Harikambhoji is a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is the 28th Melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system. One of the first scales employed by the ancient Tamils was the Mullaipann, a pentatonic scalecomposed of the notes sa ri ga pa da, equivalent to C, D, E, G and A in the western notations. These fully harmonic scales, constitutes the raga Mohanam in the Carnatic music style. Mullaipann further evolved into Sempaalai, a scale based on seven notes by the addition of two more notes, ma and ni to the pentatonic scale. Sempaalai pann corresponds to the Carnatic raga Harikambhoji. Khamajthaat of Hindustani Music is the equivalent to this rāgam. It is known as Harikedāragowla in the Muthuswami Dikshitarschool of music. In Western music, Mixolydian mode is this raga's equivalent
Structure and Lakshana
It is the 4th rāgam in the 5thchakra Bana. The mnemonic name is Bana-Bhu. The mnemonic phrase is sa ri ga ma pa dha ni sa. Its structure is as follows :
Arohana| :
Avarohana| :
It is a sampoorna rāgam – rāgam having all 7 swarams. It is the shuddha madhyamam equivalent of Vachaspati, which is the 64th melakarta.
''Janya'' rāgams
Harikambhoji has a lot of janya rāgams associated with it, of which Kambhoji is by far the most famous and frequently sung in concerts. The globally famous pentatonic scale Mohanam is also considered a janya of this rāgam. Andolika, Bahudari, Kamas,Pashupatipriya, Kedaragaula, Natakurinji, Navarasa kannada, Sahana, Senchuruti, Suruti, Sudhasaveri, Kamas and Yadukula kambhoji are also very popular janyas. See List ofjanya rāgams for a full list ofHarikambhoji's janya rāgams.
Compositions
Among the Trinity of Carnatic music only Thyagaraja has composed songs in Harikambhoji. Ramanannu brovara, Entara neethana and Dinamani vamsha are very popular songs composed by Thyagaraja in this rāgam. Enadu manam kavalai, a composition by Papanasam Sivan, is also popular. rama na moralincarais composed by Walajapet Venkataramana bhagavatar in this ragam.Karomi smaranam shashanka-vadanam is composed by Ashok R Madhav in this raga
This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam. Harikambhoji's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 5 other major melakarta rāgams, namely, Kalyani, Sankarabharanam, Natabhairavi, Kharaharapriya and Hanumatodi. For further details and an illustration refer related rāgams section in Shankarabharanam page.
