Complete ragas

[narayan]

Idly wondering about what could be classified as Complete Ragas or Ragas Compleat, if you want to be archaic about it. Ragas where one can conceivably sing an entire concert in. A raga where there is a wide variety of convincing compositions, varnams, short songs, long songs, big songs, padams, javalis, tillanas, suitable for elaboration, tanam, neraval and pallavi singing, attractive enough to be sung in ragamalika and viruttam format, taken up by all the trinity composers and continuing in modern day compositions ... Are there indeed such ragas?

Sankarabharanam, Todi, Kalyani and Bhairavi for sure - sorry Kharaharapriya does not make the cut here! The first three - Sankarabharanam, Todi and Kalyani could even be sung in madhyamasruti or abridged formats and Sankarabharanam has nottuswarams and what have you. Apart from its mysterious absence in plain form in any significant way in Hindustani music, one can do almost anything with Sankarabharanam.

Anyhow, I'd put in Kambhoji as a definite maybe in the list, but more firmly, I'd put in Begada, perhaps Bilahari, perhaps Dhanyasi and what else? Opinions welcome. I've attended an all Todi concert once, and for fun, I had made up an all Begada concert list a long time ago.

[vasanthakokilam]

Sri. Narayan, you have covered all the bases. Coming in, I was thinking of Begada as a raga I can sit through for an entire concert of different compositions in different laya settings. You have included that giving it the respect it rightfully deserves.

One thing I will add is the mysterious Ghanta which only few artists seem to have expertise in. I am talking about Ghanta in this context not because I think it can be expanded upon for hours ( I just do not know if it will work or not ) but because of its various dimensions and its various piddippus have been forked off into very many ragas and as a result it seems to have lost its own identify. I am just wondering if a Ghanta concert would be like a concert of ragas that have sprung from it.

[vidya]

Almost all of the ragas Narayan has listed cover the following criteria of 1.variety of compositional genres 2.variations in compositions (I liked the usage 'convincing compositions') 3.Scope for delineation (multi-sthayied, non-repeatability, RTP-able, multiple textures and malleable across emotions etc). Going by this I would add Anandabhairavi into the mix (even without the 'trinity' factor) and may be Nattakuranji .There are two tillanas (one of Veena Raja Rao (courtesy of Sreeni Raja Rao) and another of Shri.TMT in Nattakuranji I believe. As far as eka-raga concerts, I have heard Bhairavi and Kambhoji. But yes like the proverbial banana tree, I too would take Shankarabharanam in any form!

[keerthi]

paras and khamaj - so called dEsya rAgas have compositions in all those categories, as does that other biggie mohana, which has been echoing in human societies since megalithic (?) times.

So does sAvEri.

[srikant1987]

Kambhoji DEFINITELY! AND punnAgavarALi is definitely not "todi in madhyama shruti"! nAdanAmakriya is much more like MMG in madhyamashruti ...

If punnAgavarALi is tODi in madhyama shruti, we can say jhanjhUTi is kAmbhOji in madhyamashruti too!

Kambhoji has two varNams and I think some padams and jAvaLis too. Plus kritis of different sizes.

I don't think I can sit through an all-todi concert! I've heard of an "MS's favourite tODi songs" concert about two years ago.

Of late I've started thinking kAmbhOji and shankarAbharaNam have rather more scope than kalyANi.

Wouldn't mind a full bilahari or bEgaDa concert ...

Would LOVE an all-Surutti concert!

[keerthi]

Would LOVE an all-Surutti concert!

Ah! tumhare muh me ghee-shakkar, as they say.

Vidya's list of criteria are really good, only I would say tanam-able instead of RTP-able. Almost every ragam is anyway R-able and composing/ plagiarising/ copy-pasting a P isn't hard.. if the raga is tanable, that is, if a tanam is tenable, give it a pass certificate.


Surutti is most eminently a member of this list, as are kEdAragauLa and saurAshtra. saurAshtra, to my knowledge doesn't have a jAvalI, but more than makes up for it. Devagandhari too, is true on both counts.

