RELATED LITERATURE CHAPTER II

Transcription

1 RELATED LITERATURE CHAPTER II

2 CHAPTER II RELATED LITERATURE All the medieval and modern ragas are evolved from the basic scales - the melakartas or thaats Venkatamakhi has devised 72 melakartas Based on those melakarta ragas, numerous ragas were evolved which enriched South Indian Music In general, ragas are divided into two: Janaka raga and Janya raga Janaka ragas are also known by the other names, such as Mela, kartharaga, Melakarta and Sampurna raga Janya raga means a raga that is born out of another raga or derived from another raga Each Janaka raga have a few Janya ragas The Janya raga generally takes the same swarasthanas as those of the Janaka raga a Janya raga classification with special reference to Mohana The Janya ragas are considered to be innumerable The probable number of Janya ragas that could be generated from Janaka ragas is approximately more than 34,000 But many of them are almost same, 11

3 considering the concept of srutibheda or grahabhedam More over many of them are non-identifiable or non-practical They have only theoritical existence as far as performing music is concerned They are also known as derivative ragas Generally a Janya raga inbibes the characteric phrases of its Janaka raga In the case of some Janya ragas the phrases used deviates from the original swara phrase combinations Janya ragas are classified into Varja, Vakra, Bhashanga, Upanga and Janya sampurna Varja Ragas The Janya ragas in which one, two or three notes are absent either in the arohana, avarohana or both are called Varja ragas The omitted swaras are called Varja swaras If one note is absent, it is called shadava and if two notes are absent it is called Audava If three notes are absent they are called Swarantara ragas In these three varieties Shadava and Audava are common They are of eight kinds 1 Shadava - Sampurna 2 Audava - Sampurna 3 Sampurna - Shadava 4 Sampurna - Audava 5 Shadava - Shadava 12

4 6 Shadava - Audava 7 Audava - Audava 8 Audava - Shadava Examples - 1 Shadava - Sampurna - Kamboji - Janya of 28 th mela Harikamboji Arohana - s r g p d s s n d m g r s 2 Audava - Sampurna - Bilahari - Janya of 29 th mela Sankarabharanam Arohana - s r g p d s s n d p m g r s 3 Sampurna - Shadava - Nilambari - Janya of 29 th mela Sankarabharanam Arohana - s r g m p d p n s s n p m g r g s 4 Sampurna - Audava - Saramati - Janya of 20 th mela Natabhairavi Arohana - s r g m p d n s s n d m g s 13

5 5 Shadava - Shadava - Malayamarutham - Janya of 16 th mela Chakravakam Arohana - s r g p d n s s n d p g r s 6 Shadava - Audava - Bahudari - Janya of 28 th mela Harikamboji Arohana - s g m p d n s s n p m g s 7 Audava - Shadava - Malahari - Janya of 15 th mela Mayamalavagaula Arohana - s r m p d s s d p m g r s 8 Audava - Audava - Mohanam - Janya of 28 th mela Harikamboji Arohana - s r g p d s s d p g r s A minimum number of notes are essential for a Janya raga If there are atleast five notes in a raga, taking together the arohana avarohana of a raga, the raga will have a distinct swarupa Ragas where 14

6 three notes are absent, both in arohana and avarohana are very rare Even then the raga Navarasakannada (Janya of 28 th mela) with arohana avarohana as s g m p s - s n d m g r s taking swarantara arohana and shadava avarohana is very popular Vakra ragas Ragas in which the swaras do not occur in the regular order in the arohana, avarohana or both are called Vakra ragas The Vakra ragas may be Sampurna, Shadava, Audava, Upanga or Bhashanga Upanga and Bhashanga ragas Upanga ragas are taking only the notes of their parent ragas and exhibiting the qualities of a single raga without the admixture of any other raga Example - Mohana, Malahari, Arabhi etc Upanga ragas may be varja or vakra The Janyaragas which are taking one, two or three extra notes in addition to the notes taken from its parent scale producing magnificent effect are called Bhashanga ragas In such ragas the variety of notes belonging to the parent scale are called "Svakiya Swaras' and the extra notes are called "Foreign notes' or "Anya Swara' These anyaswaras usually occur in certain sancharas or phrases of the raga 15

