Raga of the Week: RITIGOWLA/ NARIRITIGOWLA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Janyam of Mela 22, Kharaharapriya The namnetwork e of the 20th Asampoorna Melam : Nariritigowla Arohanam: S G R G M N D M N N S Avarohana: S N D M G M P M G R S (Notes taken: Chatusruti Ri, Sadharana Ga, Suddha Ma Chatusruti Dha, Kaishiki Ni-- in some samcharas Suddha Dha also appears) Ubhaya Vakra (both ascending and descending), sampoorna ragam. Bhashanga Ragam, where the Bhashanga note Suddha Dha appears in some sancharas. Ritigowla belons to the Dvitiya Ghana Panchaka (second series of Ghana ragas) group. Special features: Tristhayi ragam, Sarva kalikamm Dirgha Kampita Ga ; Ga Ma Ni are Jiva swarams, Avokes Karuna Rasam. The Subbaraya Sastry composition `` Janani Ninuvina'' simply immortalizes this Ragam. A rare old recording of M. D. Ramanathan has the Tyagaraja Krithi ``Paripalaya Paripalaya'' in this Ragam. Muthuswami Dikshitar uses the addresses the Goddess in the Ragamudra phrase ``Riti Gowrave'' in his Nilothpalamba Krithi in Nariritigowla. (There are several ragas with the suffix ``Gowla'': but no relationship to Ritigowla -- Gowla, Mayamalavagowla, Kannadagowla, Purva Gowla, Chaya Gowla, Narayanagowla, and Kedaragowla) The Nilothpalamba Gowlantha Krithis of Dikshitar (all eight compositions on Goddess Nilothpalamba, in eighr ragams with Gowla suffix, has one song in (Nari)Ritigowla). Compositions in Ritigola ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^' Lakshya Gitam ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Isvari Lakkumi (Jhampa) - Venkatamakhin Varnam ^^^^^^ Vanajaksha (Ata) - Vina Kuppayyar Krithis ^^^^^^^ Moramanuni (Adi) - Vina Kuppayyar Raga rathna (Rupakam) - Tyagaraja Dvaithamu Sukhama (Adi) - Tyagaraja Badalikadira (Adi) - Tyagaraja Cherarava (Adi)- Tyagaraja Bale Balendu (Adi) - Tyagaraja Nannu Vidachi (Chapu) - Tyagaraja Ni Dasya Galgute (Adi) - Tyagaraja Badali Kadira (Adi) - Tyagaraja Jo Jo Jo Rama (Adi) - Tyagaraja Sadguru Swamiki (Adi) - Tyagaraja Paripalaya paripalaya (Rupakam) - Tyagaraja Sree Nilothpala Nayike (Rupakam) - Muthuswami Dikshitar Nilothpalambam (Chapu) - Muthuswami Dikshitar Janani Ninuvina (Rupakam) - Subbaraya Sastri Parakala bala (Rupakam) - Annayya Sadguru Swamiki (Adi) - Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar Alamanaghah Vilambena (Jhampa) - Swathi Tirunal Paripalaya Mam (Rupakam) - Swathi Tirunal Angaraka Mangala Murthe (Rupakam) - Muthiah Bhagavathar Dhira Shikhamani (Adi) - Muthiah Bhagavathar Sakala Sampadprade (Jhampa) - Muthiah Bhagavathar Sivanandam Brahmanandam (Adi) - Nilakantan Sivan Tatwamariya Tarama (Adi) - Papanasam Sivan Malarinai Thunai (Adi) - Papanasam Sivan Nambinorai (Chapu) - Ambujam Krishna Guruvayurappane (Adi) - Ambujam Krishna Sarasa Dala Nayana (Adi) - N. S. Ramachandran Pahimam Sri Varaha (Chapu) - Thulasevanam Saranam Savesa (Rupakam) - Vedanayakam Pillai Mama Hrdaye (Adi) - Mysore Vasudevachar Arul Surandarul (Adi) - T. Lakshmanan Pillai Varuvai Enre (Adi) - Periyasami Thuran Swami Mukhya Prtana (Rupakam) - Purandharadasa Thambulava Kollu (Adi) - Purandharadasa Ninnu Vina Mari Galada- Syama Shasthri Katha shravana mado - Purandara Dasa - sung by R.K. shrikanthan Ritigowla features in several Ragamalikas, Post pallavi ragamalika swarams, and even used as a main Ragam tanam Pallavi piece. Some OAQ (Once Asked Questions): >I doubt the Bhashanga status of Rithigowla. > >I am Seriously thinking whether the suddha dhaivatham is later >inclution because if we notice the song,'Janani ninnuvina' and the= >Chittai swaram in that song, suddha dhaivathamhas not been used at all. > Well, muttusvAmi dIkShitar, a contemporary of tyAgarAja, used shuddha dhaivata - to the exclusion of other dhaivatas - in his nIlOtpalAmbA kRtis in rItigauLa. shuddha dhaivata also features in his interpretations of AbhErI, shuddha sAvEri etc. L Ramakrishnan ramki@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~ramakris ---------------------------------- rItigauLa is an interesting case... historically, it has been associated with the 20th mELa in the works of Venkatamakhi, Shahaji, Tulajaji, GovindAcArya... and in other earlier/contemporaneous works has been referred to as belonging to s'rI mELa or as having pancas'ruti dhaivatam... the latter term having been consistently used by a few writers for referring to D2... i.e. catuss'ruti dhaivatam in current usage. Now, in the "earlier" kanakAmbarI nomenclature, the 20th mEla was Bhairavi and rItigauLa belonged to this mELa... in the "later" kanakAmbarI nomenclature