Whoever named raaga Hamsadhwani probably did not pay attention to the facts that Swans do not have an attractive voice! Take a look at the following videos to hear how exactly swans sound! Not very melodious!
But one good thing about raga Hamsadhwani is that unlike many ragas, its history can be traced quite accurately.
Ramaswamy Dikshita (1735AD-1817AD), father of Muttuswamy Dikshita is credited with the creation of this pentatonic raaga. However, this may be partly true. The Ragalakshana appendix to Chaturdandi Prakashike mentions Hamsadwani. Although the main text of Chaturdandi was composed by Venkatamakhi (~1650 AD), the Ragalakshana appendix was added by is grand-nephew Muddu Venkatamuchi couple of generations after Venkatamakhi. He describes Hamsadwhani as a pentatonic raga, born of Shankarabharana mEla omitting ma and da. (S R G P N S – S N P G R S). The current form of Hamsadwani is exactly the same.
This brings the time when Hamsadhwani first appeared around the beginning of 18th century. It is likely that Ramaswamy Dikshita was one of the early composers who popularized it, and hence the credit that goes in his name.I wonder why it took as late as 18th century to come up with this very attractive pentatonic scale. However, once it became popular, there was no going back!
18th century composers Tyagaraja and Muttuswamy Dikshita, each comosed two compositions in this raga. It can be safely said that the composition Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajesham of Muttuswamy Dikshita is the most famous composition in this raga. Listen to Dr M.Balamuralikrishna singing this compositon.
With this composition, Hamsadhwani raga became a natural associate of Ganapati, and there are a number of nice compositions in this raga with Ganapati as the theme. Vandenishamaham of Mysore Vasudevacharya, Gam Ganapate of Muttaiyya Bhagavatar, Vara Vallabha Ramana of GNB, Gajavadana Beduve of Purandara Dasa – all these come to mind. Listen here to – Gam Ganapate of Muttaiah Bhagavatar – This is from a concert here in the bay area (Veena-Jyothi Chetan; Mridanga- Ramesh Srinivasan)
During the 20th century saw many raagas from Karnataka sangeetha were adapted to Hindustani. How could they leave out a very appealing raaga like Hamsadhwani? Not only did they adapt the melody, but also the popular composition Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham!
Listen here to Rashid Khan, who sings a beautiful Alap followed by “laagi lagan”. You can’t miss the similarity to Vatapi Ganapatim Bhajeham.
For whatever reason, Hamsadhwani does not seem to have inspired kannada film music composers as much as some other raagas have. I can just think of a few Kannada film songs – ಇನ್ನು ಗ್ಯಾರಂಟಿ from ನಂಜುಂಡಿ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ and ಮೀನಾಕ್ಿ ನಿನ್ನ from ರಣಧೀರ. If you are aware of any other songs, post a comment.
-neelanjana
12 comments
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ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ 24, 2009 at 8:33 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Ragavan M
Excellent post, and good selection of songs. You couldn’t have come up with a greater krithi or a finer interpretation as the first clip (not the swans, I mean Guruji Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna).
Incidentally the hamsa is the mythical bird which could supposedly separate milk from water. Of course it is used as a symbol for choosing the right way (dharma). Whoever created/named it probably imagined the mellifluous melody that this magical bird would’ve been capable of.
We’re fortunate that this raaga is thriving to this day. Thanks for posting in English this time. If this is how well your kannada posts read then I better learn the lipi in a hurry!
@Ragavan, Thannks for coming by and for your good words!
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ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ 26, 2009 at 8:13 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
ಸುನಾಥ
Thanks a lot for giving the history of Hamsadhvani.
Thanks also for the renderings.
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ಮೇ 4, 2009 at 8:14 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
ganesh venkittu
to my knowledge, there is only one Krithi from Tyagarajar ( as opposed to two that you claim) in Hamsadhwani….its “Ragunayaka” ( sung beautifully by Maharajapuram Santhanam in one of his CD’s)…..if you do have the other one, please send it to me.
you stats claiming two krithis from dikshitar is correct ( vatapi ganapathim and Parvathipatim)…all other references (gajavadana beduvae etc) are correct….
you missed out Koteeswavara Iyers ( mudhra = Kavi Kunjaradasan) “Vaarana mugavaai” a flowing hamsadhwani ( sung beautifully in a CD by TM Krishna) also on Lord Ganesha
— ganesh
Ganesh,
Welcome to “allide namma mane”. Apart from Raghu Nayaka, there are 2 more kritis in Hamsadhwani attributed to Tyagaraja – Sri Raghukulamandu puTTi, and AbhishTavarada MahAgaNapate. The latter is decidedly spurious, and some doubt the authenticity of Sri Raghukula as well. When I wrote about ‘two kritis’ of Tyagaraja, I had ‘Raghunayaka’ and ‘Sri Raghukula’ in mind.
-neelanjana
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ಆಗಷ್ಟ್ 24, 2009 at 4:59 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
philramble
Vande Anishamaham was my favourite in Hamsadhwani for a time. I had grown up listening to Gajavadana Beduve (Santhanam’s rendition) and found his Vande Anishamaham peerless. The raga is also very popular amongst rasikas of Hindustani music, and the two north Indians who were my room mates appreciated some of the Hamsadhwani renditions which I had in my collections. Being an uplifting raga, it is fun to play and listen to! 🙂
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ಫೆಬ್ರವರಿ 7, 2010 at 4:54 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
Shrikaanth K. Murthy
Nice write-up. Kannada film songs in the rAga- one other springs to mind
sumsumnE nagtALe jhumjhumnE michtAne from “A” (Upendra)
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ಫೆಬ್ರವರಿ 7, 2010 at 1:30 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Shrikaanth K. Murthy
Recalled another classic from Old kannada movie
hADu bA kOgile
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ಫೆಬ್ರವರಿ 8, 2010 at 12:33 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Shrikaanth K. Murthy
One more clasic from bhkata prahlAda (Dr.Rajkumar). Sorry about flooding your blog with youtube links. I just thought providing links will help other readers too.
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ಫೆಬ್ರವರಿ 8, 2010 at 12:40 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
neelanjana
No, Not at all! I really appreciate it; Keep them coming!
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ಮಾರ್ಚ್ 28, 2010 at 10:13 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
vishal
I think this is in Hamsadhwani too.
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ಮೇ 27, 2010 at 10:37 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Rakesh
Hello
Awesome post must say! Just thought since everyone is out here posting about hamsadhwani film songs will put in my personal IR favorite
Another thing about hamsadhwani that I personally find is the flirtation it has with amrithavarshini! I later discovered that changing the pa to ma will produce amritavarshini, for me when I play the N S of hamsadhwani I hear only amrithavarshini
Mayile mayile has an awesome application of Hamsadhwani
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ಜನವರಿ 5, 2012 at 3:22 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
kdi
Another song – Innu guarantee from Nanjundi Kalyani.
About 7:30 in this vid.
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ನವೆಂಬರ್ 16, 2012 at 7:13 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
Sucheta Pai
Lata and Manna Dey have sung a melodious song in the film ‘Parivaar'(1956) composed by Salil Chaudhary – “Jaa tose nahin bolun kanhaiya.” The first line is inspired from “Vaataapi ganapatim bhajehum.”
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