Mela Kozhuppu with Kambodhi .... !!
In all through our discussions we shall follow the following
scale notations.
Sadjamam-----------------------Sa
Suddha Rishabam (Komal)--------Ri1
Chathusruthi Rishabam (Tivra)--Ri2
Shatsruthi Rishabam------------Ri3
Suddha Gandharam---------------Ga1
Sadharana Gandharam------------Ga2
Anthara Gandharam--------------Ga3
Suddha Madhyamam---------------Ma1
Prati Madhyamam----------------Ma2
Panchamam----------------------Pa
Suddha Dhaivatham--------------Da1
Chathusruthi Dhaivatham--------Da2
Shatsruthi Dhaivatham----------Da3
Suddha Nishadam--------------- Ni1
Kaisiki Nishadam---------------Ni2
Kakali Nishadam----------------Ni3
Invoking God & Guru,Lets start this discussion about Kambodhi.
Sorry for the long post, let me try to keep it small hereafter.
In this I have discussed mostly about the technical aspects of the raga
with not much emphasis on Raga elaboration and singing. Being my first effort
I think you people will understand and excuse me for that. I will improve.
Kambodhi as the name suggests might have been originated from the region called
Kambhoja the north eastern part of Indian subcontinent. It has references that
runs back to centuries.
Kambodhi is a sampurna bhashanga raga. A raga is called Bashanga raga if they
take a foreign swara in either arohanam, avarohanam or both (from somether melakartha).
The number of Bhashanga ragas used in Carnatic music is 26 and kambodhi tops the list
and the next being Bhairavi (Its my take). A sampoorna raga is the one with all 7 swaras.
The note “ni” is omitted in the Arohanam, thus making it an Shadava- Sampoorna(6-7) ragam.
Kambodhi is a Janya raga from Harikambodhi (Mela 28). The raga lakshanam is as follows
There are 2 schools of Kambodhi one being the Dikshitar and another the venkata mahi.
Kambodhi has earlier been treated as a Mela Raga but Venkatamahi has put it under Mela 28.
Subbarama Dikshitar gives the ArOhaNa/avarOhaNa as
Arohana : Sa R12 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Ni2 Da2 Sa
Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.
Venkatamahi says
Kamboji Raga Sampurna carohe ga ni vakrita |
nishada kakaliyukta kvacit sthana prayujyate ||
Where he says that Ga and Ni are vakra in Arohana.
But, Widely practiced one is is
Arohana : Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma1 Pa Da2 Sa
Avarohana : Sa Ni2 Da2 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Ri2 Sa.
And here we go, the first hair-pin curve
Kakali Nishadham(Ni3)is used as an anya svaram (Eka Anyasvara Bashanga Ragam).
Kakali Nishadham is very rarely used (alpa prayogam)in the phrases like “Sa Ni Pa Da Sa”.
Kakali Nishadham is a Vishesha Prayogam and it cannot be rendered as Dheergam.
If we over do the Nishadha Prayogam or use it in various other phrases it might
land us in to Hari Kambodhi the parent raga.We can say the raga relies in the upper
part of the scale from pa to sa. Muthuswamy Dikshitar uses Ni3 in his songs in the
avarohana prayogas and it is rarely seen in Thyagaraja kritis.
The Raga has the following
Chaya Swaram: ma, dha and ni
Nyasa Swaram: ga, ma, pa, dha
Dheerga Swaram: ga, pa, dha
Gamaka Swaram: All Swarams.
When it come to singing the raga Ma, Da, and Ni are the jiva swaras.
When it comes to Gamaka, this is a sarva svara gamaka varika rakti raga, means that
all the swaras can handle gamaka. Long Karvai on the P and D and the kampita gamaka
on the M are really enchanting.Daatu swara pryogams like "da ga ri ga sa ri da ri sa ni da pa",
"ri pa ma ga sa", "ri ma ga sa", and "da ga ri sa" are
a speciality of this ragam
Ga ma pa ma ga ri ga sa ri ga when sung in 3 sthayi is electrifying. Means that
this raga is wonderful while rendering in mandra, thara sthayis too. particularly,
when it goes down to Mandhra sthyai Dhaivatham, it leaves us spell bound.
Kambodhi is a Moorchanakara Raga, that is, it admits graha bedham.
When the dhaivatam is taken as shadjam, the graha bedham results in the ragam Desiya Thodi.
under Mela 8. Conversely, the ga moorchana of Desiya Thodi gets
back to kambodh.
In Tamil Music, the derivation of the name has been given as Kamboothi,
which perhaps later became Kambodhi. The Tevaram pann takkesi the name for kambodhi.
In Malayalam music and kathakaLi songs, Kambodhi is called as kamodari.
As we can see this raga finds place in every form of songs, let it be varnam, virutham,
padam, krithi, thillana, what else & what not? This can be sung at any time in a concert.
Generally, this raga is classified as a raga to be sung in the evening.This raga is very
much suited for singing RTPs. Best one will be Parimala ranga pathe by M Mani Iyer.
This raga is handled by vocalists( How to name?), Nadaswara vidwans( how can we forget TNR pillai's),
flutists (Mali Mali Mali), Violinists ( Let me tell you Kunnakkudi gave a decent Kambodhi in Music Academy)
My take for the best will be the Maragatha Vallim. I just don't know why....
Come on in....