Pooriya Dhanashri

The mood : Partition. The conditions are forcing your loved One to be away from you. Intense. And Mad. Deep and Touching. Sweet, yet.

If you have experienced this mood, you know better. If not, listen to raagaa Pooriya Dhanashri. Never would the swaras be so cruel to you, and and at the same time, they will make you recount those sweet memories. The only raagaa more intense than this could be Pooriya or maybe poorvi, all originated from the same mother ThaaT, that is, poorvi.

What other time can be more apt for this emotion than a cloudy evening! Trace of shrieking lightening, thunder and your heart's desperate call. As the bandish picks up the speed, I find the cruelty on decline. I feel better then.

This raagaa is a bit advanced. Not easy by any means. And when describe the mood, believe me, it's not easy either!

It is a wakra raagaa, meaning the swaras don't follow their natural sequence of sa-re-ga-ma etc. Always, they come in a convoluted manner. e.g. in Pooriya Dhanashri, in the awaroha, you would find MA-re-ga-re-sa instead of MA-ga-re-sa. To me the beauty of this raagaa lies in this wakra composition and use of swaras : ga-MA-pa-dh-ni (MA teevra and dh komal).

"paayaliyaa jhanakaar mori..." The jhanakaar fires infinite bullets and tears the heart apart. When Ut. Rashid Khan tunes his swaramandala, that very instance, Pooriya Dhanashri can be identified. Another excellent rendition is by Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe. This features an unbelievable taraanaa in drut laya. This raagaa is famous among vocalists for live performances. If one searches enough he is bound to find more tracks.

Among the instrumentalists, I have heard one sitar piece by Ut Vilayat Khan. Another track of note is Ut Bismillah Khan's Pooriya Dhanashri. Shehnai adds to the mood!

As far as the hindi film music goes, Pooriya Dhanashri has its own place. "haye raamaa yeh kya hua" from Rangeela, or "kaahe CheD CheD mohe" from Devdas (Ismail Darbar) are unforgettable and very good examples of Pooriya Dhanashri. Also, "rut aa gayee re, rut chaa gayee re" from 1947-Earth has a strong Pooriya Dhanashri base.

All in all, this is a lovable raagaa. Surely on my personal top-10 list.

Intense and Mad.
Deep and Touching.
Sweet, yet.

Indeed!