Anandabhairavi — Ragapedia 26
Ragapedia is a series of posts I am writing, one Carnatic Raga per post, on my understanding of the ragam, carnatic compositions in that ragam and how it has been dealt within films. This post is about the ragam Anandabhairavi, a soothing and traditional ragam.
Anandabhairavi is a janyam of 20th melakartha Natabhairavi with a vakra (zigzag) scale and foreign notes usage in its characteristic phrases.
Aarohanam — S G2 R2 G2 M1 P D2 P S
Avarohanam — S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S
Anandabhairavi is one of the ancient ragams made to fit into the system, and hence the foreign notes. It has been used in ancient Tamizh music as a pann called Salarapani.
Carnatic Compositions
Syama Sastri has composed so many types of compositions in Anandabhairavi including gitam, swarajathi, varnam, part of ragamalika and a host of krithis. Makes me wonder if it was his favourite ragam. The list includes O Jagadhamba, Marivere, Himachala Thanaya, Pahi Sri Girirajasuthe, Mahilo Amba, a swarajathi, Samini Rammanave (varnam), Parvathi Janani (gitam), Amba Ninnu Nera (first ragam of the Ragamalika). Syama Sastri’s Himachala Thanaya was initially sung in Misra Chapu, in a thalam that he frequently used.
On the other end of the spectrum is Thyagaraja who stopped composing in Anandabhairavi as a gift to a theatre performance he enjoyed watching which had a number in Anandabhairavi. The artist apparently wanted his name to be synonymous with the raga’s name and he seems to have made history like he thought! Hence there are just a couple of compositions in Anandabhairavi by Thyagaraja, including Nike Theliyaga.
More compositions by other composers are:
- Manasa Guruguha, Kamalamba Samrakshathu (1st Avarna of Navavarnam), Thyagaraja Yogavaibhavam (synonymous with Yati) by Muthuswamy Dikshitar; this song has prosody patterns of both ascending (srothovaha yati) and descending (gopucha yati) types. Below is an example of the Yati (prosody) present in Pallavi.
Thyagaraja Yoga Vaibhavam — Agaraja Yoga Vaibhavam — Raja Yoga Vaibhavam — Yoga Vaibhavam — Vaibhavam — Bhavam — Vam
- Ramabhadra Raa Raa, Paluke Bhangara by Bhadrachala Ramadas
- Samagana Priye by Periyasami Thooran
- Ayyara by Aanai — Ayya
- Raveme (swarajathi) by Veerabhadrayya, who is said to have composed the first known swarajathi
- Karpagavalli Nin by Jaffna Veeramani Iyer – first raga of the Ragamalika
Listen to…
Listen to my rendition of the Kamalamba Samrakshathu, the first Kamalamba nava varnam of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, set in the ragam Anandabhairavi and thalam Misra Chapu.
Drama and Anandabhairavi
Kathakali performances uses an amalgamation of ragas, and one of the oft used ragams is Anandabhairavi. However, the raga used is entirely governed by the mood and character of the story. Kathakali music has no qualms in using one allied raga after another, if the mood demands the same. Where as in Carnatic music an Anandabhairavi or Huseni or Mukhari would not follow a Bhairavi rendition.
Listen to a Kathakali padam, Sukumara Nandakumara, as a part of Poothana Moksham (story of a rakshas Poothana being killed by baby Krishna), which is sung more fluidly, unlike the krithis in this ragam.
https://kathakalipadam.com/index.php/en/all-uploads/1620-588-sukumara-anandabhairavi
Yakshagana, a theatrical form of the West coast, also uses Anandabhairavi to perform stories from Ramayana, Mahabharatha.
Use in Movies
Let me start with an unusual yet fun song in the ragam Anandabhairavi from the movie Thooku Thooki. Here, “Sethji” Baliah and Lalitha sings a duet in Kapi – Anandabhairavi, “Pyari Nimbal Mele Namki Majaa”. The Hindi mixed portions are set to Kapi, while the Tamizh portions starts with Anandabhairavi. This could probably be the first usage of Sethji slang in movies.
Another interesting thing I noticed, there are quite a few baby shower songs in movies set in Anandabhairavi.
- “Poi Vaa Magale” from Karnan
- “Sri Janaki Devi” from Missiyamma
- “Sittu Pole Muthu Pole” from Iniya Uravu Poothadhu
- “Nalvazhvu Naam Vaazha” from the movie Veetuku Veedu also seems to be some marriage related song, though there is no way to know for sure, it was not pictured in the movie.
Other famous songs in this raga include “Konja Naal Poru Thalaiva” from Aasai, “Anbendra Mazhaiyile” from Minsara Kanavu.
Also, the irony is that the movie Ananda Bhairavi does not have any song in the raga titled.
