The Rare Carnatic Rāgas that Flow through Ilaiyaraaja’s Universe
“Where melody turns to meditation, and silence finds its song.”
Ilaiyaraaja’s music is a vast country of many seasons — sometimes drenched in monsoon rapture, sometimes sunlit with simplicity, and sometimes brooding like twilight before rain. Within this immense landscape, folk melody and symphonic architecture meet, each enriched by the other’s vocabulary. Hidden amid its well-trodden paths lie the rarer groves of Carnatic rāgas that the Maestro visits with private affection — moments when scholarship meets solitude and invention becomes prayer.
These rāgas are not frequent visitors to cinema; they bloom like monsoon lotuses, briefly yet memorably, when the emotional air is right. Some appear as complete classical expositions, others as passing scales moulded to fit the rhythm of a story — yet each carries the fragrance of Ilaiyaraaja’s melodic imagination. In tracing them, we glimpse the mind of a composer who could hold both the village and the conservatoire in the same breath.
This essay gathers those elusive strains — their essential swara outlines, the compositions in which they appear, and reflections on how Ilaiyaraaja coaxed each from notation into living sound. It is not merely a catalogue, but a meditation on how rare rāgas found new life when touched by his unerring instinct for balance between intellect and emotion.
Rukmambari
Ārohaṇa: S R₁ G₃ P N₃ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₃ P G₃ R₁ S
Tāla: Rūpaka
The delicate devotional texture of “Sri Shivasutha” (from the 1994 mandolin album, also issued as Ekadantham) gives Rukmambari a contemplative airing rarely heard elsewhere. U. Shrinivas’s mandolin turns every phrase into a small offering; Ilaiyaraaja’s composition privileges space and vowel-like sustain. The film song “Sri Siva Sudha” (from Karpoora Mullai) shares this melodic source, proving how a raga may pass from classical recording to cinematic prayer with graceful continuity.
Rāgavardhini
Ārohaṇa: S R₃ G₃ M₁ P D₁ N₂ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₂ D₁ P M₁ G₃ R₃ S
Tāla: Ādi
“Manam Kanindhu” on the mandolin album is a study in dignified restraint; Rāgavardhini’s particular intervals give the melody a slightly austere, inward-facing quality. Ilaiyaraaja uses its scalar colour sparingly in films — often as a skeleton or scale-change rather than a rigid classical exposition. Examples where its tonal hue surfaces are “Pattu Viral Thottuvittadhal” (from Dhanush) and “Unai Kaanum Bodhu” (from En Mana Vaanil), both of which exploit the scale for cinematic effect rather than full raga elaboration.
Panchamukhi — the Rāga with Five Faces
Base structure: S R₂ M₁ D₂ N₃ S (conceived and created by Ilaiyaraaja, presented in five modal faces via Graha Bhedam)
Panchamukhi is not drawn from the classical Carnatic lexicon; it is Ilaiyaraaja’s own invention — a raga born of curiosity and design. Introduced in the 1988 instrumental album Nothing But the Wind, its premier appearance is the breathtaking “Composer’s Breath.” The name, meaning “five-faced,” reflects the raga’s structure: a base scale that transforms through Graha Bhedam into five distinct yet related tonal worlds. Each shift of tonic opens a new emotional window, a fresh hue in the same melodic sky.
In “Composer’s Breath”, Ilaiyaraaja weds this conceptual daring to orchestral elegance — Western harmony flowing seamlessly with Indian melodic logic. The result is not just an experiment, but an act of creation: a raga invented, inhabited, and illuminated by the composer himself.
Sarasangi
Ārohaṇa: S R₂ G₃ M₁ P D₁ N₃ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₃ D₁ P M₁ G₃ R₂ S
Sarasangi is a workhorse of malleability in Ilaiyaraaja’s hands: it can appear rustic and immediate, devotional and stately, or expanded into orchestral splendour. Below are the songs (restored in full) in which he employs Sarasangi’s tonal palette — each entry paired with its film for reference.
