Etymology of rAga names


Date: 31 Jul 1996 22:57:47 GMT
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: raga by any other name will sound as sweet

In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Balachander) writes:

can someone tell me the etymology of raga names.

In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Venkatesh Prasad Iyengar) writes:

[...] As far as I know, there is no real etymology behind the way the Janya ragas are named but there is some behind the naming of the Melakartas. For one thing, there were many existing before this nomanclature came into existence, [...]

[The emphasis on the words `etymology' and `nomenclature' above are mine].

The online Webster's dictionary says:

et.y.mol.o.gy n \-je\
[ME ethimologie, fr. L etymologia, fr. Gk, fr. etymon + -logia -logy]

  1. the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language
  2. a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies

no.men.cla.ture n \'no-m*n-.kla-ch*r also no-'men-kl*-.chu(*)r, -'menj-, -kl*-ch*r, -kl*-.t(y)u(*)r\
[L nomenclatura calling by name, list of names, fr. nomen + calatus, pp.]

  1. NAME, DESIGNATION
  2. the act or process or an instance of naming
    1. a system or set of terms or symbols
    2. a system of terms used in a particular science, discipline, or art; esp : the standardized New Latin names used in biology

Clearly, the original query was about "etymology" while the answer was about "nomenclature". I will not say anything more about the misinterpretation of the question (or, if the answer was an appropriate one, the implied ill-framing of the question).

Although the katapayAdhe sangKya serves as the nomenclature of mAELa rAgas, it is not an etymology of the names of even these 72 rAgas, to say nothing of the thousands of janya rAgas which have names. Some of the mAELa rAga names are badly fractured sa~skRth names ("kEravANE" is a corruption of "gervANE")---perhaps there is an `etymology' of rAga names in this rather limited sense.

To me, the phrase "etymology of a rAga name" means one or more of the following, in addition to the trivial given of the meaning of the name:

  1. How the name of the rAga relates to its musical origin.
    For example, is the name of a janya rAga associated/derived/connected with the name of its janaka mAELa? A classic example here would be "nAtta" and "cala-nAtta".
  2. How the name of the rAga relates to its musical qualities, independent of its musical origins.
    For example, a rAga which is considered by its creator, musicologists, critics, and audiences (in other words, universally) to be a rAga that alleviates emotions of sadness or sorrow, and presumably endows happiness and metaphoric sunshine, might be named "SOka-nevAranE" (duh! that's about the extent of my imagination, but I hope you get the picture).
    Of course, we all know the story of muththusvAme dhEkShethar and "amRtha-varSheNE", or thAnsaen and "mAEG-malhAr" and "dhEpak".
  3. For what non-musical (and perhaps personal/social) reasons did the particular rAga get its name.
    For example, rAgas "narase~hABaraNam" and "dhorI" (creations of bAlamuraLekRShNa), or "preyadharSenE" and "suBalakShmE" (creations of amjadh ale KA~) are named for specific people.
    The many "meyA~-ke-<foo>"s of hendhusthAne music say something about their origins, but this something is not anything about their musical origins. In other words, the name "meyA~-ke-<foo>" is equally applicable to both a rAga and a painting because the name is only incidentally associated with music.

I would also like to point out now why I put the word "etymology" in quotes when talking about the corruption of "gervANE" to "kEravANE". This is because I consider the "etymology of rAga names" to be different from the "etymology of names". The origin of the word "kEravANE" is simply the etymology of its name (so that a woman named "kEravANE", when asked about her name, would be able to relate exactly the same story, as would the 21st mAELa rAga, if mAELa rAgas are capable of doing such things). There is nothing specifically `musical' in this story.

Now, is there an "etymology of rAga names" in karNAtaka music in any of these senses?

There is NO consistent or usable etymology (in the sense of the musical origin or characteristics; my senses (1) and (2) above) of the names of rAgas in karNataka music (things are slightly better in hendhusthAne music; more on that later). The few rare examples of where rAgas with related names are also related in their origin, are outstanding exceptions to the rule that otherwise operates in the nomenclature of rAgas in karNAtaka music i.e. the complete lack of musical reasons (of history and evolution) in naming a rAga.

Thus, all the myriad "ranjjaNE"s or "preyA"s in karNAtaka music have nothing (necessarily) in common (musically speaking) except the suffix. "ShaNmuKapreyA", as the name of the 56th mela rAga, has nothing in its characteristics that endears it to "ShaNmuKa" (except as a post-facto reconstructed story). "kanakAnggE" does not conjure images of golden limbs, except to those of excessively vivid imaginations or influenced by potent fungi. "SudhDha-dhanyAsE" is not a refined (i.e. dehydrogenated dalda) cousin of "dhanyAsE", and neither have any musical connection worthy of note with "mAruva-dhanyAsE".

For the most part, the names of rAgas in karNAtaka music just are. You may be able to, with limited success, get very specific stories behind the names given by modern composers to rAgas that they have created (for example, the first widely popular 4-note rAga "mahathE", created by bAlamuraLekRShNa, was named for the 4-note vENa played by nAradha [one source for this story is the Doordarshan program Sadhana]). But this hardly serves as the basis for a coherent comparative study (based on musical principles) of the nomenclature.

In hendhusthAne music, there is atleast some method to the madness of nomenclature since it makes sense to talk about the "kAnhra", "kAUns", "belAval" or "thOdE" group of rAgas as being a cohesive and musically related entity (in the senses (1) and (2) above).

Selecting names for rAgas is much like the process of selecting names for babies---the analogy of rAgas as creations much like babies is particularly apt. Some people chose the names of their own parents for their babies. Some people choose "cute" names for their babies. Some people name their babies for famous personalities. So it is with rAgas.

In conclusion:

Should we be aware of this phenomenon?
Yes!
Should we document it for posterity?
Yes!
Should we learn about it, if only to amaze others with our knowledge?
Most certainly!
Should we call it an "etymology of rAga names"?
I think not.

[ Indian Classical Music | Krishna Kunchithapadam ]

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