viLari and tODi rAga (was Re: Q: Tamil literature)

[Jean-Luc Chevillard]

At 02:43 16/09/1997 -0400, S.Palaniappan wrote:

>In a message dated 97-09-15 08:53:19 EDT, jlc at CCR.JUSSIEU.FR writes:
>
><<  [did viLari originally denote a paN (approx. a rAga)
>   or the sixth note, as the musical theory would like
>   to explain?]
>  >>
>Originally viLari was the sixth note. The viLarip paN referred to the rAga
>obtained by having the viLari as the first note and modal shift of the tonic.
>The current Carnatic appellation of this paN is tODi rAga.
>
>Regards
>
>S. Palaniappan
>

What you say seems logical at first
but the point I tried to make using quotations
in my former posting was that in Ku_runtokai
and Pu_ram you only come across viLarip paN.

Inside CilappatikAram, viLari is (but for one exception)
the sixth note.

Some new theory might have used terms which were already current.

Coming to the identification of viLari in terms of modern rAga-s,
S.Ramanathan says (Music in Cilappatikaaram, p. 21) that the notes
of viLarippaalai are (sa, ri-1, ga-1, ma-1, ma-2, dha-1, ni-1)
(This is deduced from a Zodiac explaination). He concludes
that: "It skips the pancama but takes both varieties
of madhyama. There is no corresponding
raaga in South Indian music."

However, later (on page 42),  he associates tODi
with the paN "cevvazhiyaazh" and the paalai "cevvazhi".

So, some mystery remains.

Regards

-- Jean-Luc CHEVILLARD