Mohanam is a raga in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an audava rāga (or owdava rāga, meaning pentatonic scale). It is usually described as a janya rāga of Harikamboji (28th Melakartha Raga). However, alternate opinions suggest that Mechakalyani or even Shankarabharanam may be a more appropriate classification based on the lakshana of the raga. The equivalent of Mohanam in Hindustani music is Bhoop (or Bhopali ). It is one of the most common pentatonic scales across the world and is very popular in East Asian and Southeast Asian music, including China and Japan.

Structure and Lakshana

Mohanam is a symmetric rāga that does not contain madhyamam and nishādham. It is a symmetric pentatonic scale (audava-audava raga in Carnatic music classification – audava meaning 'of 5'). Its structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms): (the notes used in this scale are shadjam, chathusruthi rishabham, antara gandharam, panchamam, chathusruthi dhaivatham) Mohanam is usually classified as a janya rāga of Harikambhoji, the 28th Melakarta rāga, or as a janya raga of Kalyani based on its lakshana. The Hindustani equivalent Bhoop is associated with Kalyan thaat (the equivalent of Kalyani alias Mechakalyani). One of the first scales employed by the ancient Tamils was the Mullaippann (3 BCE), a pentatonic scale composed 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.

Popular compositions

Mohanam rāga lends itself to extensive elaboration and exploration and has many classical music and film music compositions.

Kritis

The geetham Varavina mridupani is one of the first short songs taught to beginners in Carnatic music. Ninnukori composed by Ramanathapuram 'Poochi' Srinivasa Iyengar is a popular Varnam in this scale. Here are some popular kritis composed in Mohanam.

Tamil movie songs in Mohanam

Kannada Film Songs

Malayalam Film songs in Mohanam (Selected)

Telugu Film Songs

Kannada:

Related rāgas

Graha bhedam

Mohanam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 4 other major pentatonic rāgas, namely, Hindolam, Shuddha Saveri, Udayaravichandrika (also known as Shuddha Dhanyasi) and Madhyamavati. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāga. For more details and illustration of this concept refer Graha bhedam on Mohanam.

Scale similarities

Vasantha used Shudda Rishabham and not Shudda Daivatham