Janya raga · parent: 22. Kharaharapriya

Kannada

◐ Confidence: medium 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 both directions; bhashanga (borrows G3 and N3, outside its parent).

Beginner's explanation

Kannada is a janya raga : it is derived from the melakarta Kharaharapriya (number 22), which means it takes its notes from that parent's scale. It also uses notes from outside the parent (G3, N3), which makes it a Bhashanga raga: those notes are foreign notes to the parent scale.

Going up, its notes are S R2 G3 M1 P M1 D2 N3 S'; coming down, S' N3 S D2 P M1 G3 M1 G3 M1 R2 S. Its ascent and descent each use 7 different notes (Sampurna ). The path is Vakra (zigzag) in both directions: 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. Kannada is placed under Kharaharapriya (melakarta 22) by karnatik.com, the source for this page's parent. Of the parent's seven notes it does not use G2 and N2.

A borrowed note. Kannada uses G3 and N3 although its parent has a different G and a different N. In theory this is what makes a raga bhashanga. No single melakarta holds all of its notes, so its parent is the one it is felt to grow from, by convention.

Same notes, different raga. Arabhi, Atana, Behag, Bilahari and Devagandhari use exactly the same set of notes as Kannada but differ in the path, the ornaments or the phrases.

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 216 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

• 22. Kharaharapriya
• Arabhi
• Atana
• Behag
• Bilahari
• Devagandhari

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

• Balambikaya Param Adi·Sanskrit
• Vishveshvaro Raksatu Adi·Sanskrit

Papanasam Sivan

• Inbamenbadilaiye Adi·Tamil
• Inbamenbadu Tamil
• Kantimati Annai Tamil
• Mata Tunai Tamil
• Ullam Iranguvadun Tamil

Purandara Dasa

• Karava Mugidanu Triputa·Kannada
• Mutta Baro Ata·Kannada
• Na Ninna Dhyana Rupaka·Kannada
• Rama Nama Eka·Kannada
• Shrikanta Enagistu Chapu·Kannada

Tyagaraja

• Sukhi Evaro Desadi

How this was checked

• Sources agree: Scale of Kannada: ascent S R2 G3 M1 P M1 D2 N3 S'; descent S' N3 S D2 P M1 G3 M1 G3 M1 R2 S. Sources: List of Janya ragas. Taken from Wikipedia's table because karnatik.com's printed scale has an unnumbered note. A single source.
• Sources agree: Kannada is a janya of melakarta number 22, Kharaharapriya. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; Royal Carpet: Introduction to Carnatic Raga (the melakarta ragas). Parent per karnatik.com. The raga borrows G3 and N3 from outside the parent, which is what bhashanga means.