Dēśīya is seen for the first time in the first quarter of 18th century in the text “Rāgalakṣaṇam” (RL-MV) of Muddu Vēnkaṭamakhī. Muddu Vēṅkaṭamakhī classifies 25 rāga-s under dēśīya classification. Following RL-MV, Subbarāma Dīkṣitar in his work “Saṅgīta Sampradāya Pradarśini (SSP), 1904 AD, classifies 23 rāga-s as dēśīya rāga-s. Subbarāma Dīkṣitar also mentions that the dēśīya rāga-s are auttara rāga-s which have come from the Northern region. Before Muddu Vēṅkaṭamakhī’s RL-MV, the term dēśī is seen in “Rāgalakṣaṇamu” (RL-S) of Śāhaji, 1684-1711 AD. He does not mention the reason for such a classification and mentions 16 rāga-s under the dēśī classification.
RL-S and SSP mention 3 rāga-s, (Jana) tōḍi, Pūrvi and Māruva in common. Apart from these 3 rāga-s, one rāga Rāmakalī has been mentioned as dēśīya in SSP. Subbarāma Dīkṣitar gives a note that it is called by people from other regions (auttara rāga) as “Bibhās”, while explaining the rāga Rāmakalī. Śāhajī mentions the rāga Bibhāsu as a dēśī rāga. Interestingly, Muddu Vēṅkaṭamakhī in his text mentions both Rāmakalī and Bibhāsu under the dēśīya classification but describes only Rāmakali. Hence, it is imperative to look into the Hindustāni counterparts as well.
Though there are textual references to the rāga, the rāga can be well understood only with the existing oral tradition. Hence this paper focuses on the oral tradition of the rāga Rāmakali in South Indian and North Indian Music. Since, Subbarāma Dīkṣitar mentions that rāga Rāmakali is also called as Bibhās and incidentally, Bibhās has been mentioned by Śāhaji under dēśī classification, it becomes imperative to look into the oral tradition of rāga Bibhās also.