Another surprise candidate is kApi, and I am talking of the kApi of rAmadAsu and kshEtrayya and tanjavur ponayya.

VolEti venkatEshwarulu organised sauch Eka-rAga concert series from AIR vijaywada,ANI singing the first concert - thODI, MLV singing kalyANI and vOlETi himself singing bEgada.


While dEvagAndhAri, paras and aTAnA may not lend themselves too well to non-repeatability and multi-textured renditions, they have compositions of all kinds.

[narayan]

Thought of a couple more.

One is my dark horse Darbar. A list could be -
CalamEla, AnjanEya (which DKP sings), yOcana kamala, munduvenuka, mInanayana, enDundi veDalitivO, aparAdhamu, ADiya pAdam, rAmAbhirama if you want one more misra cApu, the great nAradaguruswAmi, the tyAgaraja song of Diksitar's, gAna lola of V.V.Srivatsa, the tiruppavai verse that Ariyakudi and KVN have sung, and the padam that is listed in Kriti Mani Malai (never heard it). There is of course the end of the famous four ragam pallavi that features Darbar and one can easily sing any other pallavi in this raga. All major talas, trinity (counting Subbaraya Sastri as the authorised representative of senior) + GKB, fast, slow, grand, modern, hoary, the entire mix. Neela Ramgopal has sung a long madhyamakala neraval for the Diksitar song, establishing a point if one needed to be made. Major musicians as varied as Nedunuri and Ramnad have sung extensive raga alapanas. What say?

I would travel a good distance for a Darbar concert.

Another possibility is Varali.

[keerthi]

There are quite a few dark horses -

I have heard a darbar padam 'callanayerA manasu' from an Andhra ViduSI, and there is a jAvaLI of pattAbhirAmayya - Ilaguna, that is occasionally seen in song-lists.

VarALI of course, but then we may be be bending the criteria, because all the ghana-pancaka rAga-s have a good variety of compositions for the pre-main part of the concert. There is a poor representation for the second half of the concert in these raga-s, except a couple of tillanas in nATa and shriragam, and the varALI padams.

An interesting dark horse is navroj, which has upto three varnams and a whole bunch of compositions, short of javali and tillana.

Ditto for nIlambarI, only it has a javali.

Other big rAgas with tanam scope and variety, but light on the post-tani landscape are ritigauLa and baULI.

[vs_manjunath]

Have heard eka raga "bhairavi" concert by DKP in 70s by AIR, Madras.
"raksha beTare" (is a rare) bhairavi song was sung by DKP in this recital.

[CRama]

The concept of Eka raga concert is my favourite. I have got two Eka raga concerts of Maestro TNS in ragams Todi and Bhairavi. Exquisite as we can always expect from him. He commenced with varnam, sang the alapanas commencing from various swaras and sang many kritis starting in various swaras and giving various moods of various composers in different talas with neravals and swaras. The icing on the cake was a RTP. In todi ragam concert, after the thani, he explained about the janya ragas of todi and sang a Kavadi chindu in Punnagavarali. He presented a thillana in Todi which he specially composed for the concert .and concluded with a Mangalam in -you can not imagine- Asaveri- Sree Ramachandranukku jaya mangalam. This should ideally be the format for Eka raga concert spanning for nearly 3 hours. For such a concert ragas chosen by many forum members like Navroj, Pharas, Neelambari etc will not suit. For such a concert apart from the Big Six, you can have Mohanam, Saveri, Shanmugapriya, Arabhi, Varali, Madhyamavathi, Begada, Natakurinji etc. Even for post thani, you can have one or two songs and a slokam. Padams and tamil songs are definitely available in such ragas.

If the idea is only to have a garland of songs spanning for about less than two hours without elaborate ragas or RTP, then the ragas chosen by many members – from Suruti to Navroj may be possible. Even here I have my own doubts regarding the suitability of Navroj and Pharas. But I wonder why nobody has thougtht of Mukhari? - an all time favourite of many rasikas in the forum at all occasions?

