@Malavika I remember watching a similar video of Rahul Vellal being circulated on one of the WhatsApp groups that I'm in. He is a very very talented singer!

His singing brings out the bhāvārtha of the composition—not an easy thing to do, especially for one so young.

@Malavika Now, this is interesting. :) I do not think this is in Sarasangi, btw, although I do see how it can appear so.

I surmise that you first identified which notes are appearing in the song, then based on the movement of the phrases you concluded that it is unlikely to be a vakra ragam, and then that Sarasāngi contains precisely the notes appearing in the song.

This is a good way to proceed, for sure. In this case, you are slightly off the mark, but for good reasons.

@Malavika Firstly, the ragam doesn't really feel like Sarasāngi—in the sense that, the phrases and movements are not those of Sarasāngi.

Compare it with the popular "Jaya Jaya Padmanabha Murare" in Sarasāngi ragam, composed by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal, and sung by the legend Madurai Mani Iyer

It sounds quite different does it not?

Will be back in a short while. I'll let you know some other points regarding this song then :)

Not convinced by ear? Hmm... Okay

Can you tell me which note is Sa (or Pa) in the dance song?

We can take a look at it from there

For instance, "Dhithiki Dhithiki THAI", what note would you say "THAI" is?

@Malavika I'll have to listen to it a couple of times, not immediately sure

Just to complete the earlier discussion, the syllable "THAI" is sung at the panchamam, and not the shadjam.

You can hear the drone of the tanpura right at the beginning before the start of four slow notes

Match it with that to see the position of the shajam

So, the four slow notes are actually "Sa Pa Ni Ma" and not "Ma Sa. Ga Ni" (the latter would be the notes in Sarasāngi).

Furthermore, one has to observe that the only notes that occur are "S M2 P D2 N3 S." No rishabham and gandharam.

If you were to shift the shruti via graha bhedam by taking Pa to be the new Sa, then you would say that the notes are "S R2 G3 M1 N3 S.", which are notes that indeed occur in Sarasāngi

However, the song uses the notes S M2 P D2 N3 only, because we can identify the shruti from the drone of the tanpura right at the beginning

It is an unusual combination set of swaras to work with, to be sure. I have not come across such a ragam being used in any classical composition. A Google search tells me that this ragam is called Kamalottaram or Nirmalan.

Because, there is too much imbalance in the purvangam and uttarangam of the ragam when viewed as a scale from Sa to Sa.

And, the very first four notes in the song also emphasise the duality of Ni-Sa with Ma-Pa

@Malavika Yeah, I'll listen to that and get back to you :)

@Malavika She sounds like an amazing person. No doubt it is a blessing to have learnt under such a teacher.

Radha Madhava Nadanam is definitely in Pantuvarali ragam

Again, there was initially a difficulty in identifying where the shadjam is. But taking "Ra" of Radha to be Sa, we are getting two Ma's in the ragam occuring in weird patterns. And, although I was getting shades of Hamsānandi and Mayamalavagoulai alternately, I later realised that "Ra" is to be Pa. Then, everything fits, and even the chaya of Pantuvarali becomes clear.

@Malavika Yup, this is Hamsānandi

@Malavika Interesting. . .

(Happens to be in Revati ragam)