7 Nishadantya, Dhaivatantya and Panchamatya ragas There are a few ragas which do not go beyond the limits of madhyasthayi and do not touch the tharastayi shadja as usual Such ragas are of three kinds - Nishadantya, Dhaivatantya and Panchamantya ragas Janya Sampurna ragas This is another type of janya ragas with sampurna arohana and avarohana But the peculiarity of this arohana - avarohana is that it can be vakra or bhashanga in character These types of ragas are called Janya Sampurna ragas These are the main classification of Janya ragas Among these classifications the raga Mohana comes under the Varja category ie two swaras omit from its melakarta raga It is called Audava In this audava group Mohana is an audava - audava raga Mohana is derived from 28 th melakarta Harikamboji The notes "ma' and "ni' are omitted in the arohana and avarohana Thus Mohana became a regular audava audava raga b Ragalakshana of Mohana Arohana - s r g p d s s d p g r s 16

8 Besides shadja panchama the variety of notes are chatusruti "ri', antara "ga' and chatusruti "da' This is an upanga raga There is no anyaswara prayoga in this raga It is a krama audava raga All the notes are swakiya swaras ie, the variety of the parental notes itself "Ri', "ga' and "dha' are the raga chayaswaras and "ga' and "pa' are the nyasaswaras The swarupa of the raga is brought out by jantaswara prayogas like s s d d p p g g - d d p p g g r r and datuswara prayogas like d g r g s r, d r s r s d p g It is a sarvaswara gamaka varika raktiraga One of the major ragas gives scope for elaborate l pana It is one of the prominent ragas in which all types of compositions are found It can be sung at all times This raga figures in opera and dance dramas It is very useful for signing varnanas and descriptions Being an auspicious raga, it is very suitable for singing Mangalams A tristayi raga is capable of evoking more than one rasa The notes of this raga are the first ones to be derived by the shadja panchama bhava or cycle of fifths Usually the compositions in this raga commence on the notes "sa', "ga' and "pa' This is a sarvaswara murchanakaraka janyaraga c Mohana as a murchanakaraka janya raga In Indian music various scales are derived by the process of model shift of tonic also known as Grahabhedam, Sruthibhedam and 17

9 Grahaswarabhedam In this process the tonic note or the adhara shadjam is shifted from note to note (keeping the intervals of the original scale constant) in order to obtain new scales This process can be applied easily in this raga Mohana as well as any other murchanakaraka mela raga Therefore Mohana is known as a murchanakaraka janyaraga In Mohana all its swaras (Ri, Ga, Pa, Da) yield other ragas through this process A small formula helps us to remember the various ragas resulting from Mohana The formula is - Mohana - Madhya - Hindola - Suddho - Udayaravichandrika According to this Mohana's Rishabha taken as shadja we will get another audava raga Madhyamavati Gandhara of Mohana taking as shadja will result in Hindolam By taking panchama as shadja it results in Suddhasaveri, Suddhadhanyasi or Udayaravichandrika is broughtout by taking Dhaivata as shadja In this process when we apply a varjaraga, will yield the same The chart based on the model shift of tonic is given below: 18

10 MOHANA - MADHYA - HINDOLA - SUDDHO - UDAYARAVICHANDRIKA Shad- Sud- Cha- Sadha Ant- Sud- Prai Panch Sud- Cha- Kais- Kakjam dha tus Ga ara dha Ma amam dh tus iki ali Ri Ri Ga Ma Dha Dha Ni Ni Shad- Sud- Cha- Sadha Ant- Sud- Prai Panch Sud- Cha- Kais- Kakjam dha tus Ga ara dha Ma amam dh tus iki ali Ri Ri Ga Ma Dha Dha Ni Ni Mohanam Rishabham Shad- Cha- Sad Pan jam tus dha cha Ri Ma mam Kaisi ki Ni Madhyanavati Gandharam Shad- Sadha Sad jam Ga dha Ma Panchamam Shad Cha jam tus Ri Sud- Kaisi dha ki Hindolam Dha Ni Sud- Pacnha Chadha mam tus Suddhasaveri Ma Dha Dhaivatam Shad jam Sa Sud- Panch- Kai Udayaravi Chandrika dha dha amam siki Ga Ma Ni 19 Chelladurai PT (Dr), The Splendur of South Indian Music, Vaigarai Publishers, Dindigul , Tamilnadu, South India, Page No 285, 2000

