Raga: Naattai (Naata)

Janya: from 36 Chala Naata

Definition (Venkatamakhin):
	NAttA shadja grahOpEtA
	AvaroohE ga dha varjitA

Arohanam:  sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa
Avarohanam: sa ni pa ma ri sa
A sampoorna - audava (7 in ascending, 6 in descending)
RAgam, (Notes taken are:  Shadsruti RI, Antara GA, Suddha MA,
Shatsruti DHA and Kakali NI).  (ru gu ma dhu nu)
According to Dikshitar school, Chala nata is the 
Raganga Ragam and Melam 36. 

Compositions:
Varnam:
Palumaru Ninne (Adi) Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer
Sarasija NAbha (Adi) Palghat Parameswara Bhagavathar 

JagadAnanta kArakA (pancharathnam) (Thyagaraja)
ArE Ruppa Giri VAsA (Jhampa thaala) Lakshana Geetha
PavanAthmajAgachcha  (Jhampa tALam)(on God HanUmAn) Prabandham
Iha Para SAdhaka ( Kumara Ettappa Maharaja)
Parvata RAja Kumari (Krishnaswami Ayya)
Sri Rajadhiraja (TAna Varnam) (in Ata Taalam)   by 
Baluswami Diskhitar (Muthuswami Dikshitar's brother)
Ninne Bhajana, Adi, Thyagaraja
SwAminatha Paripalaya (Adi) Dikshitar
MahAgaNapatim (Adi) Dikshitar
Pavanathmaja Agachcha (Jhampa) Dikshitar
Parameswara (Adi) Dikshitar)
Varasiddhi VinAyakam (Rupakam) Ambi Dikshitar
SarasIruhAsana PriyE (Desakshi) Puliyur Doraiswami Iyer
Siddhi Arul (Rupakam) Nilakantha Sivan
Sri MahAgaNapate (Adi) Sivasakti
VArana Mukha Vaa (Adi) Ambujam Krishna
Karimukha VaradA (Adi)  G. N. Balasubrahmanyam
SrI MInalOchani (Adi) Kavi Kunjara Bharathi
Tanthi Maa mukhaa (Adi) Kotiswara Iyer
Gananathanai (Adi) Lakshmanan Pilai
LalAtAksha NamostuthE (Adi) Muthiah Bhagavathar 
Veda mAthE Veda vinuthE(Adi) Muthiah Bhagavathar
VandIsuvuidu (Purandaradasa)
Sri GaNanAtha (Adi) Pallavi Sesha Iyer
UmayOr PaganE (Rupakam) Papanasam SIvan
PraNathOsmi DEvam (Adi) Thulaseevanam
Sri GajAnanA (Adi) Thulaseevanam
Sri PadmanAbham (Misra Capu) Thulaseevanam
Re Re Maanasa (Adi) Thulaseevana,
Gananayaka Ninnu (Adi) Vina Varadayya
Jaya jaya swamin jaya jaya (Adi) Narayana theerthar
Jaya Jaya, Khanda Chapu,Purandaradasa


Notes:

An auspicious RAgam, suitable to begin a concert.  SInce it creates a
highly musical atmosphere, when sung at the commencement of
a concert, it is usually a preferred Ragam at the
beginning of a concert.  It evokes VIra Rasa.    This is a Tri StAyI
RAgam, and RI is rendered as dirgha kampita svaram.  This
Ragam shines well in Madhyama KAla AlApana and
TAnam.  TAnam played in veena creates a very pleasing effect.
The Raaga ChAyA svaras are  RI Ma  and GA (JIva svaras)


The folowing two Krithis are in the Sampoorna Sampoorna
Melam 36 Chala Naata, and are featured in the list of
72 Mela Raga Krithis:
EthayyA gati enakku (Adi) Kotiswara Iyer (Kanda Gaanaamutham)
NagAtmajam (Adi)  M. Balamuralikrishna  (Raagaanga Ravali)

Chala naatai resembles some versions of raga Jog of hindustani.

