Melakarta number 15 · Agni chakra

Mayamalavagowla

Also written or called: Māyāmālavagauḷa

● Confidence: high Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

Scale

A sampurna melakarta: all seven notes in straight order, going up and coming down, with no omitted notes and no zigzag paths.

Beginner's explanation

Mayamalavagowla is number 15 of the 72 melakarta ragas , the parent ragas from which many other ragas are derived. It belongs to the Agni Chakra (the third of 12). Its Ma is M1 (shuddha madhyama) , so it sits in the first half of the list (numbers 1 to 36).

Going up, its notes are S, R1, G3, M1, P, D1, N3 and the upper S; coming down it uses the same notes in reverse. Like every melakarta it is Sampurna : all seven notes, in straight order, with no omitted notes and no zigzags.

If Sa is C on a keyboard, these notes fall on C, D♭, E, F, G, A♭, B (0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 semitones above Sa). 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

How the number gives the notes. Number 15 is in chakra 3 (Agni). The chakra fixes the pair of Ri and Ga (R1, G3), and the raga's place within the chakra (third of 6) fixes the pair of Dha and Ni (D1, N3). Ma is M1 because 15 falls in the first 36. This is exactly the rule this site uses to generate all 72 scales.

Counterpart and neighbours. Number 51, Kamavardhini, has the same notes with M2 in place of M1. The other five ragas of the Agni chakra (Gayakapriya, Vakulabharanam, Chakravakam, Suryakantam, Hatakambari) share its Ri, Ga and Ma and differ only in Dha and Ni.

The name. The name encodes the number through the katapayadi sutra : the first two syllables, "mā" and "yā", stand for 5 and 1, and read in reverse that gives 15.

Other names. Sources also give these names or spellings: Māyāmālavagauḷa.

Why start here? How likely you are to meet it

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

Rating 1 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) gives it 272, one of the most-composed ragas. 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. Mayamalavagowla is also the raga in which the first lessons are traditionally taught, which is a strong reason to start here.

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

• 51. Kamavardhini
• 13. Gayakapriya
• 14. Vakulabharanam
• 16. Chakravakam
• 17. Suryakantam
• 18. Hatakambari

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.

Annamacharya

• Enta Matramuna Misra Chapu·Telugu

Muthuswami Dikshitar

• Nilotpalambikayastava Chapu·Sanskrit
• Shri Nathadi Guruguho Adi·Sanskrit

Papanasam Sivan

• Andavan Niye Tamil
• Carana Pankajam Tamil
• Inda Paramukhama Tamil
• Mahimai Ariya Tamil
• Manamenum Malaral Tamil
• Mayam Edo Tamil
• Padamalare Gaiyena Rupaka·Tamil
• Pollap-puliyinum Tamil
• Shri Hare Tamil
• Unakkum Enakkum Adi·Tamil

Purandara Dasa

• Ombhattu Bagilolu Adi·Kannada

Swati Tirunal

• Sarasija Nabha Murare Tv Adi

Tyagaraja

• Devi Shri Tulasamma Adi·Telugu
• Rakshimpave Shri Jhampa·Telugu

How this was checked

• Sources agree: Scale of melakarta #15 Mayamalavagowla: S R1 G3 M1 P D1 N3 S'. Sources: Melakarta; Royal Carpet: Introduction to Carnatic Raga (the melakarta ragas). Generated from the melakarta rules, then compared with the scale printed for this number in each source. Both match.
• Sources agree: Mayamalavagowla is melakarta number 15, as the katapayadi code of its name gives. Sources: Mela Pocket Guide (katapayadi and the 72 melakartas); Royal Carpet: Introduction to Carnatic Raga (the melakarta ragas). The number-to-name pairing agrees in both sources and decodes under the standard rule.