11 d Identity of Mohanam in Universal Music The raga Mohana though scientifically defined as an audava janyaraga has a status equivalent to - or more than that of janaka ragas It was widely used even before the modern classification of ragas which came into existence The references from Chilappathikaram proves that Mohana was widely used during the period as early as the 2 nd century AD The phrases of the raga was used right from the time of or even before the present system of raga classification which came into existence Mohana or scale which have exact resemblance to it was used all over the world from ancient times It also shows resemblance to the phrases used in folk tribal and other such primitive music The research work done by Dr SAK Durga brings out the universal appeal of the raga Mohana Her findings can be consolidated as: Dr SAK Durga systematically compares the scale of Mohana with respect to the notes of the keyboard According to her, the pentatonic scale - Mohana, of karnatic music could be defined as follows She also presents an analytical study of the nature of the scale She also states the reason for the use of Mohana in almost all the cultures of the world and defines it as a universal scale Her view points about Mohana is briefed below 20

12 The consonant intervalic structure of the scale Mohana makes it use frequently in various cultures of the world In carnatic music great composers have used the raga in various melodic patterns The musical compositions of the following forms geetham, varnam, keerthanam, kriti, padam, javali, tillana, daru and even mangalam are composed by eminent musicians including trinities Dr Durga briefly presents the use of the raga in other cultures She also gives a minute analysis of the use of the phrases and notes while mohana scale is played or sung as follows: ""The music of East Asia and South Asia profusely use the pentatonic scale Mohana and other scales that derive from shifting the tonic on other four notes, ri, ga, pa and da of this scale The scales are presented as different types of melodic patterns and ornamentation on the notes, which gives forth the identity of every music culture There would be no ""portamento'' or jaru gamaka and oscillation of the note in medium tempo touching the anuswara or kampita gamaka, which is found in the carnatic music compositions, set in the Mohana scale In other music cultures of Asia, the notes in the scale are performed as plain notes and sometimes with vibrate, the ornamentation of the notes are usually ""pdp, dsd, srs'' in the South East Asian Music cultures The range of this Mode or Raga is also limited to one octave or one octave and three notes at the most unlike one finds the range of the mode or Raga Mohana in low, middle and upper octaves For example, this pentatonic scale 21

13 in China, Japan, Korex, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia where the scale is used in classical music traditions can be analysed'' l Dr Durga states that the basic scale of Chinese music is ""wu sheng'' which is exactly the scale Mohana of carnatic music ì ""Wu sheng''îas detailed by Durga isìthe basic scale of China is the pentatonic scale ""Wu sheng'' which is the scale of Mohana The Chinese tonal system is emerged as cyclic system The Chinese scale ""Wu Sheng'' merged from a cycle of tones is generated by blowing across the tops of a set of bamboo tubes closed at one end whose lengths were arranged in set mathematical proportions The acoustical basis for the method is the principle of overblown fifth The Chinese arrived at 12 Lu's or pitches The first five notes of the 12 Lu's became the basic pentatonic scale, which is called ""Wu Sheng'' This scale is equivalent to the scale of Mohana Interestingly, in ancient Tamil music system, the Mohana scale, which is called as Mullaitheempani is emerged from the cyclic system through the over blown fifth of the Bamboo fluteî Japanese and Koreans also followed the same system of 12 Lu's in resembling the scale of Mohana Koreans also followed the same pattern 12 Lu's and the scale corresponding to Mohana is called ""Akshi - Jo'' 1 Durga SAK (Dr), The Journal of Madras Academy, Vol LXXI,

14 The South East Asian countries Thailand, Indonasia and Malaysia used the scale of Mohana profusely The Thailand music has the influence of Indian music because they have adopted the Ramayana the Indian myth Malaysian music is also influenced by the raga Mohana through the adaptation of the myth of Ramayana In Indonesian music the scale similar to the scale of Mohana is slendaro patet Nem Comparing the ideas of Dr Durga of the use of the raga Mohana in various cultures and influence of the development of this raga and the most premitive instrument the Flute it could be concluded that all the theatre forms are influenced by the myth and culture The culture aspect connects the music of the common man which is easily accessible pentatonic scale Mohana with the theatre music The folk theatre form reflects the cultural aspects An analysis of the pedagogy of western keyboard lessons reveal that, the scale used for familiarising music students with pentatonic scale in the beginning stages is Mohana The ""melody book 2'' popularly used in western music also reveal that the scale of Mohana was popularly used in keyboard practice sessions The pentatonic scale used for beginners has been illustrated as shown below: 23

