Hindà Âḷaá¹ is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is an audava rÃÂgam (5 notes in arohana and avarohana) as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes). Hindolam is not the same as the Hindustani Hindol. The equivalent of Hindolam in Hindustani music is Malkauns (or Malkosh).
It is known to be a rÃÂgam that is generally beautiful and soothing to listen to. Being symmetrical in its ascending and descending scales, it lends itself very well to improvisation and is therefore popular at concerts.
Hindà Âḷaá¹ is a symmetric rÃÂgam that does not contain rishabham and panchamam. It is a pentatonic scale (audava-audava rÃÂgam in Carnatic music classificationâÂÂaudava means 'of 5'). Since pentatonic scales can be found in other world music such as Chinese music, shades of Mohanam and Hindà Âḷaá¹ can sometimes be traced in Chinese and east Asian music. Its ' structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):
This rÃÂgam uses the swaras sadharana gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, shuddha dhaivatam and kaisiki nishadam. Hindolam is not a melakarta rÃÂgam, since it does not contain all the seven swaras.
Experts in Carnatic music hold differences of opinion on the janaka rÃÂgams (rÃÂgams of origin) that should be attributed to Hindolam. It is widely accepted that the 20th melakarta, Natabhairavi, is the parent rÃÂgam of Hindolam, but some would like to associate it with the 8th melakarta, Hanumatodi. It can be derived from both, by dropping the rishabham and panchamam.
Here are some Kritis composed in Hindolam:
Here are some Varnams, a Geetam and a Tillana composed in Hindolam:
Numerous bhajans, stotras, kritis and film music numbers also have been composed in the Hindolam Raga.
This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rÃÂgam.
Hindolam's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 4 other major pentatonic rÃÂgams, namely, Mohanam, Shuddha Saveri, Udayaravichandrika (also known as Shuddha Dhanyasi) and Madhyamavati. Graha bhedam 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 illustration of this concept refer Graha bhedam on Mohanam.