Janya raga · parent: 14. Vakulabharanam

Ahiri

● Confidence: high Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

Scale

Derived from the printed scale: sampurna in both ascent and descent (7 notes up, 7 down); vakra (zigzag) in the ascent; upanga (only notes of its parent).

Beginner's explanation

Ahiri is a janya raga : it is derived from the melakarta Vakulabharanam (number 14), which means it takes its notes from that parent's scale. It uses only notes of its parent, so it is an Upanga raga.

Going up, its notes are S R1 S G3 M1 P D1 N2 S'; coming down, S' N2 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S. Its ascent and descent each use 7 different notes (Sampurna ). The path is Vakra (zigzag) going up: some notes are visited out of straight order.

If Sa is C on a keyboard, the notes it uses fall on C, D♭, E, F, G, A♭, B♭. This only shows where the notes sit: a raga is more than its notes, and its ornaments and phrases are not shown here.

A bit deeper

Its parent. Ahiri is placed under Vakulabharanam (melakarta 14) by karnatik.com, the source for this page's parent. It uses all of the parent's notes.

Why start here? How likely you are to meet it

●●○ (rating 2 of 3: 1 = met very often)

Rating 2 of 3 (editorial, a rough guide to how often you are likely to meet this raga): karnatik.com's tally of compositions per raga (based on a list of 38,000 songs) places it in the top 100, with 320 compositions. A 1 means met very often and 3 means met rarely. It says nothing about how hard the raga is to sing, which depends on its ornaments and is not rated here. The tally counts songs by raga name and dates from 2011.

Characteristic features

Key notes, characteristic phrases and ornaments are not recorded here yet: they could not be confirmed from two sources, and this site leaves them out rather than guess.

Where the notes sit

Related ragas

• 14. Vakulabharanam

Compare with another raga

Notable compositions (titles only)

Songs listed for this raga on karnatik.com by composers covered on this site. Lists are community-compiled, so a missing song does not mean it does not exist. Talas are as the source names them; no lyrics are reproduced.

Muthuswami Dikshitar

• Kusumakara Vimanarudham Adi·Sanskrit
• Shri Kamalamba Jayati Amba Rupaka·Sanskrit

Purandara Dasa

• Kattabeku Ata·Kannada

Swati Tirunal

• Manasi Dussaham Mp Chapu
• Pannagendrashaya Adi
• Parama Purusa Nanu Chapu
• Varayamasurami Ata

Syama Sastri

• Mayamma Yanine Adi

Tyagaraja

• A Daya Shri Adi·Telugu
• Callare Ramacandru Telugu
• Etula Gapaduduvo Triputa·Telugu
• Pula Panpu Telugu

How this was checked

• Sources agree: Scale of Ahiri: ascent S R1 S G3 M1 P D1 N2 S'; descent S' N2 D1 P M1 G3 R1 S. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; List of Janya ragas. The ascent and descent printed by karnatik.com match the scale in Wikipedia's table.
• Sources agree: Ahiri is a janya of melakarta number 14, Vakulabharanam. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; Royal Carpet: Introduction to Carnatic Raga (the melakarta ragas). Parent per karnatik.com. Consistency check: every note of the raga is in the parent's scale (the parent's own scale is confirmed in two sources).