15 L H The black keys in the diagram represents the notes of Mohana treating F # as shadja This means the raga is the most primitive one prior and post to the introduction of the presently universally accepted piano keyboard The evolution of flute the most primitve natural instrument also proves that the raga Mohana was popularly used by the shepherds The first flute had only two holes The next one having three used for veda swaras The sophisticated pattern of flute used for performances prior to those used now, had only five holes This proves that pentatonic scales mainly Mohana was popularly used The raga can be played fluently with ease in flute This is because the fingers which have spontaneous kinsthetic movement are only necessary or popularly used while playing Mohana in the primitive as well as the sophisticated present days' flute Many folk songs also have an accent of this raga Lord Krishna is associated with this raga References also state that Krishna used this raga to mend cattle 24

16 In Hindustani System Mohana is corresponding to raga Bhoop or Bhoopali of Khamaj Thaat in Hindustani system But the raga Deshkar of Bilawal Thaat and Jait kalyan of Kalyan Thaat also have the same aroha - avaroha as that of Mohana Both are audava - audava ragas and their scales as follows Deshkar - S R G P D S S D P G R S Jait kalyan - S R G P D S S D P G R S This is same as that of Mohanam e Mohana in different works Mohana in Chilappathikaram Dr S Ramanathan makes an assimilable analysis of Adiyarkkunallar's commentary of the systematic presentation of ragas and their structure depicted in Chilappathikaram In Chilappathikaram the ragas are presented with respect to a systematic dance from "kuravas' in which seven shephered girls dance in a cirlce; the position of the girls in the cirlce denote the seven notes At the same time the circle is devided into 12, each segment deciding each of the signs of the zodiac Thus the 12 segments denotes the seven major tones and five semitones Adiyarkkunallar describes the structure of ragas in Chilappathikaram by describing the zodiac as "vattappaalai' "Vattam' means circle (the 25

17 zodiac) and "paalai' means a musical scale of seven notes (kural - sa, tuttam - ri, kaikkilai - ga, uzhoi - ma, ili - pa, vilari - da, taaram - ni) From Vattappaalai consists the four major pans (ragas) are arised paalaiyazh, kurinchiyazh, marutayazh and chevvayazhi Of this paalaiyazh is same as Harikamboji Chilappathikaram paalai is a scale having seven notes But it also predicts of puns or ragas having five or six notes The raga Mohana is reffered to as Mullaippun in Adiyarkkunallar's commentary on Chilappathikaram as narrated by Dr S Ramanadhan When the seven girls forming the circle begin to perform the kuravai dance, the girl standing as kural addresses tuttam standing next to her, ""Let us sing the praise of Maayavan in the sweet mullaipun'' Tuttam initiates the dance and Vilari sings the kuravai songs The singer sings the kural note low, ili in the middle register tuttan high and vilari low Then she sings for her friend tuttam standing as her favourite note From the verse, we know that mullaippun has the notes kural tuttam, ili, and vilari That is a Tiram (five tone mode) is clear from a verse in Ceckkizhaar's Tiruttondar puranam Dr S Ramanathan in his narration about Chilappathikaram elaborating the structure of puns (ragas) specifically presents the structure of Mohana on ""It says that mullaippun was first played on the "kuzhal' flute and adding the raised taaram and uzhai to it, kootippalai was played So the notes omitted in Mullaippun are taaram 26

18 and uzhai The remaining five notes are learned tuttam, kaikilai, ili and vilari In terms of current nomenclature, the notes of mullaippun are shadja, chatusruthi rishabha, antara gandhara, panchama and chatusruti dhaivata The corresponding raga is Mohana Incidently, the verse mentioned above also proves that the raga which corresponds to kottippalai is sankarabharana If kakali nishada (raised taaram) and "uzhai' (suddha madhyama) are added to the notes of Mohana, the raga becomes Sankarabharana It may be noted that the names of the puns mullaippun, paalaiyah, kurinchiyazh, maruthayazh were named after the five fold divisions of the ancient Tamil land viz mullai - forest region paalai - desert kurinchi - mountanious region marutam - cultivated land neytal - sea-shore l The cowherd women belonged to the mullai region and were dancing and singing in praise of Mayavan, the God of the mullai land, but it is fitting that they sing the mullaippun pertaining to their land 1 Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 37 27

