Carnatic music
Tanjavur-style tambura
Concepts
Śruti Svara Rāga Tāḷa Mēḷakarta Asaṃpūrṇa Mēḷakarta
Compositions
Gītaṃ Svarajati Varṇaṃ Kr̥ti Kīrtana Rāgaṃ Tānaṃ Pallavi Tillana
Instruments
Melody Sarasvati Vīṇā Veṇu Nādasvaraṃ Goṭṭuvādyaṃ (Citra Vīṇā) Violin Percussion Mr̥daṅgaṃ Ghaṭaṃ Morsing Kanjira Thavil Drone Tambura Shruti box
Composers Glossary
v t e

Mayamalavagowla (pronouncedmāyāmāḻavagauḻa) is araga ofCarnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is classified as 15thmelakarta raga underVenkatamakhin'smelakarta system. Originally known asmalavagowla, "maya" was prefixed to it after the advent of the scheme of the 72melas. The number 15 was assigned to it following theKatapayadisankhya system. This is a morning raga.

Venkatamakhin defines itslakshana thus:

pūrṇō māḻavagouḻākhyaḥ sa grahō gīyatē sadā

Mayamalavagowla is the 3rd raga in the 3rdchakra, Agni. Its mnemonic name isAgni-Go. Its mnemonic phrase issa ra gu ma pa dha nu.^[1] Itsārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is as follows, but instead of labeling the 3 Ga-s and the 3 Ni-s using {1,2,3}, some authors have used {0,1,2} instead. (seeswaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):

• ārohaṇa:S R₁ G₃ M₁ P D₁ N₃ Ṡ[a]
• avarohaṇa:Ṡ N₃ D₁ P M₁ G₃ R₁ S[b]

The notes in this raga areṣaḍjam, śuddha r̥ṣabham, antara gāndhāram, śuddha madhyamam, pañcamam, śuddha dhaivatam andkākalī niṣādam. As it is amēḷakarttā rāgam, by definition it is asampurna rāgam (has all seven notes in ascending and descending scale). It is theśuddha madhyamam equivalent ofKamavardhini (also known asPantuvarāḷi), which is the 51st in themēḷakarttā scale.

The gamakas in the raga are unique in that conversely to the G-M relationship in Śankarābharaṇaṃ, G is sung in oscillation (M,G M,G M,G) while M is held constant. There is no bold M-P gamaka as in Śankarābharaṇaṃ as well. R and D are also usually sung in oscillation with S and P respectively, making the only constant notes S, M, and P. Of course, these rules are occasionally broken for effect (e.g., holding N flat before ascending to S).

This auspiciousraga evokesśānta (peace)rasa and pathos. It creates a soothing effect, suitable to sing at all times, particularly, the firstprātaḥ-sandhyā-kālaṃ (dawn). It is commonly used for beginners' lessons such asSaraliVarisais orSarala Svarās (Kannada), etc. Since it eschewsvivadiswaras (relatively discordant notes), has a uniform distance betweensvara sthānas (relative position of notes) and has symmetry, they are easier to learn. It is an ancient rāgam.

It is aSampurna raga. Also, it is asarva svara gamaka vārika rakti rāga. It has a large number ofjanya ragas (derived scales) assigned to it. This rāgam corresponds toBhairav inHindustani music. It is called as a "rakti" raga because of its high melodic content.

It is also defined as amūrcana kāraka méLa since it can be used forGraha bhedam onmadhyamam andrishabham to result inSimhendramadhyamam andRasikapriya respectively.Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting theShruti (or drone) to another note in the rāgam. For further details and an illustration referGraha bhedam on Māyamālavagowla.

Mayamalavagowla has quite a fewjanya ragams associated with it, of whichBowli,Jaganmohini,Gowla,Gowlipantu,Lalita,Nadanamakriya,Revagupti,Saveri andMalahari are quite well known. SeeList ofjanya Ragas for a full list ofjanyas.

