Bhupalam
| Carnatic music |
|---|
 |
| Concepts |
| Compositions |
| Instruments |
|
| Arohanam | S R₁ G₂ P D₁ Ṡ |
|---|---|
| Avarohanam | Ṡ D₁ P G₂ R₁ S |
Bhupalam (pronounced bhūpalam) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a pentatonic scale (audava rāgam or owdava rāgam). It is a janya rāgam (derived scale), as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes). It is also written as Bhoopalam.
It is considered an auspicious scale and a morning rāgam.[1] In Tamil music, this scale is called Puranirmai pann and some thevarams are set to this scale.[1] It is also used for chanting slokas, folks songs, Kathakali music and other rituals.[1] The equivalent scale in Hindustani music is Bhupal Todi.[2]
Structure and Lakshana
Bhupalam is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain, madhyamam or nishādham. It is a symmetric pentatonic scale (audava-audava ragam[1][2] in Carnatic music classification – audava meaning 'of 5'). Its ascending and descending scale (ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure) is as follows:
The notes used in this scale are shadjam, shuddha rishabham, sadharna gandharam, panchamam and shuddha dhaivatham, as per Carnatic music notation and terms for the swaras. Bhupalam is considered a janya rāgam of Shubhapantuvarali, the 45th Melakarta rāgam, though it can be derived from 5 other melakarta rāgams by dropping both the madhyamam and nishādham.
Related rāgams
- Revagupti rāgam differs from Bhupalam only by the gāndhāram. It uses antara gāndhāram instead of sadharana gāndhāram and its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R1 G3 P D1 S : S D1 P G3 R1 S[1][2]
- Bhauli rāgam uses an additional nishadam in descending scale, in comparison to Revagupti above. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R1 G3 P D1 S : S N3 D1 P G3 R1 S[2]