After a sufficiently long break, lets resume our tete-a-tete on ragas. This week we'll talk about one of my favorite ragas, Mohanam. I am sure it is also a favorite one for many of you. Mohanam is considered the janya raga of 28th Melakartha, Harikambodhi, having a very simple pentatonic arohanam-avarohanam (swaras Ma and Ni are omitted). As the name suggests, it is full of beauty and joy and enthralls rasikas of all levels. I would say it is a relatively easy raga for beginners since Mohana raga geetham, 'Vara Veena' is taught in the early stages of carnatic music learning. The raga is capable of effectively bringing out shringaram, veeram and karuna rasam and evokes a feeling of instant delight. The raga offers excellent scope for elaboration, either as a main item or in the RTP segment. The scale of Mohanam is employed largely in the music of South East Asian countries like China, Japan and Thailand.
The jeeva swaras of this raga are 'Ri', 'Ga', 'Da' and the nyasa swaras are 'Ga', 'Pa', 'Da'. The swaras bring out different flavors when handled with appropriate gamakams. The beauty of the raga is enhanced by jantai and dhatu prayogas. It also easily lends itself for grahabedham (Listen to prayogas in Mohanam)
Some famous compositions in Mohanam -
Thyagaraja's Nannu paalimpa, Evarura ninnuvina, Dayara nee, Rama ninnu nammina, Bhavanutha
Dikshitar's Kaadambari priyayai
Papanasam Sivan's Kapaali, Mayil vaahana, Giridhara gopala, Mysore Vasudevachar's Ra ra rajeeva lochana, Arunachala Kavi's En palli kondeeraiya, Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi's Swagatham krishna and…….. the list goes on.
Will be back with another raga, until then…..
Musically yours,
Uma.
