Megharanjani is a very minor raga, not much heard in concerts, except in the Ranjani maala, which is heard sung by many musicians. This raga is an oudava janya of mela (15) ragam Mayamalavagoula, losing Panchamam and Dhaivatham from both directions; so that the ragaswaroopam can be written as:
S R1 G3 M1 N3 S // S N3 M1 G3 R1 S
Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini by Subbarama Dikshithar quotes the lakshna sloka of Venkatamakhi, as:
audavi pa dha varja ri vakram syadavarohane |
sadjagrahena samyukta gatavya megharanjani ||
which shows it is an oudava raga, without P and D1; R1 appearing in vakra in the avarohanam, as : SR1G3M1N3S – SN3M1G3SR1S.
Ragapravaham by D.Pattammal also places the ragam under Mayamalavagoula mela; but shows different structures as:
S R G M N S - S N M G R S (same as normal spec)
S R G M D N S - S N P M G R S
S R M P D N S - S D P M G R S
S R M P D N S - S N D M P M R S
S R G M N S - S N M G S R S (same as SSP)
(For all practical purposes, the normal specification given first is being followed).
Though there are too many compositions are available only very few are heard sung. (It can be seen that there is a huge gap from M1 to N3 in arohanam and avarohanam; expanding the raga is very limited and mostly confined to the krithi alone).
Compositions:
Akhila devanutapade - Dr.Balamuralikrishna
Ani brahmandalencheru - Annamacharya
Are samangani majhibhakti(lkg) - Venkatamakhi
Balambikesha - N.S.Ramachandran
Devi divyanama sundari - R.K.Suryanarayana
Indulone kanavachchu - Annamacharya
Kanjaksha kayayya karunanidhiye - Vadirajar
Karunato nannu kapadu - Poochi Shrinivasa Iyengar
Ma karunai pozhi(tv) - K.Muthukumarasvami Varaghoor
Manasu karagi amruta - Dr.Muthiah Bhagavathar
Manikya makutadhara - E.S.Shankaranarayana Iyer
Maya karunai(tv) - K.Muthukumarasvami Varaghoor
Megame nee - Lalitha Sivakumar
Megha ranjani ganamruta(tv) - Pattamadai Krishna Iyer
Nilamegha - Bangalore S.Mukund
Parama pavane paravati - Dr.Muthiah Bhagavatar
Rukmini - Bangalore S.Mukund
Sarasija nayana - N.S.Ramachandran
Shevikkunavu illada(tv) - Tiruvalluvar (VSG)
Shri janaki mano ulhasa - ?
Smara bhumi sutadhipam - Mysore Vasudevacharya
Sondamum bandhamum(tv) - V.S.Gomatishankara Iyer
Venkateshvara yadava - Muthuswami Dikshitar
Vittijali badavala – Annamacharya
We shall consider the composition, “parama pAvane pArvathi” by Dr. Muthaiah Bhagavathar. This is a composition in the raga on Goddess Parvathi, the lyrics:
“pallavi
parama pAvanE pArvati paripAlisau
anupallavi
sarasijapadE sAvitri sarasvati gAyatri
caraNam
mahEndrAdi pUjitE mAtE harikEsha hitE guha gajamukha mAtE gOvinda sahajAtE”