In a few compositions the dha does not occur at all and in 
some compositions it only occurs in chitta swaras.

Most compositions seem to start on Sa, Ma or Pa.


An allied Raagam: Gambhira Naattai  (also known as Suddha Naattai)
                  
is an allied Ragam  from the same 36th Melam Chala Natta
audava - audava ragam
Arohanam:  sa ga ma pa ni sa
Avarohanam: sa ni pa ma ga sa

Gambiranattai resembles Raga Tilang (In Tilang, Komal Ni is used
in avarohana, while in Gambira Nattai, Tivra Ni is used both in 
ascending and descending.

One other point about Gambhira nata - the pann nattapadai is akin to
this. There are many tevarams sung in this pann.



Compositions

Sri Jalandharam AsryAmamyaham (Adi) Mysore Jayachamaraja Wodaiyar
Raksha Maam SaranAgatham (Adi) Meenakshi Sudha 
Nara NArAyaNa (Adi) MAnaveda
Jaya Jaya GaNanathA (Adi) Viswanatha Sastri
Ini yedu kavalai (Adi) Periyasami Thooran
Saranambe Vani (Adi) Purandaradasa
Jaya Devaki Kishora (Jhampa) SVati Tirunal
Sri Padmanabham (Misra Capu) Thulaseevanam
Girija Ramana (Adi) Vasudevachar
Sangita Rasike Lalite (adi) B. Subba Rao
Vanajaksha (adi ) - 

There are at least two RAgams with the
suffix Nattai: (but no relation to Naattai):

(1) Mohana Naatai (derived fron the 9th MeLam DhEnuka);
arohanam: sa ga ma pa dha pa ma pa ni sa
avarohanam: sa ni pa dha pa ma ga sa
This is an Ubhaya Vakra, shadava-shadava rAgam.  The DHA
is Vakram in arohanam, and RI is Vakram in avarohanam.
A minor Raga with limited scope in AlApanan and Svara
PrastAra.  The only composition I have heard in this
RAgam is:
Mohana NAta rAga priyE (ADi) Muthuswami Dikshitar.

(2) SAranga Naatta (derived from the 15th MeLam MAyamALavagowLA)
arohanam: sa ri ma pa dha sa (Or sa ri ma pa dha sa ni sa)
avarohaNam: sa ni sa dha pa ma ga ri sa (Or sa ni sa dha pa ma ga ri sa)
Agian, the only Krithi in this RAgam is  GITAM :
Ari are nAThA (RUpakam) TiruvottiyUr Tyagarajan.


Muttuswami Dikshitar has composed Avyaja Karunakatakshi in this
raga. In this kriti, he refers to this as Salanga nata (sALaNga nAta).

(3)ChAyA Natta
A Janyam of MeLam No. 34 VAgadIsvari
ArOhaNam:  sa ri ga ma pa ma pa sa  (or  sa ri ga ma pa sa)
AvarOhaNam: sa ni dha ni pa ma ri sa 

This is an Ubhaya Vakra audava shadava (5 ascending 6 descending)
VivAdi MeLa rAgam.. Not very popular.  Some compositions
in ChAyA nAta are:
Idi samayamuna (AdI) Tyagaraja
Talampa Venaka (Adi) Annamacharya

A Raga with a Nattai prefix  is Nattakuranji (derived from
28th MeLam HarikAmbhiodi) will be discussed later.


In Ragamalikas,Pallavis etc:

The line " Perumai Thantha En Naattai"" sings Maharajapuram
Santhanam in his Ragamalika: "SArangan MaruganE SAveri BAlakanE".

References: Sangita Sammpradaya Pradarshini of Subbarama Diksitar

Contributors: Narayanaswami Pallasena , Mohan Ayyar, 
Ramasubramanian Ramakrishnan.

Please mail any additions,modifications to Pramila @
pramila@ecn.purdue.edu