Nannu gācu rammannānu

Dhanyāsi is one of my favorite rāga-s, and for good reason. A rakti rāga which contains some of the characteristics of its "parent" meḷakarta rāga hanumatoḍi yet markedly different in its aesthetic. There is less of the "unstable" and trembling nature of toḍi and the symmetric grouping of the svara-s, and instead, a very austere bhakti rasa is evoked instead. This rāga has its origins in folk tradition, as can potentially be seen by the kīrtana of Bhadrācala Rāmadāsu, rāma daya jūḍave, in this rāga.

There is only no kr̥ti I am aware of that starts on the r̥ṣabha svara in dhanyāsi, and I thought that this would be interesting. Inspired by Śyāma Śāstrulu the kr̥ti is in miśra cāpu tāḷa, albeit, not in the viloma cāpu (4+3 vs. 3+4) of his masterpiece mīna locana. Here is a rough translation:

From the kr̥ttikāḥ nakṣatrāḥ (the Pleaides constellation) we get the common epithet Kārttikeya for Subrahmaṇya, and this happens to be my nakṣatra, a reference made explicit in the caraṇa of the kr̥ti. There is a nicety in using the acca tĕlugu epithet āṟumomulavelpuḍu (an analogue of ṣaṇmukhasvāmi) that adds an extra layer of beauty to the sāhitya. With both the viśeṣa prayoga-s of the rāga in the composition and the important epithets of the deity, I hope to convey just a little bit of the essence of both the greatness of the rāga and Subrahmaṇya svāmi himself.