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Mohanam is a rāga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an audava rāga (or owdava rāga, meaning pentatonic scale). It is a janya rāga of Harikambojhi(28th Melakartha Raga). However there are disputes about Mohanam being the janya of Sankharbharanam also because all the swaras present in the Arohana and Avarohana of Mohanam satisfy both the melakartha ragas listed above.
Contents
- Structure and Lakshana
- Popular compositions
- Kritis
- Related rgas
- Graha bhedam
- Scale similarities
- References
The equivalent of Mohanam in Hindustani music is Bhoop (or Bhopali).
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 (audava-audava raga in Carnatic music classification - audava meaning 'of 5'). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):
(the notes used in this scale are shadjam, chathusruthi rishabham, antara gandharam, panchamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham)
Mohanam is considered a janya rāga of Harikambhoji, the 28th Melakarta rāga, though it can be derived from other melakarta rāgas, Kalyani, Sankarabharanam or Vachaspati, by dropping both madhyamam and nishādham. The Hindustani equivalent Bhoop is associated with Kalyan thaat (equivalent of Kalyani).
One of the first scales employed by the ancient Tamils was the Mullaippann (3BCE), 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 geetham Varavina mridupani is one of the first short songs taught to beginners in Carnatic music. Ninnukori composed by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar is a popular Varnam in this scale. Here are some popular kritis composed in Mohanam.
Related rāgas
This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāga.
Graha bhedam
Mohanam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 4 other major pentatonic rāgas, namely, Hindolam, Shuddha Saveri, Udayaravichandrika (also known as Shuddha Dhanyasi) 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.