S-R-m-D-S

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Distinguished by permitting only four swaras (and sometimes titled ‘Chatuswari’: ‘four-toned’), Bhavani’s symmetrical shape is akin to ‘Durga no Pa’ – seemingly reflected in its title, with ‘Bhavani‘ referring to a fierce, nurturing form of Maa Durga who dispenses cosmic justice by killing malevolent Asuras. Its intriguing surtar sparsity necessitates a multipolar approach to melodic resolution, tempting a murchana-like refocus towards the triads available from Re (RmD: minor) and ma (mDS: major). Associated with the 20th-century experiments of Gwalior vocalist Narayanrao Vyas (who pointed his renditions towards the Bilawal-ang: and, curiously, cut this recording with the tabla‘s Na stroke tuned to ma rather than Sa: see my Survey of Sa Locations for more such oddities), with others such as Abhirang continuing in this vein today. Other ‘chatuswari’ ragas include Shivangi (SGPD: a ‘Deshkar no Re‘ sung by Shubhada Moghe, and Bhavani’s exact ma-murchana), Bairagi Shree (SrPn: a recent fusion by Abhirang), and Bharadwaj Harindra (SgGPn: an invention of A. Sundarmurthy with 5 ‘specific‘ swaras but only 4 ‘generic‘ ones, which ascends and descends with only 4 in each direction too: SGPnS<>SnPgS) – as well as other 4-tone experiments such as Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti’s piano solo Musica Ricercata #3 (SgGP). Send in any I’ve missed!

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राग भवानी

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• Hindustani Raga Index •

Aroha: SRmDS

Avroh: SDmRS

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Pakad: variable, e.g. RSRm; SRSDm

Chalan: (open-form)

—Narayanrao Vyas (~1960s)—

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[bandish, e.g. 0:02] SRSDm, RSR m, R mDDm, DSSD…

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• Classifiers •

Explore hidden inter-raga connections: swara geometries, melodic features, murchana sets, ragangas, & more (also see the Full Tag List):

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Swaras: -4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10+

Sapta: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Poorvang: SRGM | SRG | SRM | SGM

Uttarang: PDNS | PDS | PNS | DNS

Varjit: Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact

Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra

Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: (none found)

Also see other ‘chatuswari‘ ragas including Shivangi (SGPD), Rasmadhuri (Srmd), Vaishali Todi (Srgd), Bairagi Shree (SrPn), & Bharadwaj Harindra (SgGPn)

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–m–D–S

• Reverse: SgPnS

• Complement: SrgGMPdnNS

• Imperfect: 2 (Sa, Dha)

• Detached: none

• Symmetries: mirror (r—P)

• Murchanas: Shivangi (on ma)

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• Quirks: ‘surtar‘ (only 4 generic swaras) • ‘atritonal‘ (no available tritones)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: (~Abhogi)

S-R₂-M₁-D₂-S

• Jazz: Suspended Quadratonic

1-2-4-6-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-5-9-0

(2–3–4–3)

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o • o • • o • • • o • • o

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• Tanpura: Sa–ma (+Dha)

• Names: (Chatuswari) Bhavani, Chatu Bhavanee

• Transliterations: Hindi (भवानी)

—Abhirang (2020)—