Arohana

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Arohana, arohanam, aroh or aroha, in the context of Indian classical music, is the ascending scale of notes in a raga. [1] The pitch increases as we go up from Shadja (Sa) to the Taar Shadja (Sa), possibly in a crooked (vakra) manner.

Contents

It contrasts with an avarohana, avarohanam or avaroha the descending scale of any raga. [1] The notes descend in pitch from the upper tonic (taar shadja or Sa) down to the lower tonic, possibly in a crooked (vakra) manner.

Scale

In Hindustani classical music, the ascending scale's notes are S R G M P D and N. Lower forms of notes are written in lower case, like r g m d n (S and P are fixed notes), while the first scale given above is that of higher form of the notes. The English notes C D E F G A and B correspond to S R G M P D and N, when C is taken as the tonal note (S is sung at C).

In Carnatic music, the ascending scale's notes for the variant notes R G M D and N have a subscript number indicating the specific variant (see examples below).

Examples

For arohana

In Multani, the aroha is 'N S g M P N S' (lowercase notes are the lower forms, while uppercase notes are the higher forms, and an apostrophe preceding or following a note denotes the lower or higher octave respectively – see swara).

In Sankarabharanam ragam (29th Melakarta in 72 parent ragam scheme of Carnatic music) the Arohana is S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S. [1] See swaras in Carnatic music for explanation of notation.

In Abhogi ragam, which is a janya ragam of 22nd melakarta Kharaharapriya, the Arohana is S R2 G2 M1 D2 S. [1] In this ragam certain notes are excluded so the raga is totally changed.

For avarohana

In raga Darbari, an Asavari-thaat raga with vadi-samvadi R-P, the avroha is R' n S' d~ n P, m P g~ m R S, with andolan on the dhaivat and gandhar.

In Malahari, which is janya raga of 15th melakarta Mayamalavagowla, the avarohana is S D1 P M1 G2 R1 S. [1] See swaras in Carnatic music for description of this notation.

In Sahana, a janya raga of 28th melakarta Harikambhoji, the Avarohana is S N2 D2 P M1 G3 M1 R2 G3 R2 S. [1] This raga in its avarohana has the notes jumping from one to another (a bit like Dattu). This changes the whole feel of the raga, making Sahana a beautiful raga to listen to.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Glossary pages, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications
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