Vasanta

Vasanta is an upāṅga janyai of the 17th mēḷakartaii Sūryakānta. It is a vakra auḍava-ṣāḍava iii rāga. The svarasiv occurring in this rāga are ṣaḍja, antara gāndhāra, śuddha madhyama, chatuśruti dhaivata, kākali niṣāda in the ascent; in addition to these svaras, śuddha riṣabha occurs in the descentv. Its ārōhaṇavi and avarōhaṇavii are

S M1 G3 M1 D2 N3 Ṡ – Ṡ N3 D2 M1 G3 R1 S.

In Western music notation, if C is taken as the base or tonic note, then the scale is

C F E F A B C – C B A F E C# C.

Vasanta is an ancient rāga which has existed for more than a thousand years. The closest equivalents of this rāga in Hindustani music are Raag Śuddha Sōhni and Raag Girija.

It is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously.

Gāndhāra, madhyama, dhaivata, niṣāda are rāgachāyā svarasviii. Madhyama and dhaivata are nyāsa svarasix. Sa-ma, ga-da, ga-ni are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes).

It can portray rasasx like vīra (valour), śṛṅgāra (romantic) and krōdha (anger) very effectively.

Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are

M G M D N Ṡ N D N D, M, – M D, D M G, – G M, G R S Ṇ – S Ṇ Ḍ Ṇ S M, – D M G M D, – N D M D N, – D N Ṙ Ṡ Ṡ N D N, D, – D N Ṡ Ṁ, Ġ Ṙ, – Ṡ,ṘṠ N,ṠN D,ND M,DM G R, – G M Ṡ N, – M N, D, – G D, M, – M, D G M, G R, – S Ṇ G R R S S,

A few compositions in this rāga are-

Ninnukōri (varṇam)

Pedda Singaracharlu

Sannutāṅgi (daruvarṇam)

Harikēsanallūr Muttaiah Bhāgavatar

Sītamma Māyamma

Tyāgarāja

Eṭla dorakitivo

Tyāgarāja

Rāmachandram

Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar

Bṛhadambikāyai

Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar

Harihara putram

Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar

Paramapuruṣa

Mahārāja Swāti Tirunāḷ

Naṭanam Āḍinār

Gōpālakṛṣṇa Bhārati

Māmava Mṛḍajāye

Mysore Vāsudēvāchārya

Dēvi rame

Mysore Vāsudēvāchārya

Ḍaṅgurava sārirayya

Purandara Dāsaru

Lalita lavaṅga (aṣṭapadi)

Jayadēva

Vāḍe Veṅkaṭādri

Annamāchārya (tuned by Dr. S. Pinakapani)

Dhīm tana (tillāna)

Harikēsanallūr Muttaiah Bhāgavatar

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 Academy

Rao, 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

Web Links

1. Ranjani and Gayatri (vocal)

2. M S Subbulakshmi (vocal)

Carnatic

Vasanta

Watch the sublime Sudha Ragunathan leave audiences in awe at the 2019 Darbar Festival with Raag Vasanta.

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