[vasanthakokilam]

I was going to put in Mukhari, but I was not sure about the criteria for inclusion, along the lines you were wondering about. Sri. Narayan set the context right, but since then it has expanded, as it happens with any lists. Is it the availability of 'convincing' compositions in many types, or the capability of elaboration over many hours or both? My dilemma is with whether the completeness is about the raga's inherent worth or what others have done with the raga.. Two different things.

[mahavishnu]

I think Mukhari belongs right up there as a very complete raga, although the Karunya rasam is the most explored aspect of it.

VK: to get a flavor for what an exclusively mukhari concert would be like, you should check out this album by Ravikiran, produced with advise from Sri Nedunuri. You can find the album here: http://www.amazon.com/Karunyam-Vintage- ... 896&sr=8-2. I downloaded it from emusic and I really enjoyed it.

First Sri Ravikiran and Sri Nedunurigaru discuss classic prayogams in this ragam. This is followed by bringing out the various moods of the ragam in compositions including Karu baru, sangita shastramu, entaninne, ososi and brahma kadigina; It is complete in every aspect but sadly, no Elavatara There is also no varnam in Mukhari, to the best of my knowledge.

P.S: Volume 1 in this series, features Nedunuri discussing this ragam followed by a detailed RTP in Mukhari by Ravikiran.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks Mahavishnu. I now recall listening to that Nedunoori-Ravikiran Mukhari cd. That was indeed excellent. I will definitely welcome such a mukhari concert..

There are quite a few varnams listed for Mukhari. Lji can provide the list.

A while back I downloaded the Mysore Vasudevachariyar varnam from Sangeethapriya sung by Vid. Neela Ramgopal.
Here it is: http://www.mediafire.com/?lg2z22le0yya2v8

[narayan]

Lost my earlier reply for some reason. Anyhow, I've heard Gokul Chandramouli sing the Mukhari varnam that is there in Pancapakesa Iyer's Ganamrta Varnamalika (Patnam's composition?). Another Eranapai, if I recall.

So, my summary is: apart from Sankarabharanam, Todi, Bhairavi, Kambhoji and Begada (proven capability), there is Kalyani, Dhanyasi, Mohanam (objectively established capability), Suruti and Mukhari (by popular demand - i.e. demanded by two or more people), Darbar (by unpopular demand), borderline cases Natakurinji, Madhyamavati, Atana, Khamas. Then keerthi's dark horses (much darker than mine, I admit) Pharas, Navroj, old-Kapi and Bauli, and the-yet-to-make it list, Kharaharapriya, Shanmukhapriya, Neelambari, Ritigaulai and Arabhi (the one I would root for in this bunch) and others. Ghanta is more or less extinct except for the navavarnam, so we will first try to resurrect it to life and then discuss in this context. After this discussion, I would throw in Sahana into the pot, stir up its gandharam a little and take whatever comes out as worthy of a concert (two hours if not three).

A good bunch of ragas to ponder about!

[vasanthakokilam]

Narayan: that is a colorful summary! Yes, Ghanta does not belong in this list, that was based on my misunderstanding of your criteria for inclusion.

I am also game for a dwi-raga concert, picking two from the above list. Dark horses of different shades can be accommodated ( Begada-Mukhari , Sahana-Dhanyasi, Kapi-Nattakurinji, Darbar-Asaveri, Neelambari-Bowli )

[keerthi]

kEdaragaula, kAnaDa and yadukulakAmbOdhi fit the bill. narayan, why have you left out khamAs from my list? Not convinced..?

That we didn't put sahana and mukharI in the earlier list is nothing short of blasphemy. there are several varnams in mukhari - Dorasamayya's ErA nApai,T.tyagayyar's madirAkSi (AtatAla) karvETnagaram govindasamayya's varnam and vasudevacarya's.