All the basicswara exercises (Sarala, Janti, Daatu, etc.) are set to theMayamalavagowla raga. These are learnt by beginners inCarnatic music. It is commonly used in the basics, credited toPurandara Dasa's work in his time, when he did much work towards standardizing the teaching of Carnatic music into a fully graded system.Lambodara lakumikara by Purandaradasa is generally used for this raga. The first mini-songs (geetam) that are taught after the completion of basic exercises are set toMalahari, ajanya ofMayamalavagowla.Muthuswami Dikshitar's famousgouḻānta kritis (eight compositions with their raga names ending asgowla), on Goddess Nilothpalamba hasmāyāmāḻavagouḻa for one of them.

Some of the popular compositions inMayamalavagowla areDeva Deva composed bySwathi Thirunal andAdikkondar byMuthu Thandavar. A list of popular compositions in Mayamalalavagowla is as follows.

• Varṇaṃ – śrī rājarājēśvari – [Unknown Composer]
• Tulasī-daḻamulacē Saṃtōṣamuga –Tyagaraja inTelugu
• Mēru-samāna-dhira –Tyagaraja inTelugu
• Rakṣimpavē –Tyagaraja inTelugu
• Dēvī Śrī tulasammā –Tyagaraja inTelugu
• Vidulaku Mrokkeda –Tyagaraja inTelugu
• Dēva Dēva Kalayāmi –Swathi Thirunal
• Kailāsa nilaya dayāsāgara - Mahesh Mahadev inSanskrit
• Māyātīta Svarūpiṇi –Ponnaiyya Pillai (Direct Disciple ofMuthuswami Dikshitar) inSanskrit
• Śrīnāthādi Guruguho jayati –Muthuswami Dikshitar (The very first composition ofMuthuswami Dikshitar) inSanskrit
• Śyāmalāmbikē pāhi māṃ – Dr.M. Balamuralikrishna
• ādityaṃ dēvādi-dēvaṃ akhilāṇḍa-nāthaṃ āśrayē –Muthiah Bhagavatar
• Dina-maṇi-vaṃśa dīna-janāvana –Muthiah Bhagavatar
• Hara mṛtyuñjaya ambikā-nāyaka hari kamalāsana –Muthiah Bhagavatar
• Popular Adithala Varnam- Sarasija-nābha –Swathi Thirunal
• Ambā yuvati jaganmātē akhila-janani dayānidhē – Ashok R Madhav
• Avadh sukhdāyi bājē badhāyī ratan simhāsan par –Swathi Thirunal
• Bhaja rē mānasa vraja-bālaṃ – Swarajāti – H Yoganarasimhan
• Caraṇaṃ śaraṇaṃ ayyappā – Ganapati Sacchidananda
• Cintayāmi santataṃ – G Sampath
• Cintaye'haṃ jānaki-kāntaṃ santataṃ cintitārtha –Mysore Vasudevacharya
• Daśaratha-nandana –Mysore Vasudevacharya
• Daasoham Tava Daasoham ByJagannatha Dasa
• Dēva-dēveśa – R K Suryanarayana
• Dēva-dēvōttama – Govindacharya
• Dēvi kāmākṣi para-śiva-dēhārtha – Ogirala Viraraghava Sharma
• Durgā lakṣmi sarasvati – Lalita Venkataraman
• Kāmākṣīṃ kamalākṣīṃ – R K Padmanabha
• Jaya jagadisha hare – from eulogy composed byJayadeva
• Krpakari shankari karunakari kapalishvari – Rukmini Ramani
• Mantra svarupam – Bangalore S Mukund
• Kshira jaladhi niketana – Pallavur Mani Iyer
• Kshira sagara shayana raksha shara nivasini –Jayachamaraja wodeyar
• Maya mohini maheshvari – Mangalam Ganapati
• Kaladevathe Saraswathi –V. Dakshinamoorthy
• Varṇaṃ –guri tappaka pūjiṃcitini fromJanakaraga Varna Manjari – Nallan Chakravarthy Murthy

This raga has also been very popularly used in film music. Numerous well recognized songs have been set in this raga. Ilayaraja has composed many hit songs in this raga.^[2]

• Melakarta ragas

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata