Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Raga of Rain

In Carnatic music Amruthavarshini is the raga that is supposed to get the rain. The raga Malhar is a powerful legendary in Hindustani classical music which is equivalent to Amruthavarshini. Even in Puranas, its written that in Thretayug, when Ravana set fire to Hanuman's tail, he set fire to entire Lanka. Then Ravana played the Amruthavarshini raga on his Veena and brought forth rain.

According to the legends, raga Malhar is so powerful that, when sung, it rains. The raga has lost its "swaroop" among the ages because there was no one who could remember its complicated rhythms and beats. Many great artists of Medieval period and much earlier period used to sing this raga.

There are lots of miracles that have taken place and are still taking place by singing and chanting krithis of Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar. He attained mastery over the Veena, and the influence of Veena playing is evident in his compositions.

Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar got the wonderful flow of music by the grace of Lord "Kumaraswamy" who put "Kalakanda" in his mouth. Soon he began to sing in praise of the Lord in a unique style by singing a kriti "Anandamritha Varshini" in raga Amruthavarshini", he caused the thunderous clouds to gather over the sky and rain profusely when there were no rains in that region for one year and the people yearned for water.

Once he was passing through the village Ettayapuram in thirunelveli District, there was an acute drought. Since he was well known for his powers, people in the village requested him to get rains in. At their request he sang the same kriti in Amruthavarshini raga. When he sang the line "varshaya varshaya varshaya" it started raining heavily flooding the village and he had to sing the same song with the slight modification. Instead of "varshaya varshaya varshaya", he used "sthambaya sthambaya" to stop the rains.

There are many written accounts of the raga. Meera Bai, the devotee of Lord Krishna is among noble singers those who were capable of having down the rains by various kinds of raga Malhar. She has composed between 200 to 1300 prayerful songs (bhajans), and most passionately praised Lord Krishna.

It is also true that certain ragas cause certain reactions, such as Deepak raga. Infact someone went to the extent of saying that singing this raga could cause a burning sensation and that is why there are no songs that are taught in this raga.

However, raga Amruthavarshini or raga Malhar better not sing in the monsoon season as the rain is already causing damages across the world.

16 comments:

Govind said...

Endaro mahanu bhavulu andariki vandanamu..... humbled by the downpour of mellifluous thought.. was searching for something on the raaga and came accross this blog... simply super and rare information. actually that was one of the reasons for the comment... i have been reading the Ramayana for years and have not come accross this legend.. if you could let me know of the sourse of the legend i would be really greatful.. mail id - govindgr@gmail.com...

Unknown said...

hi i am also searching the content related to this raga. Will be more useful if you who (those are alive) are all performed the miracle with this raaga... nice to see your page... best wishes... Nimod nimodka@gmail.com

chowdary said...

hi

i want some
amrutha varshini ragam songs could you please send to me

chowdary.maddipatla@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Every time I sing it rains and my family complains to me. They say please don't sing because rain will fall. I'm being very serious

Unknown said...

my physics teacher said me that when we sing this raga rain comes.I asked her how.She said me that the sound frequency of amruthavarshini raga matches with the frequency of rain-bearing clouds.Is it true?Or it happens really without the influence of science in it?But it is very nice to see such informations being revealed

Unknown said...

hey.. really liked ur article.. had been searchin the meaning of AMRUTAVARSHINI for quite sometime, as someone i m related to has got this name.. but i ended up learning a lot more than the meaning.. thnx to u.. :)

san said...

hello ,
I hav also heard about tis amazing raga.. late Mr.kunnakudi vaidhyanatham ,famous violinist had done it in puzhal .. i havent seen .. yet hheard it...

r.s.athreya said...

r.s.athreya,
i want to know amruthavarshini arohana avarohana so in can get holiday to school due to rain

r.s.athreya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
r.s.athreya said...

r.s.athreya
There is water in earth so i please you to pray for rain

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jayadevan S Nair said...

very useful article and for the story about the creator of the raaga....thank you
jayadevan Nair

Unknown said...

I am writing a short story in which the hero is a violinist. I wanted to heighten the styles of my hero so I searched for this raga and I unearthed a big treasure about this raga. Thank you for the detailed version. I am a violinist too. However, not professional.

Unknown said...

I am writing a short story in which the hero is a violinist. I wanted to heighten the styles of my hero so I searched for this raga and I unearthed a big treasure about this raga. Thank you for the detailed version. I am a violinist too. However, not professional.

Kannan said...

Amazing.. Now a days people become crazy and they become tasteless that they could not understand the value of music. Thanks for sharing this valuable information through which every one can know the power and value of these beautiful ragas

Mee said...

Thank you everyone