Hamsanadam

Hamsanadam scale with shadjam at C

Hamsanadam, as it is sung now-a-days, is a symmetric scale that does not contain gandharam and dhaivatam. It is called an audava rāgam,[1] in Carnatic music classification (as it has 5 notes in both ascending and descending scales). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):

• ārohaṇa : S R₂ M₂ P N₃ Ṡ[lower-alpha 1]
• avarohaṇa : Ṡ N₃ P M₂ R₂ S[lower-alpha 2]

This scale uses the notes shadjam, chatusruti rishabham, prati madhyamam, panchamam and kakali nishadam.

Earlier structure of this scale were as follows:[1][2]

• Ascending scale : S R₂ M₂ P D₃ N₃ Ṡ[lower-alpha 3]
• Descending scale : Ṡ N₃ D₃ N₃ P M₂ R₂ S[lower-alpha 4]

In the above, shatsruti dhaivatam is added in the scale compared to current usage (shadava scale with 6 notes in ascendinga and descending scale), with a vakra prayoga (zig-zag descending scale).[1][2]

Hamsanadam has a few popular compositions:

• kalyANa rAmA by oottukkADu Sri vEnkaTAkavi
• Bantureethi Koluvu by Tyagaraja
• Niye Paramukham by Papanasam Sivan
• Kripanidhe by Muthiah Bhagavatar
• pADa vENDumE by Sri MM Dandapani Desikar
• Bharama Ee Baluni by G N Balasubramaniam
• Ezhiludai Hamsanaadham by Thanjavur Sankara Iyer