Hindolam

Hindōḷaṃ is a ragam in Carnatic music. It is an audava rāgam as it does not have all the seven swaras. Hindolam is not the same as the Hindustani Hindol. The equivalent of Hindolam in Hindustani music is Malkauns.
It is known to be a rāgam that is generally beautiful and soothing to listen to. Being symmetrical in its ascending and descending scales, it lends itself very well to improvisation and is therefore popular at concerts.

Structure and Lakshana

Hindōḷaṃ is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain rishabham and panchamam. It is a pentatonic scale. Since pentatonic scales can be found in other world music such as Chinese music, shades of Mohanam and Hindōḷaṃ can sometimes be traced in Chinese and east Asian music. Its structure is as follows :

Arohana| :
Avarohana| :

This rāgam uses the swaras sadharana gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, shuddha dhaivatam and kaisiki nishadam. Hindolam is not a melakarta rāgam, since it does not contain all the seven swaras.
Experts in Carnatic music hold differences of opinion on the janaka rāgams that should be attributed to Hindolam. It is widely accepted that the 20th melakarta, Natabhairavi, is the parent rāgam of Hindolam, but some would like to associate it with the 8th melakarta, Hanumatodi. It can be derived from both, by dropping the rishabham and panchamam.

Popular compositions

Here are some Kritis composed in Hindolam:

Sāmajavaragamanā, Manasulōni Marmamulu and Gōvardhana Giridhāri by Tyagaraja
Kaanada Raja Pandaricha by Namdev
Madhukara Vritti, Yaare Rangana and Avanavana Kayva by Purandaradasa
Dasa Dasara Maneya By Kanakadasa
Guru Purandara Dasare, Uma Kathyayani By Vijaya Dasa
Hari Sarvothama Vayu Jeevothama By Kamalesha Vittala Dasu
Gōvardhana Girīśam Smarāmi, Neerajakshi Kamakshi and Saraswathi Vidhiyuvathi by Muthuswami Dikshitar
Padmanābha Pāhi by Swathi Thirunal
Mā Ramanan, Sāmagāna Lōlane, Kalpaka Mātā Kanindharul, Thirupparam Kundra Velā and Nambikettavar Evarayyā by Papanasam Sivan
Sadanandamayi Chinmayi by Oothukadu Venkata Kavi
Mamavatu Sri Saraswati by Mysore Vasudevacharya
Chintayami Jagadamba by Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar
Dēva Dēvaṃ Bhajē, Konḍalalō Nelakonna, Kēshava Narayana Krishna, Garuda Gamana, Narayana Ni Namame, Antayu Neeve Haripundarikaksha, Nigama Nigama Nigamandha and Kattedura Vaikunthamu by Annamacharya
Ramanakku Mannan Mudi by Arunachala Kavi

Here are some Varnams, a Geetam and a Tillana composed in Hindolam:

Mal Marugan by Thanjavur Shankara Iyer
Sakala Kala Vani by G. N. Balasubramaniam
Sami Ninne by Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar
Tillana by Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna
Kalaimagale, a Geetam by Chitravina N. Ravikiran

Numerous bhajans, stotras, kritis and film music numbers also have been composed in the Hindolam Raga.

Tamil film songs

Non Film Songs

Kannada Film Songs

Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.
Hindolam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 4 other major pentatonic rāgams, namely, Mohanam, Shuddha Saveri, Udayaravichandrika and Madhyamavati. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. For more details and illustration of this concept refer Graha bhedam on Mohanam.

Scale similarities

Saramati has an asymmetric scale, with the ascending scale of Natabhairavi, while the descending scale is same as Hindolam. Its structure is S R2 G2 M1 P D1 N2 S : S N2 D1 M1 G2 S