rAgAnubhavam - Arabhi

Arabhi - one of the most beautiful rAgA in carnatic music. This rAgA will be more appealing than any other rAgA in a carnatic music concert. Most of the songs will start with the swarA (P) pa as the first swarA.

This rAgA is a janya rAgA of the 29th mEla karthA rAgA, dheera sankarAbaraNam. The ArOhaNam - avarOhaNam is S R2 M1 P D2 S - S N3 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S.

The swaras sa (S) and pa (P) does not have variations, while the other swaras like ri(R), ga(G), ma(M), dha(D) and ni(N) has variations.

May be because of its neutral nature, tyAgarAjA has placed the song sAdinchanE in the rAgA Arabhi as the third kriti (middle one among the five kritis) in his pancharatna kritis. If you see the song, it starts with the notes "P P M1 R2 S D S". We can quote many songs like

1. ambA sowramba by Tanjore Ponniyah Pillai where the notes are P P D P M M.

2. Ongi ulagalandha in Tiruppavai, by AndAL. There again the first coming swarA will be P (pa)

3. nAdha sudhA rasam bilanu by Tyagaraja. Here also the swara pa (P) will be the starting swarA.

4. JoodA murArE, again by tyAgarAja also starts with the swarA pa.

And we can quote some more.

Exception that I have observed is the song, oru kAl siva chidambaram yendru sonnAl, by Marimutha Pillai, where the song starts with the swara dha (D2). It will have the form, D2 R2 S D2 P P M1.

In the movies one can quote the songs yEri karaiyin mEle pOravalE peN mayilE from the film arivALi, thendralil Adum koonthalai kandEn from the film Maduraiyai meetta sundara pandiyan...