The ragas used in the musical rendering of Sri Vishnu Sahasra Namam have already been mentioned in this blog. A suggestion was made by Srivatsan Sundararajan that an explanation be given in brief about these ragas. An attempt is made to do so in the following.
1. Arabhi
This is a janya raga of the 29th. Dheera Shankarabharana Melakarta raga.
In Arohanam Gandharam and nishadam do not appear. In avarohanam all the notes appear.Besides gandharam and nishadams are cchaya swaras only. One of the famous panchratna kritis of Tyagaraja, Saadichine is in Arabhi raga.
2. Hindolam: a very popular raga with a number of compositions such as Samaja vara gamana of Tyagaraja, Ma ramanan uma ramanan of Papanasam Shivan, Neerajaksi kamaksi of Muthuswamy Dixitar etc. It has a pentatonic scale in both ascent and descent.
Rishabham and Panchamam are absent. It is a janya of 20th. Natabhiravi mela. Sadharana Gandharam, Shuddha madhyamam and kaisiki nishadam are the notes appearing in this raga.
3. Mohana too is a pentatonic scale with madhyamam and panchamam being absent.
The pillari geeta vara veena mrudu paani is in this raga only.
Earlier musicoligists considered Mohana as a derivative or janya raga of Hari Kambodhi the 28th melakarta raga. But R.Ranga Ramanuja Ayyangar, the author of Kriti mani malai opines that it would be more appropriate to treat it as a janya of 65th. Mecha Kalyani raga by the way it is being sung in the modern era.
4.Revathi is in fact the raga Byragi bhargav of Hindustani music popularized by sitarist Ravi Shankar. Carnatic music has adopted it by rechristening it as Revathi.
Mahadeva shiva shambho a composition by Tiruchi Shankara Ayer is very famous.
It is a janya raga in the 8th. Melakarta hanuma todi. The notes occurring are R,M,P and N.
The arohana and avarohana are S R M P N S| S N P M R S||
Rishabham is suddha rishabha and nishadham is kaisiki. Madhyamam is shudha madhyamam.
5. Dhanyasi- a morning raga ; a janya of Hanuma todi. In the ascent R and D are missing and in the descent all occur. The arohanam and avarohanam of this raga are :
SGMPNS| SNDPMGRS||
Shuddha rishabha, Sadarana gandhara, shddha madhyama, shuddha daivata and kaisiki nishadha are the notes in this scale.
Tyagaraja swami kruti Sangita jnanamu bhakti vina is the most popular and well known composition in this raga.
6. Shanmukhapriya- is the 56th. Melakarta raga. Arohanam and Avarohanam are both sampurna. This is the pratimadhyama counter part for the 20th. Melakarta raga Natabhiravi. Chatushruti Rishabham, saddarana gandharam, prati madhyama, panchamam,shuddha daivatam and kaisiki nishadam are the notes in the scale.
7. Kambodhi - a janya raga of Hari Kambodhi, 28th. Melakarta raga. More popular than the parent raga. Innumerable compositions are available in this raga,such as Ma Janaki, Oh! Rangashayee of Tyagaraja, Marakatavallim, Sri Subramanyaya namste of Muthuswami Dikshitar.The notes occurring in this raga are chatushruti Rishabha,Antara Gandhara, Shuddha madhyama, Panchama, chatushruti daivata and Kaisiki nishadha. In the ascent there nishadha is missing and in the descent all notes occur. On rare occasions in a SNPa prayogam kakali nishadha will come.
8. Hamsanandi - This is a janya raga in the 53rd. Melakarta raga Gamanashrama.
It is a panchama varjya raga. Shuddha Rishabha, Antara Gandhara, Prati Madhyama and Kakali Nishadha are the swaras in this raga. The Arohana and Avarohana for this raga.are
S R G M' D N S| s N D M G R S.
Compositions in this raga are pretty popular. Among them are Muthiah Bhagavatar's Needu Mahima, Swati Tirunal's Shankara Sri giri natha and Papanasam Shivan's Srinivasa tiruvengada mudaiyan .
9. Sindhu Bhairavi - This is a janya raga in the 8th Melakarta raga Hanuma Todi.
This has been borrowed from Hindustani music's Bhairavi with very many beautiful flashes of sancharis in which chatushruti rishaba plays a part. Because of this some people describe Sindhubharavi as daughter of two fathers in Hanuma Todi and Nata Bhairavi, the 20th. Melakarta raga since both the Shuddha Rishabha and chatushruti rishabha are used in this raga!
