Purnachandrika

[narayan]

Apologies if this is well traversed territory. Was looking up Ne jesina
in Purnachandrika in Kriti Mani Malai Vol 4 and was a bit stunned to
find no trace of a Dha in the notation. It says SRGMPNS - SNPMGMRS for the ragam. The 'modern' version is SRGMPDPS - SNPMGMRS or RGMRS.

The PDPS seems to be quite prominent in the chittaswarams sung for Telisi Rama, Srirangatham (the song which DKP sings) and what I remember of the Balamurali chittaswaram for Palukavemina. The SSP notation is even weirder, and I am not good at reading that anyway. So comments welcome.

Everyone these days sings PDPS and PDPMR (which can easily be resung PNPMR without anyone noticing the difference!) and even PDDPP, in the telisi rama chittaswaram. So is this D in general and PDPS in particular, a Lalgudi era standardization? Ramnad sings PNS fleetingly in the pallavi of Ne Jesina, but you can never say with him, it may be one of those exceptions that prove the rule. Final point is that NSRGMRS is accepted in general. So in summary, pundits may please guide on the correct modern acceptable Purnachandrika.

Some older posts discussing the evolution of ragams in earlier days indicate that Purnachadrika has undergone significant transformation over some period. I would be quite interested in these theories, but also tend to freeze when it comes to actually singing controversial ragams in today's times.

[keerthi]

PDPS and PDPMR (which can easily be resung PNPMR without anyone noticing the difference!)

This is not entirely true.. particularly, in the case of P'candrika which employs the kAkali N.

RAgas which use the kaisiki N can have interchangable phrases using D and N; and that wouldn't be objectionable..

Kriti Mani Malai Vol 4 and was a bit stunned to
find no trace of a Dha in the notation. It says SRGMPNS - SNPMGMRS for the ragam. The 'modern' version is SRGMPDPS - SNPMGMRS or RGMRS.

The older source, which has this scale is K.V.Srinivasa Iyengar's gAna bhaskaram. It is likely that RR Iyengar referred to this text.

N is a weak (durbala/ gauNa) note in P'candrika, and is rarely used as a nyAsa (landing) note or elongated. it is generally found ensconced between P and P or S and P. the SNS phrase sounds alien to the rAga, and is best avoided.


The UttarAnga nature of this rAga is tricky and employs the following (non-exhaustive list) phrases -


Mandra sthAyi - The usage of the uttarAnga is limited probably to the snp phrase in Mandra sthAyi. [Although, there is a snp,d used in the Ata tAla varNam of PatnaM S.Iyer]

Madhya sthAyi -

1.( P)PS
2. PDPS GMPDP,,

3. PR,R or PRSR
4. PRSS,

5. PSNP,,
6. RSNP,

The varNam ikanEla of Patnam, his two+ krtis, the tillana of pUci ayyangar (which even has a single instance of a pdnsr phrase) are all good representatives of the modern form of PUrNacandrika ,as distinct from Janaranjani.

There are a few phrases in the Ata tala varnam ,which show us the antiquated form of the raga (snpD,, snpd,,r in both madhya and mandra octaves). The rUpaka tAla varNa of Ramaswami dIkSitar Ela nannecevu and shankha-cakra-gadA-pANiM of Muttuswamy DIkSitar use several phrases from the older form of the rAga; some of which encroach into the extant form of janaranjani.

[narayan]

Keerthi, thanks for the opinions and pointers. The suggested phrases are in tune with my picture of the raga. Your summary seems to be that D was there earlier, but disappeared at some point (at least as indicated in SSP and KMM) and has now reappeared in current parlance. My personal dilemma of freezing when it comes to this rather nice raga may continue for a while, though.