Vanaspati (meaning the lord of the forest) is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 4th melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgams of Carnatic music, following the Katapayadi sankhya system. In the Muthuswami Dikshitar school of music, this raga is called Bhānumati.Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar Keertanaigal by Vidwan A Sundaram Iyer, Pub. 1989, Music Book Publishers, Mylapore, ChennaiRagas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH PublicationsRaganidhi by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras
Structure and Lakshana
Vanaspati is the 4th rāgam in the 1st chakra Indu of the melakarta system. Its mnemonic name is Indu-Bhu. Its mnemonic phrase is sa ra ga ma pa dhi ni. Its structure is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on this notation):
Shuddha rishabham, shuddha gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham and kaisiki nishadham are the swaras used in this scale. As it is a melakarta rāgam, by definition it is a sampoorna rāgam (has all seven notes in ascending and descending scale). It is the shuddha madhyamam equivalent of Navaneetam, which is the 40th melakarta rāgam.
Asampurna Melakarta Bhānumati is the 4th Melakarta in the original list compiled by Venkatamakhin. The notes used in the scale are the same, but the ascending scale is different. It is a shadava-sampurna raga (6 notes in ascending scale, while full 7 are used in descending scale).Shree Muthuswami Dikshitar Keerthanaigal, by A Sundaram Iyer, Music Book Publishers, Mylapore, Chennai
Janya rāgams Rasāli is one of the better known of few janya ragams (derived scales) associated with Vanaspati. See List of janya rāgams for full list of rāgams associated with Vanaspati.
Notes
References