Abstract

In South Indian Music, the rāga-s are broadly classified as mēḷa-s, that is, the parent rāga-s and the janya-s, the derivative rāga-s. The evolution of this system of classification spans over 300 years and it is seen that the seventy-two mēḷa scheme which is in vogue in the present day, was proposed by Vēṅkaṭamakhī in his Caturdaṇḍīprakāśika, but however, the names for the 72 mēḷa-s are seen for the first time in the 18th century works Rāgalakṣaṇam of Muddu Vēṅkatamakhī and Saṅgrahacūḍāmaṇī of Gōvinda. While looking at the names of the rāga-s and their lakṣaṇa in these works, it is seen that there are some rāga-s with similar lakṣaṇa and one such pair of rāga-s is Kanakāmbari and Mukhāri (Śuddha). This paper proposes to study these two rāga-s with the lakṣaṇa available in treatises and the compositions available in the work Saṅgīta sampradāya pradarśini of Subbarāma Dīkṣita.