however, (nArI)rItigauLa itself became the 20th mELa, with the "nAri" prefix chosen as per kaTapayAdi sankhya... This nomenclature is called "later" since it is significantly different from the former, and has proper kaTapayAdi prefixes for all the 72 mELas... in this, it seems to have been inspired by the 72 sampUrNa melakarta kanakAngI-ratnAngI scheme devised by GovindacAryA in his Samgraha CuDAmaNi (~ mid 1700s). The author of this "later" kanakAmbarI nomenclature was most probably Muddu Venkatamakhi (a grandson of Venkatamakhi) who lived in TiruviDaimarudUr (aka mAdhyArjunam)... from him, Ramaswami Dikshitar (1735-1817), the father of Muthuswami Dikshitar, learnt the details of the 72 mEla system... Probably, nArIrItigauLa was preferred for the 20th mEla since D2's important role in BhairavI made its positioning as the 20th mELa an uncomfortable choice... clear demarcation of rAgas into mELa/rAganga ragas, upAnga ragas, bhASAnga ragas, was becoming a strong theoretical concern by then... In any case, (nArI)rItigauLa, once it occupied the 20th mELa position, became exclusively identified with s'uddha dhaivatam... this was probably a "back-formation"... a case of sangIta s'Astra affecting prayoga... we certainly have other examples in Carnatic music... e.g. the 72 melakarta system itself. (nArI)rItigauLa has continued as such in the Dikshitar tradition... Dikshitar's s'rI nIlotpala nAyike is sung/played in this manner by members of the Kallidakuricci family, and artistes like Smt.Kalpagam Swaminathan who learnt from Kalli. Anantakrishna Iyer. Balamurali has sung this kriti in more mainstream rItigauLa... it is also very beautiful and evocative... --------------------------------------------------------- >From a practical sense, various scholars (Sambamurti, SRJ, etc...) have pointed out that the D in mainstream rItigauLa is to be intoned flatter than D2... they throw in a term tris'ruti dhaivatam here ;-)... also, the s'uddha dhaivatam occurs in phrases like P D D M... it is there in the crucial aTa tALa varNam "vanajAkSa" of vINa Kuppier... it is important to note that such varNams are considered by most to be a compendium of rAga lakSaNa... Even so, the s'uddha dhaivatam is endorsed only half-heartedly... and it is suggested that it may be dropped completely without detriment to rAgabhAva... The flip side of this is that at least a few people whose musical sense I respect have mentioned upon hearing (nArI) rItigauLa that even exclusive usage of s'uddha dhaivatam is not very detrimental to the overall rAgabhAva... one of these persons actually surmised it a-priori long before any of us heard the nArIrItigauLa version... yes, yes, all this is subjective, but there it is... -------------------------------------------- -Srini. Reply to above: Interestingly, I gather from a lec-dem by S Ramanathan that narayanagauLa and rItigauLa were considered as 'parambarai sotthu' (ancestral property) of the vIna kuppaiyer clan ! Also in the same lecture S Ramanathan talks of the peculiarity of rItigauLa's nishadam. Says its called the 'septimal ni' in scientific jargon and happens to be an overtone of the AdhAra shadja and demonstrates very beautifully the peculiar resonance of the nishadham and the shadjam by singing the nishadham again and again. I am struck by the beauty of this ni ! rItigauLa has always been a very beautiful raga, but such nuances seem to highlight the raga even better ! SR goes on to say that the effect is very prominent while tuning the tambura, and for a new tambura, the septimal ni is so powerfully heard that it could actually confuse the listener/tuner. In his own words, 'appadiyE ALai mayakkidum' !! A couple of months ago, when I was visiting Srini Pichumani, he gave a demonstration of this effect on the tambura. Truthfully speaking, I heard the nishadham on and off, more off than on ! :-) But somehow after listening to the lec-dem, I would like more discussion on this in the net. To start some discussion, here are some questions : Other than rItigauLa and surati, what other ragas have this nishadam ? Are these swaras recognised as seperate entities under the 22 swara scheme, or are they clubbed under the generic kaisiki nishAdham ? How is it different from the kaisiki nishAdham of (say) karaharapriya ? In general, what are the other overtones that can be discerned as being higher harmonics of shadja and panchama ? How about other swaras like gandhara, rishaba etc...? Do these manifest better in the tAra sthAyi than in madhya sthAyi ? (I think it would.. ) balaji/... g.balaji@hqs.mid.gmeds.com