asampUrna mELakarthA rAgams

Last Updated On: October 22, 2000

The 72 mELakarthA rAgams under Venkatamakhi's nomenclature have been listed here. These may not be considered as "mELakarthA" rAgams by some, since some of the rAgams are not based on "sampUrna-sampUrna" scale. In other cases, the two equivalent rAgams, have the same scale and are considered "same".

The vagaries of having two systems

There are quite a few minor items of concern to us that there is more than one system in vogue. There are rAgams which have the same name in the two systems whose structures are different, while at the same time there are rAgams with same structure but different names. The names used by the Dikshitar school are also important to us, since Muthuswami Dhikshitar has woven the names of the rAgams into most of his compositions. You can read more about the specific rAgams in a separate page titled Dhikshitar school rAgams.

Some examples:
(a). shanmuKapriyA is known as chAmaram in Dhikshitar school. The mudrai "chAmaram" can be found in Muthuswami Dhikshitar's song "Sidhdhi vinAyakam anisham".
(b). shudhDha sAvEri in the Dhikshitar school is a pure janyam of kanakAn'gi, with svarams S R1 M1 P D1 S (this is called karnAtaka shudhDha sAvEri). The common shudhDha sAvEri is considered a janyam of karaHarapriyA and takes the svarams S R2 M1 P D2 S.

You can also listen to RealAudio® files of the mELakarthA rAgams on the internet.

The mELakarthA rAgams are grouped into the 12 chakrams, each containing 6 rAgams. Click on underlined rAgams to look up its associated janya rAgams. You can also click on any of the sampUrna rAgams listed within parenthesis, to look up the sampUrna mELakarthA rAgam's ArOHanam and avarOHanam.

Personality of a rAgam

Some thoughts on rAga bhAvam are in a separate page.

Latest Changes

The latest updates on October 22, 2000 was to change some incorrect spellings.

If you have any comments, suggestions or changes to the names on the list, please email me.