Devagandhari


Devagandhari is a raga in Indian classical music. In the carnatic classical music, Devagandhari is a janya raga, whose melakarta raga is Shankarabharanam, 29th in the 72 Melakarta raga system.
It is also there in the Sikh tradition of northern India and is part of the Guru Granth Sahib.

In Carnatic music

Structure and Lakshana

Its structure is as follows :
Devagandhari ragam is an audava-vakra-sampurna raga meaning, in arohana 5 swaras come and in avarohana all swaras come, and there is a "zigzag" pattern of notes. The notes used in this ragam are shadjam, chatushruti rishabham, antara gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, panchamam, chatushruti dhaivatam and kakili nishadam. This ragam sometimes includes the kaishika nishadam.
The closest raga to this one is Arabhi. Some of the things that makes Arabhi different are:
Here are some more compositions set to Devagandhari.
TypeCompositionComposertalamLanguage
KritiKsheerasagaraTyagarajaAdiTelugu
KritiVinaradana manaviTyagarajaAdiTelugu
KritiKoluvaiyunnadeTyagarajaAdiTelugu
KritiTulasammaTyagarajaAdiTelugu
Kritievaru manakuTyagarajaAdiTelugu
KritiSita vara SangitaTyagarajaAdiTelugu
KritiKshitija RamanamMuthuswami DikshitarAdiSanskrit
KritiJayajaya Rama RamanaSwathi ThirunalJhampaSanskrit
KritiPahi MamayiSwathi ThirunalAadiSanskrit
KritiRama Rama PahiSwathi ThirunalRoopakamSanskrit
KritiSharade Vina VadanaPapanasam SivanAadiSanskrit
KritiEnneramumGopalakrishna BharathiAdiTamil

In Sikh tradition

In the Sikh tradition from northern India it is part of the Guru Granth Sahib. Every raga has a strict set of rules which govern the number of notes that can be used; which notes can be used; and their interplay that has to be adhered to for the composition of a tune.
In the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy Granth, there are a total of 31 raga compositions and this raga is the sixth raga to appear in the series. The composition in this raga appear on a total of 10 pages from page numbers 527 to 537.
Today Devagandhari is a rare, little known, ancient raga. Its performance time is the morning hours. Historically it has had three forms; the less ornamented type is described here. In the Ragmala, Devagandhari is a ragini of Malkaunsa. Today it belongs to the Asavari thata. Its mood is one of prayerful supplication presenting a heroic effect. The texts set to this raga reveal a heroic search for these qualities which lead one to the Lord. This raga was used primarily by Guru Arjan. Forty-Seven hymns were composed to it including three by Guru Tegh Bahadar and six by Guru Ram Das.