Saraswathi — Ragapedia 27
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 Saraswathi, a ragam in the same name as a goddess in the Hindu mythology.
I mentioned the Goddess Saraswathi while talking about ragam Saraswathi mainly because of the number of compositions that exists in this ragam written on the said goddess. Corollary to that, if you listen to a song the goddess, high chance is that it is set to ragam Saraswathi.
Categorised under the melakartha Vachaspathi, Saraswathi is called Sri Kalyani in Hindustani Music. It has an uneven scale without Ga and Ni while ascending and without Ga in the descending.
Aarohanam — S R2 M2 P D2 S
Avarohanam — S N2 D2 P M2 R2 S
Carnatic Compositions
Let us first list down the Saraswathi compositions in Saraswathi.
- Saraswathi Dhayai Nidhi by Papanasam Sivan
- Saraswathi Namosthuthe by GN Balasubramaniam
- Vaageeshwari Vaani by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bagavathar
- Kalaimagale Emmai by MM Dhandapani Desikar
- Sharadhe Chandranane by ES Sankaranarayana Iyer
- Jaya Saraswathi by Swarna Venkatesa Dikshitar
Other compositions in the ragam Saraswathi are:
- Anuragamule by Thyagaraja
- Kavalai Ellam by GN Balasubramaniam
- Ella Thunbamum, a devotional album song on Iyappan by Yesudas
Listen to…
Listen to one of my performances of the song Jaya Saraswathi, a composition of Dr. VV Swarna Venkatesa Dikshitar.
Use in movies
The first ragam in the ragamalikas such as “Aaha Ivar Yaradi” from Mohini, and “Sri Saraswathi Matha” from Rani Lalithangi are set in ragam Saraswathi.
The song “Ilakkanam Maarudho” from Nizhal Nijamagiradhu sounds like Saraswathi in only some phrases. There is also a Malayalam song in the raga, “Saraswathi Yaamam Kazhinju” from Anavaranam. Yet another classical song in this raga is “Yaanai Mugane” from the 1947 movie Kannika. This song has been composed by Papanasam Sivan on Ganesha.
The interlude of “Malargaley” from Love Birds also resembles Saraswathi.
This beautiful song “Veena Vaani” (again on Goddess Saraswathi) set in the captioned ragam, from the movie Pon Megalai is rendered by Kalpana Raghavendar and mridangist Madurai Srinivasan singing the jathi portions. I think the song wasn’t picturized and hence went unnoticed.
The popular number “Swans of Saraswathi” by Agam is based on a Thyagaraja krithi, Bantureethi Kolu on Rama set in the ragam Hamsanadham; I don’t see the relevance to Saraswathi as the title indicates.
