Vasantha (raga)

Vasantha (pronounced vasantā) is a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a janya raga of Suryakantam, the 17th Melakarta raga. According to P|Subba Rao, majority opinion is that the raga is derived from Mayamalavagowla, the 15th Melakarta raga.

Vasantha is suitable to be sung in evening and is considered an auspicious raga.

Structure
Vasantha is an asymmetric scale that does not contain panchamam. It is called a vakra audava-shadava raga, malathiga structure is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):


 * ārohaṇa :
 * avarohaṇa :

This scale uses the notes shadjam, shuddha rishabham, antara gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham and kakali nishadam.



Popular compositions
Vasantha has ample scope for alapana. This scale has been used by many composers for compositions in classical music. Here are some popular compositions in Vasantha.


 * Ninne kori, a popular varnam by Tecchur Singarachari
 * Sitamma Mayamma by Tyagaraja
 * Brihadambikayai and Ramachandram Bhavayami by Muthuswami Dikshitar
 * Paramapurusha Jagadeesha by Swathi Thirunal
 * Malmaruga Shanmukha by Papanasam Sivan
 * Natanam Adinar by Gopalakrishna Bharathi'
 * Rajeswarim Sambhavaye by Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamiji
 * Thom Thomena and Yoganrusimha Padâmbuja Brunga by Kalyani Varadarajan
 * Kodu bega Divyamathi by Purandara dasa
 * Palisenna Gopalakrishna By Jagannatha Dasa
 * Maadhayai nidhi ennum by Papanasamsivan

Related ragas
This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this raga.

Scale similarities

 * Lalitha is a popular raga that sounds very similar to Vasantha. Lalitha uses shuddha rishabham in ārohaṇa also, while the shuddha dhaivatam is used in it, compared to chatusruti dhaivatam in Vasantha.