Hamsanadam (pronounced hamsanÃÂdam) is a rÃÂgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a pentatonic scale (audava rÃÂgam, which means "of 5"), as it is sung in current days. It is a derived scale (janya rÃÂgam), as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes), from the 60th Melakarta rÃÂgam Neetimati.
Hamsanadam, as it is sung now-a-days, is a symmetric scale that does not contain gandharam and dhaivatam. It is called an audava rÃÂgam, in Carnatic music classification (as it has 5 notes in both ascending and descending scales). Its ÃÂrohaá¹Âa-avarohaá¹Âa structure is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):
This scale uses the notes shadjam, chatusruti rishabham, prati madhyamam, panchamam and kakali nishadam.
Earlier structure of this scale were as follows:
In the above, shatsruti dhaivatam is added in the scale compared to current usage (shadava scale with 6 notes in ascendinga and descending scale), with a vakra prayoga (zig-zag descending scale).
Hamsanadam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedham, yields three pentatonic rÃÂgams, Gambhiranata, Neela and Bhupalam. Graha bhedham is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rÃÂgam. For more details and illustrations of this concept refer Graha bhedham on Gambhiranata.
Hamsanadam has a few popular compositions: