Sahana (raga)
Sahana (pronounced sahānā) is a popular ragam (musical scale) in Carnatic music. It is a janya rāgam (derived scale) associated with the 28th Melakarta rāgam Harikambhoji. The Hindustani music ragam "Sahana" is an upper-tetrachord-dominant Kanada-anga raga, from the Kafi thaat, also allied with Bageshree and Bhimpalasi. The shuddha Dhaivat is an important rest note (nyaas swara). Structure and Lakshana. It is a "Ubhaya Vakra sampoorna ragam". "Vakra" means crooked. "Ubhaya Vakra" means that the notes in both ascent and descent follow a zig zag pattern. The notes in ascending and descending scale do not follow  a strict progression. Hence the note phrases contain such "vakra" phrases, lending a unique beauty to this rāgam. Though it is a "sampoorna rāgam" (contains all 7 notes), the "vakra" scale means it is not considered a "melakarta", as melakarta rāgams must have strictly ascending and descending scales. It is also classified as a "rakti raga" (raga with high melodic content). Its structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see "swaras in Carnatic music" for details on below notation and terms): The notes used in this scale are "Shadjam, Chathusruthi Rishabham, Antara Gandharam, Suddha Madhyamam, Panchamam, Chathusruthi Dhaivatham" and  Kaisiki Nishadham. Its characteristic phrases are (R2 G3 M1 P),(P M1 D2 N2), (N2 S D2), (G3 M1 R2). Sahana has a distinct mood due to these phrases and characteristic gamakams and is rarely confused with other ragams. Sahana has a close relationship to Malavi and to some extent Dwijawanthi/Jujavanti. While the use of Anthara Gaandharam in R2 G2 R2 makes it different from Dwijawanthi, since Dwijawanthi uses Saadharana Gaandharam, sahana has a closer relationship with Malavi which has an identical Vakra scale formation as Sahana. Select compositions. There are a large number of popular songs composed in this  rāgam in Carnatic Music as well as Tamil Film Music. Here are some Carnatic music compositions.