Dharmavati


Dharmavati is a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 59th Melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Dhaamavati in Muthuswami Dikshitar school of Carnatic music. Madhuvanti is the nearest Hindustani music scale to Dharmavati.

Structure and Lakshana

It is the 5th rāgam in the 10th chakra Disi. The mnemonic name is Disi-Ma. The mnemonic phrase is sa ri gi mi pa dhi nu. Its structure is as follows :
As it is a melakarta rāgam, by definition it is a sampoorna rāgam. It is the prati madhyamam equivalent of Gourimanohari, which is the 23rd melakarta.

''Janya'' rāgams

Dharmavati has a few janya rāgams associated with it, of which Madhuvanti, Ranjani and Vijayanagari are popular in concerts. See List of janya rāgams for all rāgams associated with Dharmavati.

Compositions

Here are a few common compositions sung in concerts, set to Dharmavati.
Mullai Oorntha, ancient Tamil Sangam period Kuruntokai poetry was set to Dharmavati ragam by Composer Rajan in the album Sandham- Symphony Meets Classical Tamil. Notable film composers like T.G.Lingappa, Ilaiyaraja and later A. R. Rahman have composed film songs based on the scale of Dharmavati. T.G.Lingappa composed song such as 'kanasalli bandavanyare'. Ilaiyaraja composed songs such as 'Meendum Meedum Vaa', 'Andhela Ravamidhi',, 'Vaanaville', 'Nataraaja paadaalu' in this raaga while Rahman composed "Ottagathai Kattiko", in the 1993 Tamil film Gentleman, based on the Dharmavati scale.

Film Songs

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Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.
Dharmavati's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 2 other Melakarta rāgams, namely, Chakravakam and Sarasangi. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. For further details and an illustration refer Graha bhedam on Dharmavati.