The Universality of the Scale of Mohanam

Dr.S.A.K.Durga

The scale "Mohanam" of Carnatic music is a pentatonic scale composed by whole steps and skipping a minor third in the keyboard instrument Piano where the notes of this scale can be performed on the black keys starting from F sharp. "Mohanam" is known as Boopãli or Bhoop in Hindusthani system (North Indian classical music) and in ancient Tamil Music literature, it is called Mullaitheempãni. This scale can be described as a universal scale as the scale is found in every music culture in the world. It is widely used in the classical traditions in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and in the Folk and Devotional music traditions of Tibet, Mangolia, Oceania, Africa, Russia and other Asian Countries, Australia, Europe and United States. Though the scale is present in almost every country, the Raga or Mode is presented in different styles as the construction of melodic phrases with the notes of the pentatonic scale vary and different types of ornaments are used for the notes for the different musical cultures in the world. This phenomenon reveals the Concept of Unity in Diversity in the World Music Cultures.

What is a scale? A scale is an abstraction, a collection of all the notes of a particular Mode or Raga which are arranged in the ascending and descending order in step wise manner. A Raga or mode consists of melodic patterns picking up the notes from its scale and presented with the ornaments of the particular musical culture. In Indian Music, the passing note or Anya swara of the Raga will be incorporated in the scale itself or will occur only in the sancharas or melodic patterns of the raga. (E.g.: Bhairavi for the former type and Kamas for the latter).

The pentatonic scale Mohanam consists of the notes Chatusruthi Rishaba (D), Antara Gandhara (E), Panchama (G), Chatusruthi Dhaivata (A) besides Shadja (C). This scale is described as a perfect scale as it contains the most consonant intervals, the Perfect V and Perfect IV.

[Sa-Pa, Ri Da DA GA]

[ C-G D-A A - E] and

[Pa-Sa, Da-RI, Ga-Da]

[ G-C A-D E – A] (Demonstration)

Because of this consonant intervalic structure, the scale of Mohanam is used in almost all the music cultures in the world and stands as an Universal scale. The scale Mohanam is transformed into Mohana Ragam in Carnatic music by the great composers through their compositions with various melodic patterns or sanchara’s with different ornamentations on the notes. This raga Mohana is used in all the different types of musical compositions of Carnatic music such as Geetham, Varnam, Keertanam, Kriti, Padam, Jawali, Tillana, Daru and even for Mangalam. An analysis of the various compositions in Mohana raga by various composers and different musical forms reveal that the melodic patterns or sanchara’s of this raga are framed with Janta Swara (pair of notes) Dhatu swara (zigzag pattern) and Jaru gamaka (Portemento) besides the Kampita gamaka (oscillation of the notes with its anuswara in medium tempo) (Demonstration from the Compositions geetham, Varnam, Kriti, Keertanam and Mangalam).

This raga is described as Tristhayi raga as the melodic patterns or sancharas are performed in all the three registers. The pentatonic scale Mohanam is one of the few Sarvaswara Moorchanakaraka scale. It gives forth different pentatonic scales from Ri, Ga Pa and Dha through modal shift of tonic. The scales that derive through modal shift of tonic are the following:

(Demonstration)

The music of East Asia and South East Asia profusely use the pentatonic scale Mohanam and the other scales that derive from shifting the tonic on the other four notes Ri, Ga, Pa and Da of this scale. The scales are presented as modes in different countries using different types of melodic patterns and ornamentation on the notes, which gives forth the identity of every music culture. There would be no portamento or Jaru gamaka and oscillation of the note in medium tempo touching the anuswara or kampita gamakab, which is found in the Carnatic music compositions, set in the Mohanam Scale. In other music cultures of Asia, the notes in the scale are performed as plain notes and sometimes with vibrato, the ornamentation of the notes are usually Pdp, Dsd Srs in the South East Asian Music Cultures. The range of this Mode or Raga is also limited to one octave or one octave and three notes at the most unlike one finds the range of the mode or Raga Mohanam in low, middle and Upper Octaves. For example, this pentatonic scale in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia where the scale is used in classical music traditions can be analysed.

