Todi

Tōḍi is the 8th mēḷakarta1 in the sampūrṇa mēḷa system2. It was given the name Hanumatōḍi to be made to conform to the kaṭapayādi sūtra3. It is the second raga in the second chakra4 (Nētra chakra). In the asampūrṇa mēḷa system5, the 8th mēḷakarta was Janatōḍi. The svaras6 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, śuddha riṣabha, sādhāraṇa gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, śuddha dhaivata, kaiśiki niṣāda7. Its ārōhaṇa8 and avarōhaṇa are

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

This is an ancient rāga that dates back to the period of the grāma-mūrchana-jāti system10. It corresponds to Bhairavi thāṭ11 of Hindustani music. Tōḍi thāṭ of Hindustani music is very different from its Carnatic namesake and corresponds to the rāga Śubhapantuvarāḷi of Carnatic music. It corresponds to the Phrygian mode of Western music. It consists of a pair of symmetrical tetrachords separated by a major tone interval. It is a mūrchanakāraka mēḷa12. It gives rise to five other rāgas through the process of grahabhēda or modal shift of tonic. The five rāgas are Kalyāṇi from riṣabha, Harikāmbhōji from gāndhāra, Naṭhabhairavi from madhyama, Śaṅkarābharaṇa from dhaivata and Kharaharapriya from niṣāda. It is a major rāga that offers ample scope for improvisation. There are a number of compositions covering almost all varieties of compositional forms. It is a tristhāyi rāga, that is, it can be sung in all three octaves. Gāndhāra, madhyama and dhaivata are the rāgachāyā svaras13. Besides ṣaḍja and pañcama, riṣabha, madhyama, and dhaivata are the nyāsa svaras14. It can portray rasas15 like karuṇā (compassion), adbhuta (wonder), 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 Parent rāga

2 The rāga system formulated by Govindacharya, consisting of 72 parent rāgas.

3 Formula for finding out the number of the mēḷakarta from the name.

4 The 72 parent rāgas are divided into 12 sets of 6 rāgas each, called chakras. In each chakra, the combination of

ri-ga-ma remains constant, with varying da-ni combinations.

5 The rāga system formulated by Venkatamakhin.

6 Notes

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

8 Scale in ascent

9 Scale in descent

10 Ancient system of classification of scales.

11 Thāṭs are the parent scales in Hindustani music. There are 10 thāṭs.

12 A mēḷakarta which gives rise to other rāgas through the process of modal shift of tonic.

13 Notes which most effectively bring out the mood of the rāga

14 The landing notes for elaboration in various stages during improvisation.

15 Emotions or moods.