Manodharma–Alapana

Right from vedic age, music has been omnipresent. While Rig/Yajur vedas are recited as hymns, Sama veda is sung. During Yagyas and yagas, a particular set of hymns must be presented by Samavedis in musical forms. Nadopasana is as special as Vedopasana.

The title of this post itself is self explanatory. Manodharma sangita , simply put, is the mind’s music. Letting music flow freely from mind within the limits of raga is manodharma sangita. Main difference between a seasoned artist and a budding artist is that the former, with his experience can freely sing manodharma also considering the interest of the audience. That’s why we would love to attend seasoned musician’s concert. My guru Shri T.S. Krishnamurthy(violinist) classifies people in the musical field into three:

( 1) The singer/instrumentalist – Who just learns and presents his skills on stage

(2) Musician – Who can sing/play according to the taste of audience

(3) Artist – Who is seasoned, make the concert go the way he/she wishes and turn the audience mood to his frequency

A successful concert will have a fine blend of Manodharma sangita and Kalpita Sangita (without manodharma e.g. Varnas, thillanas,etc). FOllowing are major components of mandharma sangita:

Raga Alapana: Alapa in sanskrit means to say or express something in detail and expand. Old treatises call it Alapti. Four factors that contribute to alapana are: 1.Varna-the urge to sing 2.Aaroha 3.Avaroha and 4.Sanchari. Knowledge of the raga lakshana and proficiency in right usage of gamakas are quintessential in manodharma. There are different types of gamakas . SHargyadeva lists 15gamakas, Ahobala describes 17. However currently 10 are in usage: 1.Aroha- notes in ascending order 2.Avaroha-notes in descending order 3.Dhalu-different notes reached keeping one note constant 4.Sphurita- repeating same note twice 5.Kampita- oscillation of a note in a given place 6.Aahata-pair of notes . First note of subsequent pair will be the last note of predecessor sung in the ascending order (e.g. SR-RG-GM)  7.Pratyahata- Aahata in descending order8. Tripuchcha – one note occuring thrice 9.Aandholita- mis of hrasva and dheerga swaras 10. Murchana- completion of an octave length from each note (simply, aroha and avaroha together).

Raga alapana is developed in stages. Following are major aspcts of a good alapana:

1.The opening should give the taste of raga in a nutshell. Puzzling the audience to guess the raga is not always welcomed.

2. Alapana should involve different speeds or sthayis .Should begin with adhara shadj, move on tomadhya sthayi , elaborate the raga bhava with required bruhas and gamakas, go upto thara sthayi and then gradually come down

3.Musician should exhibit his/her control over swara sthanas (clarity of notes)

4. Graha swaras are those with which a phrase can begin. Musician should be aware of graha swaras of the raga presented. E.g.Sahana has S,N,R as graha swaras.Note thefollowing phrases. Each phrase is separated by dotted lines -S,NR S,NDP…RGMP,M G,MR…NSRGMP,MDD…(Note beginning swaras of each phrase)

5.Nyasa swaras are those which can be expanded and worked around. It is the ending swra of a phrase. Shadja and Panchama (in applicable ragas) are by default elaborated. However a good musician will know the right nyasa swara to add beauty to alapana.

E.g. Sahana’s nyasa swaras are S,R,P,D

Sample phrases- DND…NDP… RGMP,MDD…DNSRR…NSRGMR…(Note the end swaras of every phrase)

6.Usage of required gamakas will bring out the raga’s mood.

A sweet end note would have all three octaves of raga expressed clearly with apt speed and tonal clarity.