S-R-G-P-n-S

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A pleasing pentatonic form, Shankh Dhwani (‘Sound of the Conch’) takes its name from a truly ancient instrument. While we will never know precisely when our proto-human ancestors first blew into a resonant gastropod shell, artefacts turn up in the archaeological record as early as 18,000 years ago – with their ritual significance discussed at length in the Atharvaveda and other ancient Subcontinental texts (learn more about ‘shankhnaad’ below). While Shankh Dhwani’s origins are unclear, its most prominent modern exponent is undoubtedly bansuriya Ajay Prasanna, a lifelong Varanasi resident who has performed it numerous times in recent years. His takes are typically energetic, with strident motions sometimes seasoned with outside swaras such as G(mG); P(dP); n(Dn). Also recorded by vocalists Devashish Dey (a pair of ektal bandish), Sunder Lal Agrawal (with great mandra explorations), and Prapti Puranik (a brief but captivating refrain: nnS RG GPGRS). Some call the same SRGPnS swara-set ‘Veenavadini’ in reference to its Carnatic counterpart: including bansuriya Partha Sarkar and singers Padmini Rao and Abhirang, who interprets the scale as ‘Hansadhwani komal ni” – also browse a breakdown by Biswarup Ghosh Dastidar (“from a series of Bengali songs based on mostly unknown and unheard ragas…Chalan: SRGPnS, SnP, GPRnPS”). Compare to its murchanas Sarangkauns and Tivrakauns, as well as to Jansammohini: the same scale plus shuddha Dha (n.b. ‘Shankar Dhwani’ is an unrelated raga).

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राग शंख र्ध्वनि

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—Ajay Prasanna (2019)—

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[motifs, e.g. 16:02] SSS SnPGRG, RRR RSnS, SSS SnPn, nnn nPGP RSnS GRS PGRG RGP GPn PnSRS PGRSR G P nP, S, Pn SGRG nRS, GRSnP GRGP, SG PG RS, GRSn S R G, GPnSGRS, RSnS R G…

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• More •

Histories, melodies, mythologies, etc…

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—Global shankhnaad—

For more on the rich history of the conch shell, refer to:

• World’s oldest conch shell horn sounds again after 18,000 years: writeup of Fritz et al’s 2021 paper on the earliest definitive example of a musical conch – including audio clips from the shell itself (“Discovered in 1931 in southwestern France…CT scans, photogrammetry, and examination with a medical camera found considerable evidence of human transformation of the shell that enabled it to be blown…”)
• Brass Beginnings: A Fanfare for the Conch Trumpet: a rundown of global shell-playing traditions from the Met (“The geographic and chronological span of conch playing is immense…The instrument, made from a variety of species, was known across Europe, India, China, Japan, Tibet, Oceania, the Americas…”)
• The Conch Horn: Shell Trumpets of the World: chapter 3 of Jeremy Montagu’s book covers Indian and Tibetan incarnations of the conch (“As far back as any records exist, the sacred chank of India and Tibet [are used] in both Hindu and Buddhist ritual…an essential element in Hindu religious rituals, including weddings, funerals, and other life-cycle events…”)
• Shell Trumpets of Western Mexico: a scholarly overview from Novella (“Conch-shell trumpets were part of the priestly paraphernalia, used during rites of passage such as mortuary rituals and funerary ceremonies…They also had a role to play in warfare…shamans may well have functioned as war leaders because of their perceived possession of spiritual power…”)
• Musical Instruments of the Natyashastra Period: from Sreenivas Rao’s amazing series of historical essays (“The Shankha is considered most auspicious…It was carried by warriors as a part of their battle gear, considered so important that each warrior gave a name to his personal conch, for instance Krishna named his conch as ‘Pancajanya’, while Arjuna named his as ‘Devadatta’. They were blown [to] sound the battle-cry…said to be so loud as to frighten the enemy, and shatter his heart…”)
• Concholgy: Turbinella pyrum: learn more about the Subcontinental sea-snail species responsible for the shankh (“A massive and extremely heavy turbinellid famous for being one of the Ashtamangala [‘eight auspicious symbols’]…A predatory gastropod [with] a very localised distribution in the Indian Ocean, ranging only from southeastern India to Sri Lanka…”)
• Also check out Zakir Hussain imitating the sound of the shankh on his tabla – and hear Steve Turre use one in jazz…

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—Varanasi Ganga Aarti—

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“Lord Krishna blew his conchshell, called ‘Pancajanya’; Arjuna blew his, the ‘Devadatta’; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of Herculean tasks, blew his terrific conchshell called ‘Paundram’. King Yudhisthira, son of Kunti, blew his, the ‘Anantavijaya’ – and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the ‘Sughosa’ and ‘Manipuspaka’. That great archer the King of Kasi, the great fighter Sikhandi, Dhrstadyumna, Virata and the unconquerable Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and the others, O King, such as the son of Subhadra, greatly armed – all blew their respective conchshells…” (Bhagavad Gita, 1:15-18)

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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

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

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

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

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 ragas matching the generic swaras ‘Sa-Re-Ga-Pa-Ni‘

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–G–P–n–S

• Reverse: SRmdnS (=Sarangkauns)

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

• Imperfect: 3 (Re, Ga, ni)

• Detached: 2 (Ga, ni)

• Symmetries: mirror (r—P)

• Murchanas: Sarangkauns set

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

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Veenavadini

S-R₂-G₃-P-N₂-S

• Jazz: Dom. 9th Pentatonic

1-2-3-5-b7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-4-7-10-0

(2–2–3–3–2)

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o • o • o • • o • • o • o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa

• Names: Shankh Dhwani, Shankhdhwani, ~Veenavadini, ~Veena Vadini (n.b. ‘Shankar Dhwani‘ is an unrelated raga)

• Transliterations: Hindi (शंख र्ध्वनि)

—Prapti Puranik (2019)—