Arabhi


Arabhi or Aarabhi is a ragam in Carnatic music. It is a Janya raga, whose Melakarta raga is Shankarabharanam, 29th in the 72 Melakarta raga system.
Arabhi is a raga that dates back to 7 AD. Originally, it was called as pazhanthakkam in Ancient Tamil music.

Structure and Lakshana

Its structure is as follows :
Arabhi raga is an Owdava-sampoorna raga meaning, 5 swaras occur in the arohana and in avarohana all swaras occur.
It is a raga without much gamakas and frequency variations, relying instead on flat notes. The important point is the swara "ga" always comes very close to "ma" so when we sing the phrase "ma ga ri it sounds like "ma ma ri". Likewise the swara "ni" always comes very close to the swara "sa" hence when we sing the phrase "sa ni da" it sounds like "sa sa da".
The closest raga to this one is Devagandhari. There are few aspects which make Arabhi different.
  1. In Arabhi the swara "ga" is close to "ma" but in Devagandhari it is not the same.
  2. The swara "ri" is not fluctuated in Arabhi but it is given "asaivu" in Devagandhari
  3. The phrase "pa ma da sa" should not be sung in Arabhi, as it is exclusive for Devagandhari
  4. Devagandhari is sung with gamakas and vilambita kala prayogas
  5. Devagandhari is sung with deergha gandharam
Arabhi raga is a very energetic and it lends itself to creativity in brigas more than gamakas.

Popular Compositions

The 3rd of Pancharatna Kritis, Sadhinchanae by Saint Thyagaraja is a famous composition set in Arabhi raga. Here we can note that Thyagaraja uses phrases like "sa sa da" in the charanam although there are phrases like "sa ni da" also.
Here are some more compositions set to Arabhi.
TypeCompositionComposertalam
VarnamSarasija MukhiroPallavi Doraiswamy IyerAdi
VarnamAnnamae aravaaTiger VaradachariarAdi
VarnamAmba GauriIrayimman ThampiAdi
KritiLalisidalu MaganaPurandara DasaruAdi
KritiSaadinchane O Manasa ThyagarajaAdi
KritiChaala kallalaaduThyagarajaAdi
KritiO RajeevakshaThyagarajaChapu
KritiNada sudha rasaThyagarajaRupakam
KritiPatiki MangalaThyagarajaAdi
KritiGanarajena rakshitohamMuthuswamy DikshitarChapu
KritiSri Saraswati namostuteMuthuswami DikshitarRupakam
KritiShwetaranyeshwaramMuthuswami DikshitarAdi
KritiAdipuriswaramMuthuswami DikshitarAdi
KritiMarakoti koti lavanyaMuthuswami DikshitarJhampa
KritiPalayashumam ParadevateSyama SastriTriputa
KritiPaahi Parvata Nandini Swathi ThirunalAdi
KritiVande MaheswaramSwathi ThirunalMisra Chapu
KritiNarasimham MamavaSwathi ThirunalKhanda Chapu
KritiSri Ramana VibhoSwathi ThirunalAadi
KritiMadhu kaitabhaMuthiah BhagavatharAdi
KritiDurga Lakshmi SaraswatiPapanasam SivanAdi
KritiMaravanu ne ninnuG. N. BalasubramaniamRupakam
KritiSri Sakala GanadhipaDr M. BalamuralikrishnaAdi
KritiMahadeva SuthamDr. M. BalamuralikrishnaAdi
KritiMahâ Balavantâ Sri HanumantâKalyani VaradarajanAdi

Film Songs

Language:Tamil">Tamil language">Tamil

Title Song