Raga Brindavani Sarang

Posted on 11 March, 2020 • 3 min read

Raga Brindavani Sarang is a mid morning or early afternoon Raga in the Indian Classical music system. Its closely allied ragas are Madhyamavati and Madhumad Sarang. I have come across some early texts which have mentioned Raga Brindavani Sarang with only one Nishad (Komal ni). This makes the scale identical to Madhyamavati and Madhumad Sarang. It is possible that in order create a distinction, Tivra Nishad was introduced later as an additional note. This Raga is popular throughout India, and there are compositions in this Raga by composers from across the country.

In this session, I present Raga Brindavani Sarang on Chandraveena. I explore the Raga in Alap, Jod and Jhala, and present a Pallavi (composition) in Chautala (a rhythmic cycle of 12 beats).

Program Notes

Raga Alapana in Brindavani Sarang

Raga Alapana is an improvisation and a systematic presentation of a Raga. This part has no rhythmic accompaniment. It has three parts - Alap, Jod and Jhala. This format is also known as Ragam and Tanam.

Pallavi (composition) in Brindavani Sarang set to Chautala

Pallavi is a melodic phrase or lyrics set to a fixed set of beats in a rhythmic cycle. The improvisation here is creating interesting rhythm based melodic patterns while maintaining the framework of the Raga. This part of the performance is accompanied by Pakhawaj.

Here are some notes about the Raga and the Tala.

Raga - Brindavani Sarang

Scale - Sa Re ma Pa ni Ni

Family - Sarang

Melakarta - Bhashanga Raga of Melakarta Raga Kharaharapriya (Sa Re ga ma Pa Dha ni). It has the additional note (Bhashanga note) of Tivra Ni.

Prahar - 2nd and 3rd prahar (equivalent to 9 AM - 3 PM)

Reading the scale

In Indian Classical Music, the seven notes in an octave are called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni and then Sa comes again. Notes with a capitalised first letter are called Tivra (or sharp) notes. E.g., Ni above. Notes written fully in lower case are called Komal (or flat) notes. E.g., ma and ni above. Sa and Pa are always written with a capitalized first letter.

Bhashanga Raga

A Bhashanga Raga is a Janya (or derivative) Raga of a Melakarta which uses a note outside of the Melakarta notes. In this raga, Ni is outside of Kharaharapriya (Sa Re ga ma Pa Dha ni).

Prahar

In Indian Classical Music, Ragas are classified into Prahars (time periods of a day or night) which are said to represent the most appropriate time to perform the Raga.

About the Tala

Chautala has 12 beats split as 4 + 4 + 2 + 2 denoted by solfas or syllables representing various rhythmic patterns. The basic solfas of Chautala are given below.

Tala - Chautala

Beats - 12 (4+4+2+2).

Solfas - Dha Dha Dhin Ta | ThiTa Dha Dhin Ta | ThiTa KatTa | GaDhi GaNa |