19 Here the influence of culture in the music of a society is evidently confirmed and it also proves that music is evolved from work, culture and that also before the sampurna ragas came into existence; the pentatonic scales existed The raga Mohana in ancient culture ""The Chilappathikaram'' is very much linked with the nomadic population consisting mainly of shepherds who frequently used the most primitive musical instrument - the Flute Mohana is played in kuzhal or flute This shows how much Mohana is inherent in the music and culture of the period The Tamil hymn Thiruvachakam of Manickavachakar is in the raga Mohana Thiruvachakam is traditionally sung on culture related occassions Adiyarkunallar refers to Chilappathkaram and the position of raga in the culture and into relation with the zodiac His interpretations could be clearly presented as in the tables 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 given Table 1 elaborates specifically the relation of the notes of Mohana with the zodiac signs And table 2 the petatonic scales obtained according to model shift of tonic (sruthibhedam) Madhyamavati, Hindolam, Sudhasaveri and Suddhadhanyasi and their relation of their notes with the zodiac signs The notes of mullaippun were also assigned their respective position in the zodiac Its five notes would have their positions in the zodiac as indicated in the table given below 28

20 Sign Table 1 Note Symbol 1 Libra kural sa 2 Scorpio Sagittarius tuttam ri Capricornus Aquarius kaikkilai ga Pisces Aries Taurus ili pa 9 Gemini - 10 Cancer vilari dha Leo Virgo - - Table 2 elaborates the notes of the raga Madhyamavati obtained by taking chatusruti rishabham as the keynote It also reveals the relation of notes of Madhyamavati with the zodiac signs Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 38 29

21 Sign Table 2 Note Symbol 1 Sagittarius kural sa 2 Capricornus Aquarius tuttam ri Pisces Aries Taurus uzhai ma Gemini Cancer ili pa 9 Leo - 10 Virgo Libra taaram ni Scorpio - - Table 3 elaborates the notes of the raga Hindolam obtained by taking Gandhara of Mohana or rishabha of Madhyamavathi as the kural (shadja ie the keynote) It also reveals the relation of notes of Hindolam with zodiac signs Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 39 30

22 Sign Table 3 Note Symbol 1 Aquarius kural sa 2 Pisces Aries Taurus kaikkilai ga Gemini Cancer uzhai ma Leo Virgo Libra vilari dha Scorpio Sagittarius taaram ni Capricornus - - Table 4 elaborates the notes of the raga Suddhasaveri obtained by taking panchama of Mohana or Gandhari of Hindola as the kural (shadja or keynote) signs It also reveals the relation of notes of Suddhasaveri with Zodiac Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 39 31

23 Sign Table 4 Note Symbol 1 Taurus kural sa 2 Gemini Cancer tuttam ri Leo Virgo Libra uzhai ma Scorpio Sagittarius ili pa 9 Capricornus Aquarius vilari da Pisces Aries - - Table 5 elaborates the notes of the raga Suddhadhanyasi obtained by taking Dhaivata of Mohana ie, vilari note in Cancer sing as kural or shadja the keynote The kural of the new pan falls in Cancer Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 40 32

24 Sign Table 5 Note Symbol 1 Cancer kural sa 2 Leo Virgo Libra kaikkilai ga Scorpio Sagittarius uzhai ma Capricornus Aquarius ili pa 9 Pisces Aries Taurus taaram ni Gemini - - Music literature during the period of later half of the 17 th century AD to the beginning of the 18 th century AD states that the raga Mohana is a janya raga of kamboji mela and it is a shadava raga Ramanathan S (Dr), Rtd Principal, Music in Cilappatikaram, Sree Satguru Sangeetha vidyalayam, College of Music, Madurai, Page No 40 33

25 Ragalakshanamu by Sahaji details are as follows: ""The rakti raga Mohana takes the mela of Kamboji It lacks nishada and Madhyama occurs rarely This is how the swara movement ascent and descent Examples - s d p d s r g r g m g g r g r r s d p d d s s s in this manner the melody proceeds'' Mohanakalyani has much resemblance to Mohanam due to the alpa madhyama prayoga Sangeetha Saramritha of Thulaja refers Mohana as the janya of the raga Kamboji According to Thulaja Kamboji is a mela which has many janya ragas and Mohana is a shadava raga Nishada varjyaraga, shadja grahadi raga It is an evening raga and a melodious raga Occuring of alpamadhyama make this raga shadava The arohana - avarohana is as follows S R G M P D S S D P M G R S Swarastanas are panchasruti rishabha, Antara gandhara, Panchama, Panchasruti, Dhaivata, Suddha madhyama and Shadja The sloka is as follows: 34

