Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

(iv) Rāga in Karnatak music.

The features of Hindustani rāgas discussed above are also found in Karnatak rāgas, but they are often less obvious, either in analysis or to the ear. South Indian theory provides relatively little in the way of analytical terminology and categories for rāga, and close description is not really needed for teaching south Indian rāgas. In Hindustani music, fixed compositions play a relatively small role in concert performing practice, and detailed analysis and description of the rules and procedures of a rāga are extremely helpful to a student. In Karnatak music, conversely, compositions play a major role in the concert repertory, and a practising musician will be able to sing many compositions in each of the major rāgas. The materials of a rāga are informally induced from the repertory of pieces. Little need be given in the way of formal description beyond the ārohana -avarohana and a few characteristic phrases, with such descriptions acting as a reminder of what is already known from the compositions. Scale theory has monopolized the attention of south Indian musicians from the mid-19th century onwards, and musicians have been much more interested in working out and naming as rāgas the scale degree sequences used in Tyāgarāja's kīrtanam compositions, and in creating new (‘apūrva ’) rāgas, than in concentrating on the foundations of those that are traditionally important.

In addition, the underlying patterns within individual rāgas are often covered by the south Indian system of ornaments. More often than not the configuration of an ornamented degree in performance is a function of the place of the pitch class in the scale-type rather than of the svara in the rāga melodic type. For example, in both Hindustani and Karnatak Todī rāgas the principal degrees are e and a. Generally in Karnatak music a prolonged e in the region of f is sung as a wide shake from above (f–e). A prolonged a in the region of g is sung as a narrow shake from below (g–a). Although these two scale degrees occur in any number of parallel configurations in Karnatak Todī, their differences on the surface, because of their contrasting ornamentation, obscure those parallels. In Hindustani Todī, the pitches of both e and a are clearly intoned in their contexts, and their relationship is more audibly apparent.

Exx.6–9 are based on transcriptions from recordings of compositions in three south Indian rāgas all using the same scale-type, mela no.28 (c d e f g a b). Only the basic melodies are shown; ex.6 in particular has a long succession of variations on the first line, which have been omitted here. (For the ornament signs see §3(i)(b) below and ex.10.)

Exx.6 and 7 are both in rāga Nāta-kurañjī. Much of the basic pūrvāng material of the rāga is heard in the opening sections of the compositions, called pallavi (corresponding to the sthāyī of Hindustani compositions). The syllables ‘manasu-visaya nata-vidulak’ o-’ in ex.6 and ‘sura-vinutam candra-tārā sutam bu-’ in ex.7 are set to virtually the same music. Descent in the pūrvāng is illustrated in ‘ō-manasa’ in ex.6 and ‘budham āśrayāmi’ in ex.7. Uttarāng material establishing the upper tonic occurs in the two anupallavi (contrasting sections corresponding to Hindustani antarā), set to the words ‘(tana talup’) okar’intiki nīgi’ in ex.6 and ‘(budha) janair veditam/bhūsurair moditam’ in ex.7. A descent confined entirely within the uttarāng is illustrated in ‘tā gukkalu dōlu’ in ex.6. Full returning descent through uttarāng and pūrvāng together is seen in its simplest form (c–b–a–f–e–c) in ‘mahanīya sampa(dam)’ in ex.7; this is the form in which the Nāta-kurañjī avarohana (descent) is usually given.

The more complex and slower-paced form of descent is seen in ‘galgun’ ō manasa’ and ‘rītigād’ā?’ in ex.6. In these two phrases of the example the ‘actual’ performed configuration of the unit f–e–f–d–c is written out. Unlike most ornamentation, this phrase is characteristic for Nāta-kurañjī, and it also concretely illustrates several general features of south Indian rāgas. The unit f–e–f–d–c is often construed as e–f–g–e–d–c, because of its realization in performance with a heavy emphasis on the pitches pa and ga to the near suppression of ma; thus ‘ō manasa’ could be construed f–e–d–e–f–g–e–d–c instead of f–e–d–e–f–e–f–d–c. Such a construction, however, obscures the parallelism of the unit f–e–f–d with the unit b–a–b–g of the uttarānga, where the structural degrees and the realized sound are much more alike. The parallelism is further obscured by the fact that f–e–f–d normally goes down to c, while b–a–b–g, conversely, never descends to f but always leads to a; the setting of ‘o-sangitē’ shown in ex.6, where the parallel is really proved, occurs only at this transition into the next line.

Hence the parallelism of the units f–e–f–d and b–a–b–g, apparent in a reduced transcription, is by no means obvious to the ear in performance. In turn, these two units may be heard as extensions of the couples b–a and f–e of the simple descent form, as in ‘mahanīya sampa(dam)’ in ex.7. Much of the more complex structure of Nāta-kurañjī is ultimately reducible to elaborations on the obvious parallelism of b–a and f–e.

A similar instance may be seen in the pallavi and anupallavi of ex.8a: ‘gītārthamu san …’ and ‘sītā-pati cara …’. Although superficially their contours are quite different, especially in the rhyming syllables ‘gītā’ and ‘sītā’, the reduction shows that the underlying configurations are parallel, based on the descents f–e–d–(c) and b–a–g–(f) followed by the ascents d–f–g and g–b–c' respectively. The parallel descents f–e–d and b–a–g are particularly characteristic for Sūratī rāga, and may be even more obviously seen in ‘hari-hara’ beginning the caranam (ex.8b) and in ‘gītānandamu’ concluding the first line of the pallavi.

The rāga Sūratī is one of the few whose scale pattern is shared by another important Karnatak rāga. Both Sūratī (ex.8) and Kedāragaula (ex.9) are audava (pentatonic) in ascent: neither may proceed d–e–f–g and g–a––b–c', but only d–f–g and g–b–c' (in Sūratī g–b–a–b is also possible). Likewise, both are sampūrna (full) in the descent. Nonetheless, Sūratī and Kedāragaula are impossible to confuse; each has striking features in complete contrast with the other.

The jīva-svara (‘life svara ’) of Sūratī is b, characteristically approached from below, dwelt upon with gentle shakes, surrounded by turns, and returned downwards to g, as in ‘vātātmajuniki’ and ‘vara tyāgarāja’ of the concluding lines of anupallavi and caranam in ex.8. Descents move stepwise (structurally) between b and d, as in ‘gītānandamu’ (pallavi) and ‘hari-hara bhāskara’ (caranam). The rāga does not rise often into the upper octave, and it should not go below b. The notes a and e are not only absent in ascent but weak in descent, especially the e.

Kedāragaula has a much more bravura character than Sūratī. It rises often into the high register and stays there: ‘vēnul’ ella’ in the anupallavi of ex.9 is the characteristic phrase, establishing the jīva-svara ri, just as ‘vātātmajuniki’ establishes b in Sūratī (in ex.8). The d is elaborated by heavy shakes from e, and e in Kedāragaula is frequently brought out strongly (almost always as upper neighbour to d), as in ‘vēnul’ ella drsti tsutti’ and ‘gāvalan’ē’ of ex.9; in Sūratī the pitch e is normally nearly inaudible. Kedāragaula has parallel phrases in the descent, as in ‘vēyutsu mrōkutsu rāga’, but they are broader in range than those in Sūratī, and executed not with small and gentle tremolos but with sparkling odigimpu (for a written-out version of the anupallavi of ex.9, see ex.10(iv)(b)).



India, Subcontinent of, §III, 2: Theory and practice of classical music., Rāga.