Amrutham Varshaya....

"The Gods are speaking?!"
Its either some clattering language that Gods use that I can't understand! Or it is something only my glass window panes can understand and they are horrified. So much so that their teeth is clattering out of fear and making this sound....or it could also be the ice sleet hitting the window panes!
Its pouring out here.....and its not just a rain!
Who needs the weather man nowadays :) This is what the weather site has to say about it:
PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...AND FREEZING RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MIDNIGHT...BECOMING PREDOMINANTLY LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT. ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF A HALF INCH WILL BE COMMON. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH TONIGHT BEFORE CHANGING OVER TO MAINLY FREEZING RAIN AND RAIN TOWARD MORNING.

Tipped to be the last snow storm of this season with which we really have not gotten enough time to break ice(!!), this also means confined to home-base this weekend. Buoyed by the robust predictions made by the above mentioned soothsayer, and pushed along by the wonderful rendering of Amruthavarshini by 'Sreevalsan Menon' I decided to find out more about this sweet raga, and here goes:

Amruthavarshini does not find a place in most of the musical granthams. It is believed to be been called as Seelangi in Ghanabhaskaram & named as SmaraRanjani in SwaraprastharaSagaram and both mention that this is a janya of 65th mela Mechakalyani. There are versions where the raagam is considered as a janyam of the 66th Melaraagam Chithrambari.

This is a prathimadhyama counterpart of Gambheeranaatta. Where Arohanam Sa Ga3 Ma1 Pa Ni3 Sa,Avarohanam Sa Ni3 Pa Ma1 Ga3 Sa and it is janyam of chalanata, which is the 36th raga in the melakartha list. So theoritically speaking the prathimadhyama counterpart of Ghambheera Nata ( Janya of 36 chalanata), Amruthavarshini should have been a janyam of 72nd melakartha the Rasikapriya. But it has been listed only under 65th mela in ancient scripts.

If you look the scale, it could be the janyam of Gamanashramam or Kalyani or Rasikapriya or chithrambari theoritically.
Look at the arohana avarohana of the listed ragas will tell us that S G3 M2 P N3 S -S N3 P M2 G3 S will be same,

53. Gamanasrama S R1 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S - S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R1 S
65. Mechakalyani S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S - S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S
66. Chitrambhari S R2 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S - S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R2 S
72. Rasikapriya S R3 G3 M2 P D3 N3 S - S N3 D3 P M2 G3 R3 S

So, we are bound to get confused. The point to be noted is that the Ga the Gandharam of Amruthavarshini is sung with a kampitha Gamakam where the Ga is oscillating.
That's the key!!

Muthuswamy Dikshitar has composed a wonderful krithi in this raga. There is a famous trivia attached to the making of the krithi in this ragam. "Anandhamruthakarshini amruthavarshini". When he was passing throug the village Ettayapuram in thirunelveli District, there was an acute drought. Since he was wellknown for his powers , people in the village requested him to get rains in. At their request Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar sang the above song in the Amruthavarshini ragam.

It is said that When he sang the line 'varshaya varshaya varshaya' it started rainging heavily flooding the village and he had to sing the same song with the slight modification . Instead of varshaya varshaya varshaya, he used sthambaya sthambaya he sang to stop the rains.
He is also supposed to have been the founder of this raga in the name it is currently known as.

So much for the research part, the icing on the cake is that this idea still works!! I played this song over and over again late afternoon today...i assure you the singer rendered 'varshaya varshaya', and so what if the weather instruments had already figured it out and the communication mechanisms had promptly done their duty!!
What with all the global warming and it being the Kaliyug and all, or it is also possible that the God was out Golfing at the time (yeah, the last time we met they told me they vacation out to warmer spots with family when the weather turns to the worse out here), the rains took a time arriving. It wasn't till a good 3 hours later that the skies opened up, but when they did, it was certainly amazing :)

I always enjoy watching a rain storm or a snow storm thru the windows, standing inside a comfortably heated room. A cup of hot coffee or tea would only serve to add to the bliss and joy of studying nature and her expressions.

Amrutham Varshaya Varshaya Varshaya......