Abstract

In history karnātak music, the rāga Maṅgaḷakaiṣiki had existed form 15th century and attained its popularity during the Nāyak Period (AD 1532 to 1673). The musicological works such as Rāgalakṣaṇa attributed to Muddu Vēṅkṭamakhi (AD1680-1730, contemporary of King Sahaji), gives the lakṣaṇa of this rāga Maṅgaḷakaiṣiki. King Śhāhaji in his work Rāgalakṣaṇamu gives the description of maṅgaḷakaiṣiki and its classifications. He also quotes the example of a gīta and its prayōga-s, and states that it was prevalent even before his time. Meanwhile, Subbarāma Dīkṣita in his work Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarṣiṇi, 1904 had documented the musical forms such as, gīta of Vēṅkaṭamakhi, kīrtaṇa of Muddusvāmi Dīkṣita and his sañcāri in the rāga Maṅgaḷakaiṣiki. Subbarāma Dīkṣita also states a note on the importance of the usage of the gīta-prayōga-s as mentioned by Śhāhaji in his Rāgalakṣaṇamu. Looking on the description by Śhāhaji and the observations made by Subbarāma Dīkṣita, this available musical form gīta seen in the rāga Maṅgaḷakaiṣiki stands as the testimony in understanding the rāga. This paper proposes to understand the form of the rāga Maṅgaḷakaiṣiki with the available textual sources and the notations.