26 ""Æ M : EÚ V ± i Ω x M x ÃV i : + ± { v : + Æ Ω Æ Ω : Æ M i Ø r Æ h **'' s d p d s r g r g m g g r g r r s d p d d s, B EÚ Æ h ± { M : <i Ω x Æ M : The raga named Mohana is born from the Kamboji mela It is short of ni and so shadava and has sa as graha and nyasa It may be sung in the evening and it affords great delight But sangeeta kalanidhi Subbarao has a slightly contradictory view about Tulaja's account of Mohana It is a very negligible and he goes to the extend of considering it as an act of careless rendering due to neglect of proper form of the raga Subbarao also states that the use of alpa madhyama and alpanishada in the raga Mohana can be ruled out considering the currently accepted structure of Mohana And he states that this interpretation may be with reference to the raga Mohanakalyani, Subbarao points out that the references about the raga Mohana was alien to the music literature prior to the 18 th century AD But Dr S Ramanathan in his book Music in Chilappathikaram refers to 35

27 the mentions of the raga Mohana in Chilappathikaram is considered to be more primitive According to Sangraha choodamani of Govindacharya the raga Mohana derived from the mela Harikamboji Taking shadja as nyasa, amsa and graha, Madhyama and Nishada are omitted from ascent and descent and thus became audava raga Swara prastara - s r g p d s d s r s d s d p g r s r d s According to sangeeta samgrahamu of Tiruvenkata kavi is same as that of Sangraha choodamani According to Muddu venkatamakhi the author of Ragalakshana - first quarter of 18 th century AD the Mohana is a janya of 65 th mela kalyani as follows The raga Mohana is an audava raga and has shadja as graha It may be sung at all times This work describes Mohana the janya a 65 th mela It is a rakti raga Sangeetha sampradaya Pradarsini states that though madhyama and nishada omitted, Mohana is treated as a bhashanga raga Alpa madhyama is coming as the foreign note avarohana - s r g p d s s d p g r s 36

28 According to the famous work Sangeetha chandrika of Atoor Krishnapisharodi, shadja as the graha swara and nyasa, R G P are am a swaras, M and N are omitted This is Mohana It is an upanga raga arohana - S R G P D S avarohana - S D P G R S Sloka is as follows: O Ω x Æ M { x Ω x Ω x : ={ R ÛM :** l According to Mahabharatha Chudamani, Mohana is born in Harikamboji mela Mohana drops ni in ascent, and ma and ni in descent This book version of Mohana differs from that of Sangrahachudamani It is closer to the various in Ragalakshanam of Sahaji and Sangita Saramrita of Tulaja According to ""Sangeeta swara prastara sagaram'' of Nadamuni Panditar Telugu , Mohana is a janya 28 th mela Harikamboji arohana - S R G P D S avarohana - S D P G R S According to "Ragakosam Ragakosam' of RR Keshavamurthi canarese the arohana - avarohana of Mohana is S R G P D S S D P R G R S Krishnapisharadi Attoor, Sangeetha Chandrika, Sulabha Books Publications, Trissur,

29 f Views regarding the parent scale of Mohana Opinions of performing artists and musicians were collected through expert consensus Since different opinions prevail about the janakaraga of Mohana, these interviews are necessary in this connection L Janaki Ammal, Rtd Prof of Music Govt College for Women Thiruvananthapuram, is of opinion that Mohana is a raga which is oldest than many other popular melas Some melas may be derived by the addition of Madhyama and Nishada to this scale of Mohana She concludes that the swaras of Mohana have the resemblance to the swaras of Harikamboji Dr K Omanakkutty Amma, Rtd Head of the Department of Music, University of Kerala states that Mohana is the janya of 65 th mela Mechakalyani As a renowned performer she gives more emphasis to practical values rather than the theoritical aspects In her view, the rendering of Rishabha and Dhaivata in Mohana is the same as that of Kalyani Sree B Sasikumar, the carnatic violin maestro, Rtd "A' grade artist All India Radio, Thiruvananthapuram, hesitated to comment on the controversy of the janaka raga of Mohana He also opined that insisting too much on such theoritical aspects do not help music in any 38

