raagawheel

Mela 20Veda chakraM1

Natabhairavi

The name is the number

Natabhairavi

Nana0tattha202 reversed20

The second syllable is traditionally read as retroflex ṭha = 2 (not ṭa = 1), which yields 20.

Every mela name encodes its own number — how the katapayadi sutra works.

SSR2R2G2G2M1M1PPD1D1N2N2SS (upper octave)

SS (upper octave)N2N2D1D1PPM1M1G2G2R2R2SS

How to know it

The natural-minor sound: brooding and tender, instantly familiar from countless film melodies; its rasa is Karuna.

Janyas of Natabhairavi

Hear it in songs

  • Sri Valli Devasenapate

    Papanasam Sivan · Adi

    YouTube Spotify

  • Sri Nilotpala Nayike

    Muthuswami Dikshitar

    Composed in Nariritigaula, the Dikshitar school's asampurna name for the 20th mela.

    YouTube Spotify

In film music

  • Ilaya Nila Pozhigirathu

    Payanangal Mudivathillai · 1982

    A guitar-led showcase of the natural minor scale that raga-song lists routinely cite under Natabhairavi.

    YouTube Spotify