The voice within

Indumati raga is the janya raga of 51 melakartha kamavardhini. Chatushruthi rishabha, antara gandhara, panchama, shuddha madhyama and kakali nishada are the swara sthanas of this raga. Indumati raga is saarvakalika raga. There's not much information about this raga but one of the famous kritis in this raga is Lavanya Balakrishna, adi tala  by B K Padmanabha Rao.

Hamsadhvani raga is the janya raga of 29th melakartha DheeraShankarabharana. It's oudava raga. Ramaswamy Dixit, father of muthuswamy Dixit, has created this raga. Shadja, chatushruthi rishabha, antara gandhara, panchama and kakali nishada are the swara sthanas of this raga. This raga can be sung at any time of the day and for all the auspicious occasions. Many kritis in this raga are composed for Lord Ganesha. There's plenty of opportunity for a good alapana and swara prasthara. Vaggeyakaras have also composed kritis in hamsadhvani raga. Some of the famous kritis are: Gam ganapathe by muthiah bhagawathar, vathapi ganapathim by muthuswamy Dixit, gaja vadana by purandara dasa, siddhivinayakam (mishra chapu tala) by Mysuru c rangayya, kodu bega divyamathi by purandara dasa. References: ragas and raginis by gangoly, story of Indian music by Goswami O, carnatic music composers by Dayanand Rao

 Gundakriya raga is the 15th melakartha mayamalavagowla, oudava vakra sampoorna raga. The swara sthanas of the raga are shadja, panchama, shuddha rishabha, shuddha madhyama, kakali nishada, shuddha daivatha and antara gandhara. There's a very old story for this raga. Narada Maharshi had become very self centred and to make Narada lose this selfish and self centredness, Anjaneya sings this raga and makes a rock melt. Famous compositions in this raga are: intanuchuvarnimpa by Thyagaraja Rajarajendra chola by muthuswami dikshit Tharunamide nannu by thiruvottiyooru tyagIyer References: the origin of raga by Bandopadhyay, carnatic music history by Dayanand Rao, story of Indian music by Goswami O

In India, the Guru Shishya parampare is the traditional way of learning or acquiring knowledge. Even if it is the vedas, music or medicine, the knowledge was passed on by the Guru to his/her disciple in small amount for a long period of time. The Guru always has the capability to understand the capacity of a student and decides how much a student can learn. If a Guru is unhappy with his/her student, he/she might not teach anything but give an opportunity to assist them. A disciple completely surrenders to the Guru and offers "seva" in return for the knowledge. source: google images "Vidya" or "knowledge" is expressed as a sacred blessing in India, for which, a Guru used to choose his disciples carefully. A fear that the disciple may misuse his/her teachings, would make them teach only to family members. The outsiders accepted as disciples would be taught very less and only an exceptional talent could master a top level of knowledge by sheer perse...

The term devotional music doesn't have a particular definition. The language and cultural variation in India is very vast and the interpretations of Devotional music leads to fantastic diversity. Often performed at gatherings, Devotional music is commonly described as "Bhajan" all over India. "Gurubani" in Punjab, "Keertan" in Bengal, "Dasara Sahitya" in Karnataka, "Tevaram or Tirupugazh" in Tamil Nadu, "Ram charit manas" in Uttar Pradesh etc. Devotional Music are often a contribution to Gods and Godesses, or expression of feelings towards spirituality. The technical perfection of "taala" and "raga" are not mandatory in Devotional songs but the perfection increases the depth and evokes the spiritual feelings. It's said that pronunciation of the lyrics is of utmost importance. The contributions by Pandit Onkar Nath, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit D.V. Paluskar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan created ...