Saramati


Saramati is a ragam in Carnatic music. It is a janya rāgam from the 20th melakarta scale Natabhairavi. It is a janya scale, as it does not have all the seven swaras in the descending scale.

Structure and Lakshana

Saramati is an asymmetric rāgam that does not contain panchamam or rishabham in the descending scale. It is a combination of the sampurna raga scale Natabhairavi and pentatonic scale Hindolam. It is an sampurna-audava rāgam. Its structure is as follows:
  • [Arohana|] :
  • [Avarohana|] :
The notes used in this scale are shadjam, chathusruthi rishabham, sadharana gandharam, panchamam, shuddha dhaivatham and kaisiki nishadham in ascending scale, with panchamam and rishabham dropped in descending scale. For the details of the notations and terms, see swaras in Carnatic music.

Popular compositions

A few compositions have been set to Saramati rāgam.Mokshamugalada by TyagarajaNarasimhana Pada by Purandara DasaSarasadala Nayane by Muthiah BhagavatarEnna Thunivai by Marimuthu PillaiSri Ramabadhra by Papanasam SivanManasaramati by Thanjavur Shankara IyerSri Saradamba Bhaje by H. H. Sri Bharathi Tirtha MahaswamigalUnnata Venkata by ThulaseevanamArula Vendum Thaaye by M. M. Dandapani DesikarSharade Namaste and Saramati Saraswati by Kalyani VaradarajanUnnai Anri by Dr. Lalgudi Jayaraman
Music composer Ilaiyaraaja has set the Tyagaraja krithi "Mari Mari Ninne" to this Raga in the movie Sindhu Bhairavi, even though the actual Krithi is in the Raga Kambhoji.

Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.

Scale similarities

  • Hindolam has a symmetric pentatonic scale, with the notes same as the descending scale of Saramati. Its structure is S G2 M1 D1 N2 S : S N2 D1 M1 G2 S