It is interesting that Rangaramanujayyangar, in his 'musings of a musician' complains that musicians of his time (like ariyakuDi) were detracted the seriousness of ragam-tanam-pallavi by choosing smaller rAgas like sAverI and kEdAragaula, instead of the prevalent biggies!!

Crama, I respectfully disagree re your comment about 'smaller rAgas'.

We have people willing to sing pallavis in bahudhAri and nalinakAnti, that don't even have a historical corpus of lakshya. Surely there is enough in the time-tested matured-over-centuries lakshya of nIlAmbarI and navroz that hasn't been explored by our musicans.

Another reason could be tendency towards unimaginative scale-based hidebound singing that limits the artistes from exploring the scope-scape of these rAgas.

I suspect that a musician from the north will better appreciate their scope, as she/he would have learnt to treat all rAgas more-or-less with the same degree of expanse.

[vasanthakokilam]

keerthi: khamas is there, a borderline case.

By your interpretation of the Narayan's criteria, the list will be really long indeed. Nothing wrong with that.

All along, I was not too sure about the criteria. It was Narayan's game, so I wanted to play strictly according to that. I was thinking of all the attributes mentioned by Narayan and also the personal criterion of 'would I sit through a whole concert of just that one raga?'. Enjoying an eka raga concert of Mukhari and Sahana would not be a problem for me, but I was not sure if they would be considered complete by Narayan's definition. On top of that, they have to pass the gut feel test of 'Can that raga be really in the same category of of elaborateness as Shankarabharanam, Bharavi and Thodi ?'

BTW, sitting through a 2 or 3 hour concert of one raga will be even more enjoyable if there are two or more main artists, preferably with different bANi and schools.

[CRama]

OK It is a game of Narayan. But I do not understand why a varnam is compulsory in the particular ragam? There are many concerts which start without varnam. Even with Pakkalanilabadi, Ethavunera etc.

[narayan]

I am quite happy with rules being changed as one goes along, like with those games of Calvin and Hobbes. Also, varnams in particular are neither here nor there - there are quite a few varnams in Katanakutuhalam, for example! Just an indication of the variety and also the fact that in one type of concert format, people begin with that. Of course, as mentioned several times elsewhere, varnams with a different origin could form a main piece in a dance programme or one of T.M.Krishna's concerts, which I am fine with.

Can very well include Y-Kambhoji, K-goula and Kanada, by a broad set of criteria.

[puru00047]

how about this list i came up for 'Complete ragas':
1. Bhairavi - the queen of course
2. Todi - the king
3. Shankarabharanam
4. kambhoji
5. surati
6. begada
7. saveri
8. yadhukulakambhoji
9. mukhari
10. dhanyasi
11. varali
12. kedaragowla
13. anandabhairavi

[cmlover]

One criteria I would add is the availability of solid compositions in all south indian languages.
Most of the ragas discussed fulfill that criteria..
Also for variety compositions are available in all the different talas..
Are there exceptions?

[manikan7]

I would like to add Gowri Manohari to the list. The expandability and the pleasant notes makes me think as if I can hear a full concert with this raga. Also my own favorite Madhyamavati. I heard only MLV Madhyamavati when I was starting to learn music from Music lessons taken by various teachers in Trichy AM Radio a while back. I used to enjoy them so much I'd hear it in the terrace while everyone else watch TV in the Hall... That occasion made Madhyamavathi my most favorite ever. I also have luck that whenever I use AM or FM radio I get atleast one Song of this raga.... What about Shanmukhapriya and Kanada???

[satyabalu]

* Poorvikalyani....Shunmugapriya.. kalyanavasantham (TNS RTP in MA),Jaganmohini(DKP/DKJ combine Nenjey ninaivengey guruparaney....)kanada ....if I am not very much out of context...
* why not much Pradimadhyama ragas selected..?

[ganeshkant]

Andolika is one rAgam,call it dark horse if U want to which is malleable & ductile to any form right from varnam to thillAnA and whose mighty dimensions are yet to be explored in full IMHO.