Janya raga · parent: 59. Dharmavati

Ranjani

◐ Confidence: medium Last verified: 12 Oct 2026

Scale

Derived from the printed scale: audava in the ascent and shadava in the descent (5 notes up, 6 down); varjya: P and N in the ascent; P in the descent; vakra (zigzag) in the descent; upanga (only notes of its parent).

Beginner's explanation

Ranjani is a janya raga : it is derived from the melakarta Dharmavati (number 59), 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 G2 M2 D2 S'; coming down, S' N3 D2 M2 G2 S R2 G2 S. Its ascent uses 5 different notes and its descent 6. Notes of the parent that it leaves out are Varjya : P and N going up, P coming down. The path is Vakra (zigzag) coming down: 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♯, 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. Ranjani is placed under Dharmavati (melakarta 59) by karnatik.com, the source for this page's parent. Of the parent's seven notes it does not use P.

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 130 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

• 59. Dharmavati

Compare with another raga

Notable compositions (titles only)

No compositions by composers covered on this site are listed yet.

How this was checked

• Partly agree: Scale of Ranjani: ascent S R2 G2 M2 D2 S'; descent S' N3 D2 M2 G2 S R2 G2 S. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; List of Janya ragas. The two sources differ; see Variations & debates.
• Sources agree: Ranjani is a janya of melakarta number 59, Dharmavati. 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).