10 - Sahana - ia janya raga of Hari Kambodhi mela,the 28th. melakarta raga.
karuna rasa pradana melody. Prominent Tyagaraja swami compositions are vandanamu and giripai. It is vakra and sampoorna in both the ascent and descent. SRGM-PM-D,NS|SN,DM-G,-MR, -GRS.In aroha dhaivatam is elongated.In avaroha N,G and R are elongated. These elongations give special effect to the raga. In some sancharis sadharana gandhara is also employed.
11- Kharaharapriya - is the 22nd. melakarta raga. It is Tyagaraja swami who made this melakarta raga into vogue and prominence by his innumerable compositions the most prominent amongst them being chakkani raja,samanamevaru and pakkala nilabadi. chatushruti rishabha,sadarana gandhara, shuddha madhyama , chatushruti dhaivata and kaisiki nishadha are the notes occurring in this raga.
12 - Ahir Bhairav or Chakravakam - is the 16th. melakarta raga. Shuddha madhyama raga. Shuddha rishabha,antara gandhara, chatushruti dhaivata and kaisiki nishadha are the other notes in this raga.
13 - Hamir Kalyani - a janya raga in the 65th. Mecha kalyani raga has been adapted from Hindustani music. It isa vakra bhashagna ragam with shuddha madhyamam appearing in descent.
The scale is:SRS PMP DNS| SNDPM GMGRS. Manamu leda of Tyagaraja swami and Sri venkata saila vihara of Subbaraya shastri are famous compositions in this raga.
14 - Shubha Pantuvarali - is the 45th. melakarta raga. shuddha rishabha,sadharana gandhara, prati madhyama, shuddha daivata and kakali nishadha are the notes of this raga. It is the prati madhyama counterpart of Dhenuka. Sri Satyanarayanamupasmahe of Muthu Sami Dikshitar and ennal loorage yundavo of Tyagaraja Swami are very popular and famous compositions in this raga.
15. Ananda Bhairavi - This is a very ancient and very popular raga featuring in dance and folk
music too.It is a janya of 20th. melakarta Nata Bhiravi. other notes such as antara gandhara, chatushruti dhaivata and kakali nishadha too. Arohanam is vakram with dhaivatam and nishadham being absent and avarohanam is sampoorna. SGRGMPS | SNDPMGRS ||
Tyagaraja swami's Neeke teliyaka pote ne nemi seyudu ra, Muthuswami Deekshitar's tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam and Shyama Shastri's celebrated compositions Oh! Jagadamba, Marivere dikkevaramma are very popular.
16 -Poorvikalyani - is a janya of 53rd. Gamanshrama , more popular than the parent raga just as with Kambodhi with respect Hari Kambodhi. Poorvilayani is an evening raga and innumerable compositions are there. Tyagaraja's Jnanamosaga rada, Deekshitar's Meenakshi mey mudam dehi,
Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar's Parama Pavana Rama are some well known compositions heard often in concerts. S R G M P D P S| S N D P M G R S || are the arohana and avarohanaa for this raga.
It is vakra , pentatonic in arohanam and sampoorna in the avarohana. SNP prayoga is a rare beauty in this raga.
17 - HAMSANADAM - a pentatonic janya raga in the 59th. Dharmavati melakarta raga.
Tyagaraja Swami has sort of defined this raga in his well- known composition bantu reeti kolu
SRMPNS| SNPMRS are the aroha and avaroha of this raga. Chatushruti rishabha ,prati madhyama and kakali nishadha are the notes in this raga.
18 - MADHYAMAVATI - is a shuddha madhyama raga, a janya of 22nd. Kharahara priya. SRMPNS|SNPMRS are the aroha and avaroha krama of this raga. a pentatonis scale like Mohana, Hindolam and Hamsanada. This raga is considered as very auspicious and sakala doshapahari and as such is sung invariably at the end in all musical concerts. Tyagaraja swami's vinayakuni vale, Alagalladaga, Rama katha sudha and Syama Shastri's Palintsu Kamakshi are very popular compositions in this raga.
Most of this information may be redundant in these days of google search on anything under the sun! I have culled out most of this stuff from books such as Ranga Ramanuja Ayyangar's magnum opus Kruti mani malai and Subbarao's Raga Nidhi.
