Hanumatodi


Hanumatodi, more popularly known as Todi, is a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 8th melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system. This is sung very often in concerts. It is known to be a difficult rāgam to perform in owing to its complexity in prayoga. It is called Janatodi in Muthuswami Dikshitar school of Carnatic music. Its Western equivalent is the Phrygian mode. Todi in Carnatic music is different from Todi of Hindustani music. The equivalent of the Hindustani raga Todi in Carnatic music is Shubhapantuvarali. The equivalent of Carnatic Todi in Hindustani is Bhairavi thaat.

Structure and Lakshana

It is the 2nd rāgam in the 2nd chakra Netra. The mnemonic name is Netra-Sri. The mnemonic phrase is sa ra gi ma pa dha ni. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is as follows :
This scale uses the notes shuddha rishabham, sadharana gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, shuddha dhaivatham and kaisiki nishadham. It is a sampoorna rāgam - rāgam having all 7 swarams. It is the shuddha madhyamam equivalent of Bhavapriya, which is the 44th melakarta scale. A peculiarity of this raga is that it is sung in all lower notes.

''Janya'' rāgams

Hanumatodi has a quite a few janya rāgams associated with it, of which Asaveri, Janatodi, Dhanyasi, Punnagavarali and Shuddha Seemanthini are popular. See List of janya rāgams for all of Todi's janyas.

Popular compositions

Most composers have composed songs in Todi. Thyagaraja alone has composed about 32 compositions in this raga with each composition starting at every single note of the three octaves. Thāye Yashoda, composed by Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi, is a very well known composition, in the Tamil language. This popular kriti is sung frequently in concerts. A popular varnam in the Todi rāgam is Erā Nāpai by Patnam Subramania Iyer, one of the famous composers of Carnatic music.
Other popular compositions are:

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Related rāgams

Todi's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 5 other major melakarta rāgams, namely, Kalyani, Shankarabharanam, Natabhairavi, Kharaharapriya and Harikambhoji. For further details and an illustration of graha bhedam of this rāgam refer related rāgams section in Shankarabharanam page.