S-R-m-d-n-S

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A rare audav raga of bewitching beauty, taking the form of ‘Malkauns with shuddha Re instead of ga’. As the name implies, the adoption of Re allows for poorvang shades of Sarang (SRm, mR), set in contrast to distinctive Malkauns turnarounds in uttarang (Snd, dnS). Like both Malkauns and Madhumad Sarang, the scale shape comprises ‘three jumps of 2 semitones, and two jumps of 3 semitones’ – but these intervals are reordered to open up tritonal dissonance via the Re–dha sangati (compare to other ‘2-3-3-2-2’ murchanas including Tivrakauns and Veenavadini). Renditions are few and far between – I first encountered the raga through Parveen Sultana’s divine 1997 album release, exploring a pair of bandish (Guru Charanan Raj & Jagi Ri Sari Yamini) with controlled intensity punctuated by florid ornaments and moments of dramatic release. Since recorded by rare raga explorers Devashish Dey and Abhirang (who offers a pakad of Rmdndm, dR, mRndS, and advises against undue pause on komal ni) – also see an oddly captivating take by Dhananjay Dhumal on the ‘vividha tarangini’ (essentially a Roland Fantom-06 keyboard-synth with extensive use of the pitch-wheel). In recent years, the raga has made its way into Carnatic music, with excellent interpretations from Delhi Shankar Bhagavathar (a vocal show in Oman) and V.K. Raman (a tanpura-less venu flute recording). n.b. The ‘Sarangkauns’ name is also applied to an ultra-rare ‘Sarang + Chandrakauns’ blend sung in Kirtan: see Chandraprabha for more on this SRmdNS scale form.

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• Raga Megalist (365+) •

राग सारंग कौंस

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• Hindustani Raga Index •

Aroha: SRm, dnS

Avroh: Snd, mRS

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Chalan: e.g. SdnS, dnSR, nRS; SRm, Rm, mR, RmdmR, mR, mR, S; SRm, Rm, Rmd, mdndm, mdnmndm, mdnS; dnSR, nRS, SRm, SmRS, Sndm, mdnS; Sdndm, ndmR, mR, ndnRS, dnS (OOR)

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—Parveen Sultana (1997)—

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[sthayi, e.g. 15:44] mSRmd (n)S, S(nd), n(dnd) mR(m) nS; mSRmd (n)S, S(nd), n(dnd) mR(m) nS…

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• Guitaragas •

My attempts to capture the raga on electric guitar (see more of these clips)

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—Jagi Ri Sari Yamini (electric guitar)—

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My brief electric guitar cover of the Parveen Sultana bandish above…

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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

Double: rR | gG | mM | dD | nN

Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact

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

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

Symmetries: Mirror | Rotation | Palindr.

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

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

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Murchana: Bhup. | Bihag | Bilaw. | Charu.

Raganga: Bhairav | Malhar | Kan. | Todi

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: (none found)

Also see other audav ragas which omit Ga and Pa: including Chandraprabha (SRmdNS) & Rasaranjani (SRmDNS)

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–m–d–n–S

• Reverse: SRGPnS (=Veenavadini)

• Negative: 2-2-1-2-1-2-2 (e.g. Chandrakauns)

• Imperfect: 3 (Sa, Re, dha)

• Detached: 2 (Re, dha)

• Symmetries: mirror (m—N)

• Murchanas: Tivrakauns (on Re)

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• Quirks: ‘maximal‘ (swaras are optimally ‘spread out’)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Bhanuchandrika

S-R₂-M₁-D₁-N₂-S

• Jazz: Aeolian (no 3rd/5th)

1-2-4-b6-b7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-5-8-10-0

(2–3–3–2–2)

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o • o • • o • • o • o • o

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• Tanpura: Sa–ma (+dha)

• Names: Sarangkauns, Sarang Kauns (n.b. the ‘Sarangkauns’ name has also been applied to fusions of Sarang and Chandrakauns)

• Transliterations: Hindi (सारंग कौंस)

—Dhananjay Dhumal (2004)—