S-R-g-M-P-D-N-S

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A shringara raga of relatively recent origin, Madhuvanti is geared towards evoking a ‘sweet’ flavour (‘madhu’ means ‘nectar, honey’). Rajan Parrikar cites “shared credits for its development…Vilayat Khan is said to have conceived it [in the] 1940s…and around the same time, Vamanrao Padhye of Kolhapur composed a similar raga and called it ‘Ambika’, after the Goddess [Saraswati]”. The scale form resembles ‘Yaman komal ga‘, with all swaras except komal ga set to their highest specific variants (SRMPDN), while also lying close to Simhendra Madhyamam (which takes a komal dha instead). Prakriti with the rare Anjani Kalyan (created by Ramrang via rendering Madhuvanti’s aroha sampurna rather than audav), and Multani is a phraseological ally, formed by lowering Re and Dha to their komal forms (Raja: “Multani has an identical ascent, but differs in the descent”). See melodic summary below, and compare to Tanseni Madhuvanti (the same scale plus a Malharic nDNS), and the rest of the Nat Bhairav murchana set – as well as to other members of the Dhanashree raganga.

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• Raga Masterlist (1000+) •

राग मधुवन्ती

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• Hindustani Raga Index •

Aroha: NSgMPNS

Avroh: SNDPMgRS

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Pakad: variable, e.g. gMPNS; DMPg; PgRSR

Chalan: variable, e.g. SNS; MgRSRS; MgPM; gMgP; PMDDP; gMPN; NS; PNSgRS; RNSDP; DMPg; MPgRSR; NS (Raja)

• Based around a classic Dhanashree structure – involving launches from low Ni, a strong Pa-Sa axis, and the omission of Re and Dha in aroha

• Many features are shared with Multani, including the NSgMPNS ascent and looping mid-scale ornaments in descent (e.g. P(MgM)g) – however Re plays a relatively stronger role in Madhuvanti (e.g. DMPgR; MPgRSR)

• The wide, tense komal ga-tivra Ma sangati is vital – Ma shines bright, used as the vadi in many older renditions, and ga stands out as the only komal swara and the only swara ‘detached’ from all samvad relationships

• Vakra movements are common, exploring many different ways of ‘pairing’ swaras (e.g. by interval size – 1: NS MP Rg; 2: RS ND DP; 3: Sg gM MD NR DS) – although Dha is typically not used as a resting tone

• Considered to evoke a ‘sweet, heady, intoxicating’ flavour (‘madhu’: ‘nectar, honey, elixir’) – although emotional ambiguities abound

—Pravin Godkhindi (2014)—

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[alap phrases, e.g. 0:02] PS(NRSNS)N, (S)N, (S)N(SNDP), PS(NSDN)S (N)S, (NR)SNDP N, P(MPM) D(PMP) S(NRSNS)N, DPD P(MP); N P(S)NSg g(RS), (SRS)R, Sg(R) (SR)N, NSRNSR NDP(MP)M P(DPMP) S(NRSNS)N, PNSM(gMg)RS, NSgM(gR)S…

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• More •

Histories, melodies, mythologies, etc…

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—Visualising Madhuvanti—

• Refer to a superb pair of pen-and-paper ‘swara-path visualisations‘ from the MusicRiyaaz channel, revealing more about Madhuvanti’s strange shape (1: scale form & 2: ornaments) and also drawing from the raga’s filmi settings (Arijit Singh’s Muskurahat & Lata Mangeshkar’s Rasm-E-Ulfat):

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—Imagery: creating madhu—

“The term ‘madhu’ [honey] has been used since the Rigveda, and appears in Hindu religious literature in a similar metaphorical sense to ‘wine’ (e.g. ‘the wine of truth’). For example, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contains a chapter called the ‘Madhu Brahmana’, which states that ‘the secret essence of the Vedas themselves is called the ‘Madhu-vidya’ [honey doctrine]…” (Madhu)

• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Charanjit Singh (Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat)—

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“Charanjit Singh’s LP Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat was created in Mumbai in 1982, produced on Roland TB-303 and Roland TR 808 [synths]. The record boasted the soon-to-be thought of as ‘acid house sensibilities’: four-on-the-floor rhythm, with a flurry of synthesised melodies dancing around it. Perhaps our misunderstanding of the true roots of acid house can be attributed to Singh’s diffusing take on his own innovation: ‘There was lots of disco music in films back in 1982, so I thought, ‘Why not do something different using disco music only?’. I got an idea to play Indian ragas [with] a disco beat – and turn off the tabla. And I did it. And it turned out good…” (Far Out Magazine)

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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: Thaat #5, Anjani Kalyan

Also compare to other members of the Dhanashree raganga

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–g–M–P–D–N–S

• Reverse: SrgmMDnS

• Complement: SrGmdnS

• Imperfect: 3 (ga, Ma, Dha)

• Detached: 1 (ga)

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Nat Bhairav set

–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Dharmavati (mela #59)

S-R₂-G₂-M₂-P-D₂-N₃-S

• Jazz: Lydian b3

1-2-b3-#4-5-6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-3-6-7-9-11-0

(2–1–3–1–2–2–1)

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o • o o • • o o • o • o o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+Ni)

• Names: Madhuvanti, Madhuvani, Ambika, ‘Madhumalati’

• Transliterations: Hindi (मधुवन्ती)

—Shivkumar Sharma (2011)—