The Emotional Expressions of Rakti Rāga Bēgada – A Brief Musicological Analysis

Indian Classical Rāga is considered to be synonymous to the emotional expression. Every rāga carries a certain emotional expression and when rightly tuned in lyrics, gives the complete form of understanding the right expression. Bēgadׅa is a delightful rāga in Karnāṭik Music ranging its complete structural formation between 17th to 19th centuries. This rāga is truly in the sense categorized as a rakti rāga, for its rich essence of bhāva produced beyond the mere structure of the rāga. Usually, one can find this way of rāga development in Hindustani style rather than in the Karnāṭik system. This paper focuses on the emotional expressions of Bēgadׅa through musicological analysis including the interpretation and analysis on the usage of svara patterns, gamakās and the rasa aspects produced in the rāga through some of its compositions, establishes the scope of the research. The history based laksׅanׅa grandhās, the modern available literature as well as the available audio sources and music notations of the compositions are the Methodological resources for taking up this research with an expected Findings on the emotional landscape produced by this raga touching upon its innate rakti nature. This paper aims at the deeper understanding of the emotional expressions through insightful and analytical observation on the svarās and svara patterns of the rāga.