Rare Raga 1: Yesudas’Amrita Dhanyasi, resembles Revathi

I’m a rare raga buff. Listening to a rare raga is like trying out a new sweet.

Whenever I hear a rare raga, I rush to consult Dr S Bhagyalekshmy’s ‘Ragas in Carnatic Music’, to check it out, get details. The book is very comprehensive, a ready-reckoner,  particularly useful when I have to do a review for The Hindu. But once in a while I get to hear a raga that is does not find mention (even) in Ragas in Carnatic Music.

I heard two such ragas in the last one month. One is Amrita Dhanyasi, sung by Yesudas, about which I’m writing here. The other is Padma Deepam, rendered by Madurai G S Mani, on which I will presently do a separate post.

Parthasarathy Swami Sabha concert, at Narada Gana Sabha hall, Feb 3, 2016. Yesudas was accompanied by his usual ‘set’, Mahadeva Sarma on the violin, Harikumar on the mridangam and Vaikom on the Kanjira. The opening piece was the Nattai varnam, Sarasija Nabha.

Soon after, Yesudas began an alapana, and it sounded a bit like Dhenuka. Perhaps Thodi should have suggested itself, but the ‘ga’ was delivered without the gamaka and it somehow reminded me of Dhenuka. Still, it did not quite seem to be Dhenuka. Sivaramakrishnan, my friend and a big connoisseur of carnatic music, also sat next to me, looking a bit flummoxed. In the upper notes, it sounded like Revathi, but there was very clearly the ‘ga’, which ruled Revathi out.

The alapana, a detailed one, ended and there was no applause—the hall was silent—everyone was nonplussed.

Then Yesudas announced the name of the raga. He said: This is close to something that we are all extremely familiar with—Revathi. This raga is Revathi with the ‘ga’ added. It is called Amrita Dhanyasi.

It is a derivative of Thodi.  It goes as: sa ri ga ma pa ni sa; sa ni pa ma ga ri sa, all lower notes. I noticed again that the ga was rendered straight, without gamaka.

Yesudas then sang another bit of alapana, in only swaras, making the raga definition clearer to the audience. My word, it sounded so beautiful.

Mahadeva Sarma picked it up effortlessly and provided a brilliant raga essay.

Yesudas then sang a song that began with the words Karunakarane Gananayakane, which is later said was a composition of Punidammal, who (he said) used to live in Sri Lanka and has composed many songs. Presumably in order to popularise the raga and go get rasikas familiar with it, Yesudas sang long and elaborate swaras, so much so that it almost began to look like the central piece of the concert. (But it wasn’t. The crown jewel was a delightful Panthuvarali—Raghuvara Nannu.)