Hindolam

Hindolam (sanskrit हिन्दोळम्, tamil ஹின்தோளம்) is a rāgam (musical scale) in Carnatic music (South Indian classical music). It is an audava rāgam (or owdava rāgam, meaning pentatonic scale ). It is a janya rāgam (derived scale), as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes).

The equivalent of Hindolam in Hindustani music is Malkauns "Ragas in Carnatic music" by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications] (or Malkosh "Raganidhi" by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras] ).

It is known to be a rāgam that is generally beautiful and soothing to listen to. Being symmetrical in its arohana and avarohana portions, it lends itself very well to improvization and is therefore popular at concerts.

tructure and Lakshana

Hindolam is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain "Rishabam" or "Panchamam". It is a symmetric pentatonic scale (audava-audava ragam in Carnatic music classification - audava meaning 'of 5'). Since pentatonic scales can be found in other world music such as Chinese music, shades of Hindolam can sometimes be traced in Chinese music.

Its IAST|ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see "swaras in Carnatic music" for details on below notation and terms):

*IAST|ārohaṇa : S G2 M1 D1 N2 S
*IAST|avarohaṇa : S N2 D1 M1 G2 S(Sadharana Gandharam, Suddha Madhyamam, Suddha Dhaivatham, Kaisiki Nishadham)

Hindolam is not a Melakarta rāgam, since it does not contain all the seven swaras.

Experts in Carnatic music hold differences of opinion on the Janaka rāgams (rāgams of origin) that should be attributed to Hindolam. It is widely accepted that Natabhairavi is the parent rāgam of Hindolam, but some would like to associate it with Hanumatodi . It can be derived from both, by dropping the "Rishabam" and "Panchamam".

Popular Compositions

"Samaja vara gamana" by the maestro Thyagaraja is a popular composition in Hindolam. "Mamavathu Shree Saraswathi" by Mysore Vasudevachar is another popular composition. Here are some more "kritis" composed in Hindolam.

*"Govardhana girisam smarami" by Muthuswami Dikshitar
*"Sama gana lolane" by G. N. Balasubramaniam
*"Nambi kettavar evar" by Papanasam Sivan
*"Karunalaya nidhiye" by Vedanayakam Pillai

Numerous bhajans, stotras, kritis and film music numbers have been composed in the Hindolam rāgam.

Related rāgams

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

Hindolam's notes when shifted using Graha bedham, yields 4 other major pentatonic rāgams, namely, "Mohanam", "Shuddha Saveri", "Udayaravichandrika" (also known as "Suddha Dhanyasi") and "Madhyamavathi". Graha bedham is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the Shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. See Graha bedham on Mohanam for more details and illustration of this concept.

References