Sunadavinodini is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of 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). This raga was discovered by Mysore Vasudevachar.

Sunadavinodini
ArohanamS G₃ M₂ D₂ N₃ 
Avarohanam N₃ D₂ M₂ G₃ S

Structure and Lakshana

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Sunadavinodini scale with shadjam at C

Sunadavinodini is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain rishabham and panchamam. It is a pentatonic scale (audava-audava ragam[1][2] in Carnatic music classification – audava meaning 'of 5'). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):

(notes used in this scale are antara gandharam, prati madhyamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham, kakali nishadham)

Sunadavinodini is considered a janya rāgam of Gamanashrama, the 53rd Melakarta rāgam, though it can be derived from 2 other melakarta rāgams, Kalyani or Kosalam, by dropping both rishabham and panchamam.

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Sunadavinodini rāgam lends itself for elaboration and exploration and has many compositions. Here are some popular kritis composed in Sunadavinodini.

Film Songs

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Language:Tamil

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Song Movie Composer Singer
Engeyo Etho Nadhiyai Thedi Vandha Kadal Ilaiyaraaja S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, P. Susheela
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This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.

Graha bhedam

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Sunadavinodini's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 2 other pentatonic rāgams, namely, Shivaranjani and Revati. See Graha bhedam on Shivaranjani for more details and an illustration.

Scale similarities

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  • Hamsānandi is a popular rāgam which sounds similar to Sunadavinodini and has the shuddha rishabham extra when compared to it. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R₁ G₃ M₂ D₂ N₃ :  N₃ D₂ M₂ G₃ R₁ S
  • Amritavarshini is another popular rāgam which has the panchamam in place of the dhaivatam when compared to Sunadavinodini. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S G₃ M₂ P N₃ :  N₃ P M₂ G₃ S

Notes

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  1. ^ Alternate notations:
    • Hindustani: S G  D N 
    • Western: C E F A B C
  2. ^ Alternate notations:
    • Hindustani:  N D  G S
    • Western: C B A F E C

References

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  1. ^ Raganidhi by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras
  2. ^ Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications