Śrīrāga – An Overview

Śrīrāga is one of the traditional rāga-s which is mentioned in many ancient texts or lakṣaṇa grantha-s and is also prevalent today. In the present day, Śrīrāga is one of the five Ghana-rāga-s that are popularly known as the Ghana-rāga-pañcakam that includes Nāṭa, Gauḷa, Ārabhi, Varāḷi and Śrī. Several compositions by different composers are available today in this rāga which are also a part of the concert repertoire of the present day. Since this rāga is considered to be very auspicious, maṅgaḷa kṛti-s were composed in this rāga by different composers. This rāga also provides scope for manōdharma aspects like rāga, tāna, nerval and svarakalpana. This paper aims at studying the historical evolution of the rāga-lakṣaṇa of Śrīrāga as mentioned in the lakṣaṇa-grantha-s written during the mēḷa period.