Mohanam is a rāga in Carnatic music. It is an audava rāga. It is usually described as a janya rāga of Harikamboji. However, alternate opinions suggest that Mechakalyani may be a more appropriate classification based on the lakshana of the raga. The equivalent of Mohanam in Hindustani music is Bhoop. It is one of the common pentatonic scales across the world and is very popular in East Asian and South-east Asian music, including China and Japan.
Structure and Lakshana
Mohanam is a symmetric rāga that does not contain madhyamam or nishādham. It is a symmetric pentatonic scale. Its structure is as follows :
Arohana| :
Avarohana| :
Mohanam is usually classified as a janya rāga of Harikambhoji, the 28th Melakarta rāga, though alternate opinions exist that prefer classifying it as a janya raga of Kalyani based on its lakshana. The Hindustani equivalent Bhoop is associated with Kalyan thaat. One of the first scales employed by the ancient Tamils was the Mullaippann, a pentatonic scale composed of the notes sa ri ga pa da equivalent to C, D, E, G and A in the western notations. These fully harmonic scales, constitutes the raga Mohanam in the Carnatic music style.
Popular compositions
Mohanam rāga lends itself for extensive elaboration and exploration and has many compositions in both classical music and film music.
Kritis
The geethamVaravina mridupani is one of the first short songs taught to beginners in Carnatic music. Ninnukoricomposed by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar is a popular Varnam in this scale. Here are some popular kritis composed in Mohanam.
Mohanam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 4 other major pentatonic rāgas, namely, Hindolam, Shuddha Saveri, Udayaravichandrika and Madhyamavati. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāga. For more details and illustration of this concept refer Graha bhedam on Mohanam.
Mohanakalyani is a rāga which has the ascending scale of Mohanam and descending scale of Kalyani. Its ' structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S
Bilahari is a rāga which has the ascending scale of Mohanam and descending scale of Sankarabharanam. Its ' structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S
Garudadhvani is a rāga which has the ascending scale of Sankarabharanam and descending scale of Mohanam. Its ' structure is S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S : S D2 P G3 R2 S
Shivaranjani rāga differs from Mohanam only by the gāndhāram. It uses sadharana gāndhāram instead of antara gāndhāram and its ' structure is S R2 G2 P D2 S : S D2 P G2 R2 S
Hamsadhvani rāga uses nishadam in place of dhaivatam. Its ' structure is S R2 G3 P N3 S : S N3 P G3 R2 S
Vaasanthi rāga differs from Mohanam only by the daivatham. It uses shudda daivatham instead of chatushruti daivatham and its ' structure is S R2 G3 P D1 S : S D1 P G3 R2 S
Niroshta rāga uses nishadam in place of panchamam. Its structure is S R2 G3 D2 N3 S : S N3 D2 G3 R2 S
