"Poetic Style" book by Dr. S. V. Ranganna

This is a remarkable 3 Volume work, full of erudition & uncanny insights into the world of Kannada Poetry. The learned author ranges freely over the world of poetry even in the western world to emphasise relevant points in Kannada Poetry.

Like English poets being classified roughly as "major" & "minor" for convenience in analysis, Dr. Ranganna classifies Kannada Poets into Excellent, medium & ordinary grades for ease of analysis & not to cast aspersions on their creativity. As he cogently points out, if it were not for ordinary & medium poets, the excellence of the topmost poets could not be recognised.

As he uses a global yardstick, he classifies Homer, Valmiki, Milton, Shakespeare, Pampa, Ranna & Kumaravyasa as occupying the highest grade. Just below them, but still higher than the medium grade are Wordsworth, Shelley, Racine, Pushkin, Raghavanka & Ratnakaravarni.

The medium grade poets in Kannada are Janna, Rudrabhatta, Harihara, Lakshmeesha & Nagachandra.

The ordinary ones are Nayasena, Aandayya, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Narahari, Sarvagna, Sanchi Honnamma & Shadaksharadeva.

It may be noted that Vachana Sahitya (Basava, Allamaprabhu & Akka Mahadevi) has been kept out of the ambit of this survey.

Dr. Ranganna also approvingly quotes Dante as saying that the only subjects for all literature are Religion, Love & War.

Profuse examples of their work have been quoted to justify the categorisation of these poets. Probably this is the finest work on Kannada Poetry appreciation to date.

"Kanada" group of Ragas

Some of these are in the "Asavari' Thaat & some in "Kafi" Thaat.

The most well-known is Darbari Kanada, also known as "The King of Ragas" & "The Raga of Kings" as Tansen reputedly created it to perform in court. This is in "Asavari" Thaat & the unique feature is the andolan on Komal Gandhar & Komal Dhaivat. Vadi & Samvadi are Shuddha Rishabh & Pancham.

Koushi Kanada also uses the same notes as above, but is distinguished by having Shuddha Madhyam & Komal Gandhar as Vadi & Samvadi. The Pancham string of the tanpura is also tuned to Shuddha Madhyam to help support the Vadi swara.

Suha Kanada is in Kafi Thaat & drops the Dhaivat altogether. The andolan on Komal Gandhar gives the Kanada touch. Rishabh is not used in ascent. Vadi & Samvadi are Ma & Sa. Surprisingly it is an afternoon raga.

A very similar Raga is Nayaki Kanada, having the same notes & even the same Vadi & Samvadi as above, but using the Rishabh in ascent. This is a night raga in the idiosyncratic time frame of the Hindustani system! This raga is favoured by the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana.

A raga recorded by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is Bageshree Kanada, in which the ascent progresses in the Kafi Thaat upto Pancham & then doubles back to Madhyam & proceeds again, dropping the Pancham & going straight to Dhaivat!

"Kalyan" Group of Ragas in Hindustani Music

These occupy a pre-eminent place in the repertoire of evening ragas. Also "Yaman", the most popular of these, is traditionally the first Raga to be taught to a student. These generally belong to the "Kalyan Thaat" in the ten "Thaat" system of classification.

1. Shuddha Kalyan

This uses only the notes in the parent Thaat, but pentatonic in ascent, dropping the Madhyam & Nishad but using all notes, in a convoluted way in the descent.

2. Yaman Kalyan

The name is a bit of a misnomer, because the distinguishing factor of this Raga is the use of Shuddha Madhyam in a unique way, in addition to the Teevra Madhyam basic to the Kalyan Thaat.

3. Maluha Kalyan

This is a rare variety using only the Shuddha Madhyam with plenty of zig-zag movements of the notes to distinguish the raga. Pandit Nikhil Banerjee has recorded this.

4. Gorakh Kalyan

This is another rare type, again using only the Shuddha Madhyam & omitting the Gandhar & Pancham & using the Komal Nishad. This has been recorded by Ustad Rashid Khan.

5. Shyam Kalyan

This is a quite popular raga, especially among the Etwah gharana Sitarists. The Gandhar & Dhaivat are omitted in the ascent but all notes with the Shuddha Madhyam also as a grace note after Gandhar, being the noteworthy factor.