Mohanakalyani

Carnatic Music
Concepts
Sruti • Swara • Raga • Tala • Melakarta • Asampurna Melakarta
Compositions
Varnam • Kriti • Geetham • Swarajati • Ragam Thanam Pallavi • Thillana
Instruments
melody: Vocals • Saraswati veena • Venu • Violin • Chitra veena • Nadaswaram • Mandolin rhythm: Mridangam • Ghatam • Morsing • Kanjira • Thavil drone: Tambura • Shruti box
Composers
List of Carnatic composers

Mohanakalyani (pronounced mōhanakalyāṇi, Sanskrit: मोहनकल्याणि, Tamil: மோகனகல்யாணி) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a janya rāgam (derived scale) from the 65th melakarta scale Mechakalyani. It is a janya scale, as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes) in the ascending scale. It is a combination of the pentatonic scale Mohanam and the sampurna raga scale Kalyani.^[1]

The equivalent of Mohanakalyani in Hindustani music is Bhoop Kalyan or Shuddha Kalyan.^[2] Bhoop Kalyan belongs to the Kalyan thaat of Hindustani music. Similar to Mohanakalyani, Bhoop Kalyan is a combination of Bhoop and Kalyan.^[2]

Structure and Lakshana

Ascending scale with shadjam at C, which is same as Mohanam scale

Descending scale with shadjam at C, which is same as Kalyani scale

Mohanakalyani is an asymmetric rāgam that does not contain madhyamam or nishādham in the ascending scale. It is an audava-sampurna rāgam (or owdava rāgam, meaning pentatonic ascending scale).^[1][2] Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows:

• ārohaṇa : S R2 G3 P D2 S
• avarohaṇa : S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S

The notes used in this scale are shadjam, chathusruthi rishabham, antara gandharam, panchamam and chathusruthi dhaivatham in ascending scale, with kakali nishadham and prati madhyamam included in descending scale. For the details of the notations and terms, see swaras in Carnatic music.

Popular compositions

A few compositions have been set to Mohanakalyani rāgam. Here are some popular kritis composed in Mohanakalyani.

• Saeve Srikantham by Swati Tirunal
• Bhuvaneeswariya by Muthiah Bhagavatar
• Siddhi vinayakam saeveham by Muthiah Bhagavatar
• Thaka thajanu theemtha, a melodious thillana by Lalgudi Jayaraman

Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.

Scale similarities

• Mohanam has a symmetric pentatonic scale, with the notes same as the ascending scale of Mohanakalyani. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S D2 P G3 R2 S
• Bilahari is a rāgam which has the shuddha madhyamam in descending scale (descending scale of Shankarabharanam) in place of the prati madhyamam. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications
2. ^ ^{a b c} Raganidhi by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras