raagawheel

Mela 56Disi chakraM2

Shanmukhapriya

also known as Chamaram

The name is the number

Shanmukhapriya

Shassa6nmuma565 reversed56

Ṣaṇmukhapriyā: ṣa = 6; in the conjunct 'nmu' the last consonant (ma) counts.

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

SSR2R2G2G2M2M2PPD1D1N2N2SS (upper octave)

SS (upper octave)N2N2D1D1PPM2M2G2G2R2R2SS

How to know it

Majestic and devotional with a martial edge — the raga of Muruga, equally at home in thunderous krithis and brooding film scores; its rasa is Veera, Bhakti.

Hear it in songs

  • Siddhi Vinayakam Anisham

    Muthuswami Dikshitar · Rupaka

    Composed in Chamaram, the Dikshitar-school asampurna name for mela 56; one of Dikshitar's best-known Ganesha krithis.

    YouTube Spotify

  • Saravanabhava Ennum Thirumandiram

    Papanasam Sivan · Adi

    On Muruga — 'Shanmukha' (six-faced) is Muruga himself, making the mela's name doubly apt.

    YouTube Spotify

  • Sugame Sugam

    Koteeswara Iyer · Adi

    The Shanmukhapriya entry in Kanda Ganamutham, his 72-melakarta cycle on Muruga.

    YouTube Spotify

In film music