Varali

Varāḷi is an upāṅga janya1 of the 39th mēḷakarta2 Jhālavarāḷi. It is a vakra sampūrṇa-krama sampūrṇa3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, śuddha riṣabha, śuddha gāndhāra, prati madhyama, pañchama, śuddha dhaivata, kākali niṣāda5. Its ārōhaṇa6 and avarōhaṇa7 are

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

It is an ancient rāga. It is one of the ghana pañchaka rāgas. It offers ample scope for improvisation. Gāndhāra, madhyama are rāgachāyā svaras8. Gāndhāra and dhaivata are nyāsa svaras9. Madhyama is higher than usual and is often called Varāḷi madhyama. It can portray rasas10 like karuṇa (compassion) 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 Vakra-Sampūrṇa- A scale that has all 7 notes, but not in their usual order. Krama-sampūrṇa- A scale that has

all 7 notes in the proper order. Vakra sampūrṇa-krama sampūrṇa is a scale with 7 notes not in the usual order

in ascent and 7 notes in the proper order in descent.

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.