- Ellorum Sollum Pattu — Marubadiyum
- Endrendrum Aanandame — Kadal Meengal
- Malligaye Malligaye — Periya Veetu Pannakaran (do not miss the prelude)
- Meenamma Meenamma — Rajathi Raja (notable for electric BGMs)
- Muthu Muthu — Periya Veetu Pannakaran
- Muthu Natraamam — Thiruvasagam in Symphony
- Pudhusu Pudhusu — Manidha Jaathi
- Rajanodu Rani — Sathi Leelavathi (a gripping fusion of east and west)
- Thaa Thanthana Kummi Kotti — Adhisaya Piravi
- Yaar Thoorigai — Paaru Paru Pattanam Paaru (a strikingly inspired sequence)
In these examples Sarasangi’s identity is shapeshifting: it becomes folk, hymn and cinematic theme by turns. The prelude to Malligaye Malligaye and the electric BGM textures in Meenamma Meenamma are particularly instructive of how Ilaiyaraaja layers the rāga’s voice across instrumentation.
Saraswathi
Ārohaṇa: S R₂ M₂ P D₂ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₂ D₂ P M₂ G₂ R₂ S
Saraswathi usually surfaces when a composition seeks serenity or devotional timbre. The songs “Karpoora Bommai Ondru” (Keladi Kanmani), “Poovaram Sootti” (Baba Pugazh Maalai) and “Veena Vani” (Pon Megalai) illustrate his tendency to favour scalar suggestion over strict classical ornamentation, letting the melody serve the scene first and the raga second.
Saveri
Ārohaṇa: S R₁ M₁ P D₁ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₃ D₁ P M₁ G₃ R₁ S
Saveri’s morning mood becomes a lively folk-tinged cadence in “Chamakku Chamakku Cham” (Kondaveeti Donga). Ilaiyaraaja’s interpretation keeps the raga’s austere soul while dressing it in rhythm and melody that speak directly to the people — robust, earthen, and celebratory.
Ramani
Ārohaṇa: S G₃ M₂ P D₁ N₃ S
Avarohaṇa: S N₃ D₁ P M₂ G₃ S
(Essentially Pantuvarāli without Rishabham)
The song “Andhi Mazhai Pozhigiradhu” (Raaja Paarvai) illustrates how the omission of a single pivot note can reform the raga’s feeling. By leaving out Rishabham, Ilaiyaraaja conjures Ramani — a scale suffused with tentative yearning, suspended between resolution and recluse. It is a twilight raga, and the music behaves like dusk.
Some schools of musical thought classify “Andhi Mazhai Pozhigiradhu” under Vasantha for its fluid ascent and gentle cadence, while others hear shades of Shivaranjani and Pantuvarali interwoven. A few more recent analyses, however, rest on the view that Ilaiyaraaja crafted a distinct scalar voice — Ramani — a close cousin of Pantuvarali sans the Rishabham. This ambiguity itself is telling: the song resists singular classification, dwelling instead at the confluence of form, feeling, and invention. It is less a raga exercised than an emotion articulated — a twilight meditation that transcends grammar.
Discography & Referential Notes
Nothing But the Wind (1988) — instrumental album; the track “Composer’s Breath” presents Panchamukhi and its modal play.
Ilaiyaraaja’s Classics in Mandolin / Ekadantham (1994) — U. Shrinivas performs Ilaiyaraaja’s Carnatic pieces including “Sri Shivasutha” (Rukmambari) and “Manam Kanindhu” (Rāgavardhini).
Glossary
Graha Bhedam: Modal shift of tonic — the device used to reveal Panchamukhi’s five faces.
Tāla: Rhythmic cycle — commonly referenced talas in this note are Ādi and Rūpaka.
Scale vs Rāga: Film practice often borrows scale-colours for effect; strict raga grammar may not be followed in cinematic treatment.
Coda
These rare rāgas show Ilaiyaraaja at his most inquisitive — not only a composer of songs but an explorer of tonal possibility. He moves freely between learned grammar and practical invention, testing the seams where tradition and modernity meet. For the attentive listener, these pieces reward repeated listening: they are small worlds, each with its own weather and light.
Copyright & Attribution
All text, research, and commentary have been curated and written by Dhinakar Rajaram. The musical works, compositions, and recordings referenced herein remain the exclusive intellectual property of their respective rights holders, including the composer and performing artistes.
This article is published solely for educational and non-commercial purposes, as a humble archival effort to document and celebrate the art of Ilaiyaraaja. If reproduced elsewhere, please credit the author appropriately and preserve the integrity of the text.
— Compiled with reverence, for the love of rāga and the wonder of melody.
#Ilaiyaraaja #Carnatic #Ragas #MandolinShrinivas #Panchamukhi #Musicology
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