Shamalangi

Shamalangi or Shyamalangi is a ragam in Carnatic music. It is the 55th in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music, and is called in the Muthuswami Dikshitar school of that genre.

Structure and Lakshana

Shamalang is the 1st rāgam in the 10th chakra Disi. Its mnemonic name is Disi-Pa; the mnemonic phrase associated with it is sa ri gi mi pa dha na. Its structure is as follows :

[Arohana|]:
[Avarohana|]:

Shamalangi's swaras are chathusruthi rishabham, sadharana gandharam, prati madhyamam, shuddha dhaivatham and shuddha nishadham. As it is a melakarta rāgam, by definition it is a sampoorna rāgam. It is the prati madhyamam equivalent of Jhankaradhwani, which is the 19th melakarta scale.

''Janya'' rāgams

Shamalangi has a couple of minor janya rāgams associated with it.

Compositions

A few compositions set to Shamalangi rāgam are:

Veera raghava by Koteeswara Iyer
Shyamalangi by Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna
Namo namaste geervani by Muthuswami Dikshitar
Shyamalangi Matangi by Muthuswami Dikshitar

Related rāgams

When shifted using Graha Bhedam, Shamalangi's notes yield two minor melakarta rāgams: Ganamoorti and Vishwambari. Graha Bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies the same while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. For more details and an example, see Graha Bhedam on Ganamoorti.