Vāgadhīśwari is the 34th mēḷakarta1 in the sampūrṇa mēḷa system2. It is the fourth raga in the sixth chakra3 (Ṛtu chakra). This rāga was known by the name Bhōgacchāyānāṭa in the asampūrṇa mēḷa system4. The svaras5 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, ṣaṭśruti riṣabha, antara gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, chatuśruti dhaivata, kaiśiki niṣāda6. Its ārōhaṇa7 and avarōhaṇa8 are
S R3 G3 M1 P D2 N2 Ṡ – Ṡ N2 D2 P M1 G3 R3 S.
In terms of the notes of Western notes, if C is taken as the base, then the scale is
C D# E F G A A# C – C A# A G F E D# C.
This is not an ancient rāga and emerged when the 72 mēḷakarta system was conceived of. It is a mūrchanakāraka mēḷa9. It gives rise to two other rāgas through the process of grahabhēda or modal shift of tonic, namely Nāgānandini from madhyama and Bhavapriya from dhaivata. Riṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama and niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras10. Besides ṣaḍja and pañcama, gāndhāra and dhaivata are nyāsa svaras11. M-N are vādi-samvādi12 svaras. It can portray rasas13 like karuṇā (compassion), śānta (tranquil) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva. The great composer and one of the musical trinity, Tyāgarāja, immortalised this rāga through his composition Paramātmuḍu velige which he composed just before leaving his mortal coils.
Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are
N D P – G M P D N D P M G R, – S Ṇ Ḍ Ṇ, R, S, – S R G M, – P D N Ṡ N D P M, – P D N Ṡ Ṙ, Ṡ, – D N Ṡ Ṙ, Ġ, – Ġ Ṁ Ṗ Ṁ Ġ Ṙ, – D N Ṙ, – D N Ṡ, – N D P M, – G M N D P M G R, – Ṇ Ḍ Ṇ, – R, S,
A few compositions in this rāga are-
Paramātmuḍu velige
Tyāgarāja
Bhōgacchāyānāṭakapriye
Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar
Footnotes
1 Parent rāga
2 The rāga system formulated by Govindacharya, consisting of 72 parent rāgas.
3 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.
4 The rāga system formulated by Venkatamakhin.
5 Notes
6 There are 16 varieties of svaras in Carnatic music. They are
Sa (ṣaḍja)
ṣaḍja
Ri (riṣabha)
śuddha riṣabha
chatuśruti riṣabha
ṣaṭśruti riṣabha
Ga (gāndhāra)
śuddha gāndhāra
sādhāraṇa gāndhāra
antara gāndhāra
Ma (madhyama)
śuddha madhyama
prati madhyama
Pa (pañchama)
pañchama
Da (dhaivata)
śuddha dhaivata
chatuśruti dhaivata
ṣaṭśruti dhaivata
Ni (niṣāda)
śuddha niṣāda
kaiśiki niṣāda
kākali niṣāda
7 Scale in ascent
8 Scale in descent
9 A mēḷakarta which gives rise to other rāgas through the process of modal shift of tonic.
10 Notes which most effectively bring out the mood of the rāga
11 The landing notes for elaboration in various stages during improvisation.
12 Consonant notes.
13 Emotions or moods.
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
AcademyRao, 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
Vasantalakshmi, R. 2007. Karnāṭaka Saṅgītaśāstra vāhini. Mysore: Bharathi Prakashana
Young virtuoso Shashank Subramanyam showcases his astonishing range of techniques on the venu (Carnatic flute), exuberantly elaborating Raga Vagadeeshwari.
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