Kalyani

The scales of Kalyani are as follows :

Aarohanam (Ascending) : S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S’
Avarohanam (Descending) : S’ N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S

Also called Mechakalyani, it is the 65th raga on the Melakarta Scale. The Hindustani equivalent is Yaman.

Kalyani is an evening raga and as it is said to be mood-setting, it is sung quite early on in a concert. There are simply hundreds of compositions in Kalyani, one source on the internet said that there are many as 700! It also has a number of very popular Janya ragas like Purvi Kalyani, Yaman Kalyani, Hameer Kalyani etc. A few well known compositions are Vanajakshi (varnam) by Pallavi Gopala Iyer, Nidhi Chala Sukhama by Tyagaraja, Kamalambal Bhajare by Muthuswamy Dikshithar and Pankaja Lochana by Swati Tirunal.

There is a very interesting lecture-demonstration on Kalyani Raga and its janyas by Prince Rama Varma, both enjoyable and educational. A must-see for those interested in Indian Classical music.

Note : The 12 notes in the octave are named as below. Please note that C is used as Sa for the sake of simplicity as the scale is relative in Carnatic Music. Also note that the scales paint only a superficial picture of the raga as the gamakas(ornamentations) are a very important part of a raga.