Amritavarshini

Amr̥tavarṣiṇi is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music), created in the early nineteenth century by Muthuswami Dikshitar. It is an audava rāgam (meaning pentatonic scale) in which only five of the seven swaras (musical notes) are used. It is a janya rāgam (derived scale), fairly popular in Carnatic music. There is a belief that Amr̥tavarṣiṇi causes rain ( The name of the rāgam is derived from the Sanskrit words Amrita: meaning Nectar and Varshini: meaning one who causes a shower or rain, and hence the association with rain ), and that the Carnatic composer Muthuswami Dikshitar brought rain at Ettayapuram, Tamil Nadu, India by singing his composition, Aanandaamrutakarshini amrutavarshini.

Amr̥tavarṣiṇi is a rāgam that does not contain rishabham and dhaivatam. It is a symmetric pentatonic scale (audava-audava ragam in Carnatic music classification). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa 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, antara gandharam, prati madhyamam, panchamam and kakali nishādam)

Amr̥tavarṣiṇi is considered a janya rāgam of Chitrambari, the 66th Melakarta rāgam, although it can be derived from other melakarta rāgams, such as Kalyani, Gamanashrama or Vishwambari, by dropping both rishabham and dhaivatam. There is another scale that has the same name but is less practiced in current performances. This scale is associated with the 39th melakarta Jhalavarali.

Amr̥tavarṣiṇi rāgam lends itself for extensive elaboration and exploration due to the symmetric and pentatonic scale. It has many compositions in both classical music and film music. Here are some popular kritis and film music composed in Amr̥tavarṣiṇi. The most popular composition in Amritavarshini Ragam is Anandamrithakarshini by Muthuswami Dikshitar

In addition to these, Anni Mantramuli Inde Avahinchenu of Annamacharya has been set to music in the Amr̥tavarṣiṇi.

Amritavarshini's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 1 popular pentatonic rāgam, Karnataka Shuddha Saveri. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. For more details and illustration of this concept refer Graha bhedam on Amr̥tavarṣiṇi.