣāda, which is an additional note that is not present in its parent rāga Dhīraśaṅkarābharaṇa, is seen in some phrases.

Its ārōhaṇa 6 and avarōhaṇa 7 are

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

It is an ancient rāga and corresponds to the paṇṇ Mēgarāgakkuriñji. It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously.

It is a soothing rāga and is often used to sing lullabies. Night time is most appropriate for singing this rāga. It is well-suited for slow tempo.

Riṣabha, madhyama, niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras8 . Besides ṣaḍja and pañcama, madhyama is nyāsa svara9 .

It can portray rasas10 like karuṇa (compassion), vātsalya (affection) 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.