From: krisna@cs.wisc.edu (Krishna Kunchithapadam)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: Re: Amrita Vahini ?
Date: 12 Oct 92 14:47:55 GMT
Followup-To: rec.music.indian.classical
Organization: U of Wisconsin Madison - Computer Sciences

asrini@sanjuan (Anand Srinivasan) writes:
>> janaki@cs1.bradley.edu (Venkata Nemana) writes:
>> >
>> >I had a small doubt...
>> >Are the ragas Amrita Vahini and Amrita Varshini the same?
>> >If not, what's the raga of "Sri rama Padama.. Nee Kripa 
>> >chalune.."?
>> >Can somebody give the details of the above ragas..
>> >Thanks.
>> >
>>
>> Sometime back someone posted all the melakartha ragas and
>> some of their janyams out of which surprisingly there were
>> two Amrithavahinis, for different melakarthas.  I guess 
>> one of them might be Amrithavarshini (pure guess!).
>> please correct, if i am wrong...
>>
>> Natabhairavai               -20     Gopikavasantham, Hindholam, Jingla
>>                                     Manji, Amrithavahini, Saramathi
>>
>> Chitrambari                 -66     Amritavahini
>>

amRtha-vAhene and  amRtha-varSheNe  are, quite emphatically,  two
different rAgas.

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amRtha-varSheNe is formally classified as a janya of JAla varALe,
the  39th  maeLa  rAga.  Due  to  the  use  of  gamakAs  that are
reminiscent of a ShaT-sruthe Dhaivatha, it is also  considered  a
janya of the 66th maeLa rAga, cethrAmbare.


amRtha-vAhene is a janya of naTa Bairave, the 20th maeLa.  It  is
not  a  very  popular  rAga -- the most famous (and probably only
widely sung) kRthe in this rAga is "SrE  rAma  pAdhamA,  nE  kRpa
jAlunae,  centhAneke  rAvae",  by  thyAgarAja.  According to some
legends, this kRthe was sung by thyAgarAja to  revive  a  drowned
man  from  near death -- the name amRtha-vAhene is appropriate in
this context.

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The ArohaNa-avarohaNa of these two rAgas are:

amRtha-varSheNe:        s g3 m2 p n3 S          S n3 p m2 g3 s
        audava-audava,
	reShaBa-Dhaivatha varja.

amRtha-vAhene:          s r2 m1 p d1 n2 S       S n2 d1 m1 g2 r2 s
        shAdava gAnDhAra-varja ArohaNa,
	shAdava pan~cama-varja avarohaNa.

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amRtha-varSheNe is a distinctive rAga, I feel that vejayaSre  has
some similarity to it in its uththarAnga. The kRthes in this rAga
are too numerous to quote.  This  rAga  is  considered  to  be  a
creation   of   muththusvAme  dhEkShethar,  who  sang  the  kRthe
"AnandhAmRtha varSheNe, amRtha varSheNe, harAdhe-pUjethae shevae,
BavAne"  when he was anguished to see a drought ridden landscape,
during his travels.

amRtha-vAhene  is  not  so  distinctive.  Traces  of   sAramathe,
kOkela-varALe, naTa-Bairave all appear in the raga -- it is quite
difficult to elaborate well.  [  For  those  interested,  an  AVM
cassette released under the title of "thresThAye" features a full
30 min exposition  of  amRtha-vAhene  and  the  kRthe  "SrE  rAma
pAdhamA ..." by bAla muraLe kRShNa.

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To confuse matters some more, there is  yet  another  name  space
confounder  -- the rAga dhaevAmRtha-varSheNe, completely unallied
to either of the two  rAgas  above.  This  rAga  is  a  janya  of
Karaharapreya and the thyAgarAja kRthe "yevarane nEna encaedherA"
is a popular example.

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-- kRShNa

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|       Krishna Kunchithapadam          krisna@cs.wisc.edu      |
|       U of Wisconsin, Madison     				|
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Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical