raagawheel

Mela 72Aditya chakraM2

Rasikapriya

The name is the number

Rasikapriya

Rara2sisa727 reversed72

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

SSR3R3G3G3M2M2PPD3D3N3N3SS (upper octave)

SS (upper octave)N3N3D3D3PPM2M2G3G3R3R3SS

How to know it

The most extreme scale in the system — every variable note at its sharpest, giving an intense, incandescent character.

Hear it in songs

  • Arul Seyya Venum Ayya

    Koteeswara Iyer · Adi

    The final kriti of the Kanda Ganamutham 72-melakarta cycle, and the best-known concert piece in Rasikapriya.

    YouTube Spotify

  • Sringara Rasamanjarim

    Muthuswami Dikshitar

    Composed under the asampurna mela name Rasamanjari, the Dikshitar-school equivalent of Rasikapriya — the raga mudra opens the kriti.

    YouTube Spotify

In film music

  • Kannil Paarvai

    Naan Kadavul · 2009

    Ilaiyaraaja reached for the 72nd and fiercest melakarta for this haunting song picturised on blind beggars.

    YouTube Spotify