30 way at the performance level As music is more linked with the emotional aspects of man rather than the intellectual The educational theory also agrees with this opinion as now a days Emotional Quotient (EQ) replaces Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in the overall development of the individual He gives his argument as follows The use of rishabha, gandhara and dhaivata in Mohana is seen only in Kalyani ie, the bhavatheevratha and gamakas of rishabha, gandhara and dhaivata in Mohana has more resemblance to that in Kalyani when compared to the Harikamboji, Sankarabharanam and Vachaspati Kalyani and Mohana could be identified even if they are sung without gamakas ie, the structure of the ragas are such that they could be identified by simple rendering of the notes as per the grammar of the ragas Both are primitive ragas and much linked with culture The primitive name of Mohana was Reghupathi The bhava of both these ragas could be sensed irrespective of the gamaka used or even the tempo ie, the bhava of the raga is equally dominant whether it is sung in vilambakalam or drutakalam Mohana is linked with nature and is used more in naturalistic situations The structure of Mohana is such that it could be effectively used for learning exercises from basic to varnams Another salient feature of Mohana is its duel nature of classical as well as folk accent The structure of the swaras in Mohana can be samabhagikam especially purvardha (S to G), (P to D) in nature ie, the intervals between the two notes of the raga are equivalent The 39

31 enchanting nature of Mohana may be equivalent due to this structure The notes of Mohana could be explained as representing the pancha bhoothas and therefore they are optimum suitables for natural situations Taking into consideration the sruti theory from Sangeeta Damodaran, we can say Shadja - vinchitra, Rishabham - Ghana gandharam - Sarasa, Pacnhamam - Sarangaravi, Dhaivata - Amrutha As per sangeeta Ratnakara the names of these srutis are different But as the sruti theory is not relevant and feasible it can be overstopped Mohana is also very enchanting to be used in Vaadyagoshti (Vrinda vaadyam) Mohana was originally considered as an important raga in concerts It existed even before the science of Melakarta paddhati was framed or even more primitive All these arguements lead to the conclusion that Mohana has more resemblance to kalyani The other arguments might have arosed from the analysis of the structure of the raga from the point of view of instrumentalists Especially wind instruments (sushiravadyas) for which Harikamboji is easier to play The fact that the science of the theory of music was arranged or generated by instrumentalists who also support this opinion In olden days there existed the custom of all vocalists compulsorily playing one or more musical instruments Unfortunately these instruments had limitations in producing gamakas which affected the projection of bhavas 40

32 When instruments like violin was introduced in carnatic music the range of swaras and the range of bhava of ragas took a divergent pace Though love is the basic bhava of Mohana it suits for all emotional outcomes especially pleasant ones The blunt notes of Mohana when played gives a hilly mood The use of gamakas in the present authentive way came into existence only after the development of classical music May be that the name Mohana might have arisen from this special aesthetic nature of the raga Sree S Sai Babu hailed from a music family, Rtd Music Teacher, Govt HSS, Pakalkuri, renowned violin performer, awardee of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy in 2004, a Research Scholar in Srutis, in his research finding with IT aided analysis of the swaras of raga Mohana states that the value of universal chatusruti Rishabham is 288 cents But the value chatusruti rishabha in Harikamboji is 6 vibrations lesser than the universal chatusruti rishabha ie 282 cents In the same way each notes in Harikamboji mela is having certain vibrations lesser than that of the universal notes Except Madhyama and Nishada the value of other five swaras are as follows 41

33 Vibrations of swaras Universally accepted Lower Shadja Chatusruti Rishabha Antara Gandhara Panchama Chatusruti Dhaivata 256 cents 288 cents 320 cents 384 cents 432 cent\s Vibration of swaras in Harikamboji Differences Lower Shadja Chatusruti Rishabha Antara Gandhara Panchama Dhaivata In his view the rendering of S R G P D in Mohana is the same as that of Harikamboji Taking into consideration the vibrations of the five swaras Mohana can be said to be the janya of Harikamboji mela 42

34 Dr B Pushpa, Head of the Department of Music, University of Kerala, is of opinion that considering the frequency value of the notes in Mohana the parent scale is Harikamboji itself The primary objective intended is to analyse the controversy of janaka raga of Mohana and to arrive at a conclusion about the same But the diversity of the opinions and the depth of the arguments put forth by the experts make it impossible for the investigator to arrive at a conclusion and state in a confirming manner the janaka raga of Mohana Generally it is felt that performing experts consulted have similar opinion and theoritical experts have different opinion The investigator has consolidated the relevant arguments of the experts and do not dare to predict or state which of the opinion is more relevant This is because the experts, musicologists and performing musicians have their own reasons through their experience about the relevance of their opinion 43