The basic scale of China is the pentatonic scale Wu Sheng which is scale of Mohanam. The Chinese tonal system emerged as cyclic system. The Chinese Scale Wu Sheng emerged from a cycle of tones generated by blowing across the tops of a set of bamboo tubes closed at one end whose lengths were arranged in a set mathematical proportions. The acoustical basis for the method is the principle of overblown fifth. The Chinese arrived at 12 Lu’s or pitches. The first five notes of the 12 Lu’s became the basic pentatonic scale, which is called Wu-Sheng. This scale is equivalent to the scale of Mohanam. Interestingly, in ancient tamil music system, the Mohanam scale, which is called as Mullaitheempani, emerged from the cyclic system through the over blown fifth of the Bamboo flute. . The use of Mohanam in the Chinese Musical System can be appreciated from the following audio- demonstration of the scale played in Ku-Cheng of China which is a plucked Zither with thirteen strings and movable bridges(demo).

The Peking Opera of China, which is an internationally well-known opera also abounds in the use of the Raga Mohanam. (voice).

The Japanese followed the Chinese music of 12 Lu’s. Their music is characterised by five tone scales as well as seven notes scales. Their traditional theatres such as Gagaku, Bugaku Noh and Bunraku (puppet Theatre) use the music of seven-note scale but the rest of the classical music of Japan perform mainly the five notes scale. The two major pentatonic scales are In and Yu. The scale In resembles the scale of Mohanam and is played in Koto.. a plucked Zither of Japan with thirteen strings and movable bridge and six feet long.(audio-visual presentation)

The Korean Music also uses the pentatonic scale Mohanam profusely as it follows the ancient Chinese system of 12 Lu’s. The pentatonic scale is called Akshi-Jo. This scale is played on Kayakeum, a plucked Zither of Korea (also played in Vietnam) with thirteen strings and movable bridges.

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are the countries from South East Asia which use the pentatonic scale Mohanam profusely.

The tonal system of Thailand is also influenced by Chinese as the Thai people resided in China before migrating in the 13^th Cent into the present day Thailand. They also have Indian influence as they have adopted the Ramayana Theatrical plays, which are dance dramas, and their music has many of the Indian scales. Among these scales, the scale of Mohanam is used in their Ramayana Theatres and Mahori Orchestra. The following song is from the musical theatre-Ramayana Theatre (Ramkeen Theatre) of Thailand.

The Malaysian tonal system is influenced more by India and the pentatonic scales are profusely used more than the seven tone scales. The Sapeh, which is a plucked lute, is used as an accompaniment to Kayan dance where the songs in the scale of Mohanam are largely used. Malaysia also has the Indian influence on their theatre as they have the Ramayana theatres as dance dramas and puppet plays where in many of the Indian scales are used in their songs. The music fromSapeh of Malaysia, a plucked lute of three stringed instrument which is played as an accompaniment to Kayan dance.(audio)

The tonal system of Indonesia uses both the seven tone scales as well as five-tone scales. Among the five-tone scales, the scale of Mohanam and its derivative scales from the modal shift of tonic are used mainly in their music. The five tone scale is called slendero and the seven tone scale is called Pelog. The Scale of Mohanam is similar to the Slendaro Patet Nem of Indonesian Music. A composition in Slendero Patet Nem beginning with the words Dandanggula is sung by Prof. Sumarsam of Wesleyan University, USA followed by the Music of gamelon

Besides the East Asian and South East Asian music cultures, the Hindusthani classical music tradition (North Indian Classical Music) calls the scale of Mohanam as Bhoop or Bhoopali and the scale is used in their different musical forms such as Khyal, Dhrupad, Thumri, Tarana, Trivat and Bhajan. The Bhoop raga uses the melodic patterns with move Janta swara (pairs of notes) and the Meend or Jaru gamaka (ornamentation). The following song Khyal starting with Mahadev Maheswar He Jay and a Tarana by Narayan Rao Patwardhan illustrate the point.(live demo). The folk music of North Indian States also have melodies in the scale Mohanam e.g. Rajasthani Wedding song.(live demo)

The pentatonic scale Mohanam is found in almost every music culture in the world in their folk or classical tradition in the world in their folk or classical tradition which raises the fundamental question as to whether there are universal principles in music. In broadest terms, it seems that the Universality of Music is a phenomenon akin to the Universal belief on the presence of a Supreme Power or Almighty. God is perceived as the embodiment of sound and music plays a vital role in the religious rituals. The basic concepts of Music having seven notes, Twelve pitches, concept of consonance and dissonance are the same throughout the world music traditions. The concept of scale is also an universal one and there are many scales which are similar to Indian Music scales present in a few other music cultures of the world.

Among these, the scale if Mohanam, a pentatonic scale with consonant intervalic structure stands as an Universal scale as this scale is present in every music tradition in the world in their classical or folk traditions.