Kapi (raga) - Wikiwand

Kāpi is a popular rāga in Carnatic music, the classical music of South India.^[1] Kāpi is a janya rāgam of Kharaharapriya with a meandering vakra scale. Typically performed at slow and medium speeds, it is capable of inducing moods of devotion, pathos and sadness in the listeners. Kāpi is different from the Hindustani raag and thaat Kafi. The equivalent raag in Hindustani is Pilu.

Quick Facts Arohanam, Avarohanam ...

Kapi
Arohanam	S R₂ M₁ P N₃ Ṡ
Avarohanam	Ṡ N₂ D₂ N₂ P M₁ G₂ R₂ S

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Structure and Lakshana

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Perspective

Kāpi is an audava-vakra sampoorna rāgam with an ascending pentatonic scale and a descending scale with seven notes, but not in a descending order. Use of Kakali Nishadam and Anthara Gandharam make it a Bhashanga Raagam.

ārohaṇa : S R₂ M₁ P N₃ Ṡ^[a]
avarohaṇa : Ṡ N₂ D₂ N₂ P M₁ G₂ R₂ S^[b]

The presence of different nishāda swarās (N₂ and N₃) lends a distinctive quality to Kāpi, along with the fact that it uses a set of vakra swarās (N₂ D₂ N₂).

There is also a mild presence of shuddha daivatham (D₁) that renders an invaluable feeling of devotion to the raagam. This, and the presence of Anthara Gandharam (G₃) makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of the avarohana of the raagam.

In the song Jagadhodharana composed by Sangeeta Pitamaha Sri Purandara Dasa, the note Suddha Dhaivatham (Dha1) also occurs as a foreign note(anya swara)

Kapi ragam gives the feeling Devotion, Sentiment and happiness

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Compositions

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Some of the popular compositions in Kāpi are:

Jagadoddhārana Adisidaleshode, Bannisi gopi^[2] - Purandaradasa
Mee Valla Gunadosha Memi, Anyayamu Seyakura, Intha Sowkhya, Rama Raghukula Jalanidhi, Ennalu Nee Trova and Rama Pahi Megha Shyama - Thyagaraja
Venkatachalapate Ninu Nammiti and Veera Hanumathe(also sung in Kanada) - Muthuswami Dikshitar **
Viharamanasa Rame, Smarasi Pura, Sree Madhavamanu - Swathi Thirunal
Enna thavam seydanai Yashoda - Papanasam Sivan
Bhaja maadhavam anisham - Mysore Vasudevacharya
Maya Gopabala - K C Kesava Pillai
Jaanaki ramana dasaratha nandana - Vanamaamalai Jeeyar Swami
Javo Mat Thum (Upaakhyanam) - Swathi Thirunal
Chinnanchiru Kiliye (First two stanzas) - Subramanya Bharathi
Kurai Ondrum Illai (Two charanam verses) - Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Karthikeyanai - Mayuram Viswanatha Sastri
Aravinda Padamalar - Ambujam Krishna
Charanamule Nammiti - Bhadrachala Ramadasu
Kanaka Simham - Kalyani Varadarajan
Kanna Vaa Manivanna Vaa (First two verses) - Ambujam Krishna
Nee mattume en nenjil nirkirai - Perumal Murugan and K Arun Prakash

** Kāpi of Muthuswami Dikshitar is quite different from the traditional Kāpi and often cited as karNATaka Kāpi

The Moorchana of Kāpi as per Venkatamakhin is S R2 G2 M1 P D2 N2 S/ N2 D2 P M1 G2 G2 R2 S

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