Janya raga · parent: 65. Mechakalyani

Saranga

◐ 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 the descent; bhashanga (borrows M1, outside its parent).

Beginner's explanation

Saranga is a janya raga : it is derived from the melakarta Mechakalyani (number 65), which means it takes its notes from that parent's scale. It also uses a note from outside the parent (M1), which makes it a Bhashanga raga: that note is an foreign note to the parent scale.

Going up, its notes are S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S'; coming down, S' N3 D2 P M2 R2 G3 M1 R2 S. Its ascent and descent each use 7 different notes (Sampurna ). 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, 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. Saranga is placed under Mechakalyani (melakarta 65) by karnatik.com, the source for this page's parent. It uses all of the parent's notes.

A borrowed note. Saranga uses M1 although its parent has a different M. 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. Hamir Kalyani uses exactly the same set of notes as Saranga but differs 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 185 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

• 65. Mechakalyani
• Hamir Kalyani

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

• Varadaraja Mupasmahe Rupaka·Sanskrit

Tyagaraja

• Ehi Trijagadisha Telugu
• Emi Dova Balkuma Adi·Telugu
• Enta Bhagyamu Desadi·Telugu
• Karuna Judavayya Adi·Telugu
• Mamava Raghurama Rupaka·Telugu
• Odanu Jaripe Adi·Telugu

How this was checked

• Partly agree: Scale of Saranga: ascent S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S'; descent S' N3 D2 P M2 R2 G3 M1 R2 S. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; List of Janya ragas. The two sources differ; see Variations & debates.
• Sources agree: Saranga is a janya of melakarta number 65, Mechakalyani. Sources: Royal Carpet: Carnatic Ragas; Royal Carpet: Introduction to Carnatic Raga (the melakarta ragas). Parent per karnatik.com. The raga borrows M1 from outside the parent, which is what bhashanga means; Wikipedia's table also names the foreign note.