Janya raga · parent: 28. Harikambhoji

Narayanagowla

◐ Confidence: medium Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

Scale

Derived from the printed scale: shadava in the ascent and sampurna in the descent (6 notes up, 7 down); varjya: G in the ascent; none in the descent; vakra (zigzag) in both directions; upanga (only notes of its parent).

Beginner's explanation

Narayanagowla is a janya raga : it is derived from the melakarta Harikambhoji (number 28), 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 R2 M1 P N2 D2 N2 S'; coming down, S' N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 G3 R2 S. Its ascent uses 6 different notes and its descent 7. Notes of the parent that it leaves out are Varjya : G going up, none coming down. 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. Narayanagowla is placed under Harikambhoji (melakarta 28) by karnatik.com, the source for this page's parent. It uses all of the parent's notes.

Same notes, different raga. Balahamsa, Chayatarangini, Deshakshi, Guharanjani and Eeshamanohari use exactly the same set of notes as Narayanagowla but differ in the path, the ornaments or the phrases.

Why start here? How likely you are to meet it

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

Rating 3 of 3 (editorial, a rough guide to how often you are likely to meet this raga): it is not among the top 100 ragas in karnatik.com's tally of compositions per raga (based on a list of 38,000 songs), so a beginner will meet it less often. 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

• 28. Harikambhoji
• Balahamsa
• Chayatarangini
• Deshakshi
• Guharanjani
• Eeshamanohari

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.

Papanasam Sivan

• Shriraman Ravikulasoman Adi·Tamil

Tyagaraja

• Darshanamu Seya Jhampa·Telugu
• Inka Daya Rakunte Adi·Telugu
• Inn Allu Telugu
• Kadale Vadu Gade Adi·Telugu

How this was checked

• Partly agree: Scale of Narayanagowla: ascent S R2 M1 P N2 D2 N2 S'; descent S' N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 G3 R2 S. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; List of Janya ragas. The two sources differ; see Variations & debates.
• Sources agree: Narayanagowla is a janya of melakarta number 28, Harikambhoji. 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).