AROHANA, in the context of traditional Indian music, is the ascendant scale of the musical notes. The middle voice is most prominent here. Arohana generally has a soothing effect on the human voice and is used widely in Carnatic music. This quality of relaxing the listeners’ mind makes them receptive to a wide range of Carnatic music.
In this article we will look at some simple Carnatic Music Examples drawn from the above paragraphs. We will not study the use of the scales in this piece, but rather will look at the use of the note in the form of a Carnatic raga or a Carnatic stanza. An Arohana avarohana sample can be heard here. It is played on the Carnatic sangeetherem, or bass drum. For ease of listening a sangeetherem is played through a USB microphone.
Raga and ragas are played with both feet (called ‘padas’) in parallel to each other, so as to move the feet rhythmically along the length of the musical staff. On a Carnatic sangeetherem called the dhrta, or bass drum, held vertically with the feet shoulder width apart, a series of foot movements called swaras will be made along the length of the staff. The length of the swaras ranges from three to seven and sometimes ten notes. Each of these movements is repeated four times along the length of the staff.
Now we come to the distinctive features of an Arohana avarohana. Swaras must be played very rapidly along the staff in a smooth continuous flowing technique. The music often has a repeating theme, which may be a particular name, a specific phrase or a line from a poem. There is a specific phrase called ‘moksha-sutras’ which must be mastered before learning other ragas.
In the Ananda Bhairavi raga, the main raganga is called the ananda. The ananda has a slightly different rhythm than the sangeet. This difference is also picked up in the sangeet. The main theme which is repeated in both the singlet and the agenda is ‘ekmukha’; this being a continuous mantra that is repeated four times over on each hand. It is this similarity to the agenda that has led many to identify the two raga styles as belonging to the same tradition. However, the Vrittis of India have been known to use a slightly different mantra for the anandas as compared to what is used in the Arohana avarohana.
The main differences between the Arohana Avarohana and the Ananda Bhairavi Raga are found in their length. Whereas the agenda is almost double the length of the tangent, the arohana has an exact length of exactly three octaves. Interestingly enough, when this form of raga was made popular by Bikram yoga practitioners, they used to do a lot of ‘doodaling’, or stopping the breath during certain parts of the dance. This is unique to the agenda and was found to be a useful way in which to slow down the dance. In fact, many a raver who tried it would remark how much slower and deeper the dance got!