Valaji

Valaji or Valachi is a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is a pentatonic scale. It is a janya rāgam, as it does not have all the seven swaras. The equivalent of Valaji in Hindustani music is Kalāvati.

Structure and Lakshana

Valaji is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain rishabham or madhyamam. It is a pentatonic scale. Its structure is as follows :

[Arohana|] :
[Avarohana|] :

Valaji is considered a janya rāgam of Chakravakam, the 16th Melakarta rāgam, though it can be derived from other melakarta rāgams, Harikambhoji, Vagadheeswari, Ramapriya, Vachaspati or Nasikabhooshani, by dropping both rishabham and madhyamam. Since Chakravakam is lowest in ordinal number among these 6 melakarta scales, Valaji is associated with it.

Popular compositions

Valaji is a pleasing scale, but has only a few compositions in classical music. It has been used to score film music as well. Here are some popular kritis composed in Valaji.

Jalandhara Supithasthe Japa Kusuma Bhasure by Muthiah Bhagavatar
Santatam Ninne by G. N. Balasubramaniam
Sri Gayatri by Saint Gnanananda Tirtha
Tandava Priya by Kalyani Varadarajan
Dari Yavudayya and Nachike Padabeda by Purandara Dasa
Padhame Thunai by Papanasam Sivan

Related rāgams

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

''Graha bhedam''

Valaji's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields another pentatonic rāgam Abhogi. 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 Abhogi.

Scale similarities

Malayamarutam is a rāgam which has shuddha rishabham in both ascending and descending scales in addition to the notes in Valaji. Its ' structure is :
Nagasvaravali is a rāgam which has the shuddha madhyamam in place of the nishadam. Its ' structure is :
Mohanam is a rāgam which has the chathusruti rishabham in place of the nishadam. Its structure is :