Still, another well-known raga, Saraswathi; there are some good number of compositions, many are popular also, but only very few of these heard in concerts. So it was little confusing , whether to be included in Rare ragas or not. But as some of the previous similar ones were included, finally decided to treat the same way.
Saraswathi is an oudava – shadava janya of mela (64) ragam Vachaspathi; losing G3 in both directions and N2 additionally in arohanam only – the ragaswaroopa can be written as:
S R2 M2 P D2 S // S N2 D2 P M2 R2 S
This raga is very melodious and also considered to be a very auspicious one; as the name of the raga indicates, many krithis on Goddess Saraswathi are composed in this raga (see the list below). There is a raga with similar name in Hindustani music of the Kalyan thaat; almost similar to the carnatic raga.
Ragapravaham classifies this raga under both Suddha and Prathimadhyamam scales, as janya of mela ragas, Sarasangi, Harikambhoji and Vachaspathi, as:
Under mela (27) Sarasangi:
S R M P D S // S D N P M G R S
Under mela (28) Harikambhoji:
S R G P N D N S // S N P D P M G R G S
And under mela (64) Vachaspathi:
S R M P D S // S N D P M G R S
S R M P D S // S N D M G R S
(none of the above, supporting the structure followed).
Compositions:
Adaikkalathi - Tanjore Sankara Iyer
Amba saraswathi - Lalitha dasar
Anuragamule - Thyagaraja
Anuvige anuvagi - Purandaradasar
Devadideva - Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai
Hari hari hariyani – Walajpet Venkataramana Bhagavathar
Jaya Saraswathi - Ch. Swarnavenkatesa Dikshithar
Kalaimagale - Dandapani Deshikar
Kavalai ellam - GNB
koDu bEga divyamati - Purandaradasar
manamE unakkhitamAi – Gopalakrishna Bharathi
Navarasayutha Bhavamutho - K.M.Soundaravalli
Rudram mahesham – Dr. Muthaiah Bhagavathar
SarasIruhAkshi - Dr. Muthaiah Bhagavathar
Vageeswari - Dr. Muthaiah Bhagavathar
Saraswati namosthuthe – GNB
Saraswati namosthuthe – N.S.Ramachandran
Saraswathi dayainidhi neegathi - Papanasam Sivan
Saraswati vanaja bhava sati - Veena Raja Rao
Unaiyan thunai veroru - Periyasami Tooran
gathi nee – Varnam – Mysore Vasudevachar
(there are about 15 varnams in this raga)
(Uma rama saraswathi – RTP sung by TMK)
We shall take the mostly heard composition, “Saraswathi namosthuthe” by Sri. GNB (not to be confused with a similar krithi by N.S.Rmachandran) for discussion. As the lyrics is easily available, we shall look into the meaning:
“P:- Salutations to Saraswathi who is Sharadha the giver of learning.
AP:- Who holds in her hands book, Veera and divine rosary of gems
C:- Who has a conch like neck decorated by nine gems and fondled by Brahma,
Who has feet thatare served by devasand who is as white as the Sun God”.