Raga Baradi or Varati
Raga Baradi is known as Varati or Varali or Barathi. Raga Varati is an old raga and has been documented in the classical Sanskrit texts on music. Barari/Varali/Barathi/Baradi appear to be the corrupted forms of the name Varati due to differences in pronunciation or spelling.
Now coming to the meaning of the term Varali. 'Var' in Sanskrit means 'to sound' and the term 'ali' refers to Bee. So may be the meaning of Varali refers to 'Sound/ Hum of a Bee'. Varali is also known as Moon. After listening to Varali recordings quite a few times, It sounds like a Bee is very apt for the raga. Varali is an asymmetric raga due to the vakra prayoga and a vivadi ragam and the vivadi dosha is avoided by singing the arohana as SGRG which makes it a raga with vakra sampoorna (contains all 7 notes) in arohanam.
Varali is an asymmetric ragam due to the vakra prayoga in ascending scale. The notes used in this scale are shadjam, shuddha rishabham, shuddha gandharam, prati madhyamam, panchamam, shuddha dhaivatam and kakali nishadham. The madhyamam used is said to be slightly higher than the prati madhyamam, and is also called as chyuta panchama madhyamam (also referred as Varali madhyamam)
It is a Ghana raga in the Ghana, Rakti and Desiya scheme. This gamaka-pradhana (highly ornamentated) raga is filled with Bhakti bhava (devotional mood). There is a superstition that Varali is to be only self-taught as it is inauspicious for student-teacher relationships.
From Music theropy point of view : In Mind, Body and Soul Chakra – Chakra 7 is the Divine Chakra lined up with the heart and the throat chakras, enabling the higher spirit energies to work through ones voice and body. Therapeutically Varali is said to be good for Heart and Skin ailments and gastric problems.
According to Bharatha’s Natyasastra Varati is recommended in portraying rain, agitation, surprise etc. When it is adorned by dhaivata, it serves contentment, recollecting, concealing one’s feeling. The raga is also used to protray the rasa of Pranaya Viyoga or pangs of separation of lovers. Varali portrays both Karuna and Sringara Rasas.
Varali is a ragam in Carnatic music. It is a janya ragam from the 39th melakarta scale Jhalavarali. It is a janya scale, as it is said to have a vakra scale in the ascending scale. It is a vivadi ragam. It is the 4th in the list of 5 Ghana ragams (Nata (raga), Gaula, Arabhi and Shree ragam being the others). In olden times, this ragam was called Varati and is said to be more than 1300 years old. It is with this name that it is referred in old musical texts like Sangita Makarandha and Sangita Ratnakara.
Pandit Bhatkhande has mentioned that there are different opinions about raga Varati since it is not a common raga. He has also mentioned that the raga with Shuddha Dhaivat , called as Shuddhabarari or Barari Marwa thaat or Shuddhavarali, is more appropriate than Komal Dhaivat Barari , that is, Barari Poorvi Thaat. However, that version is popular among stalwarts of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana.
Pandit Bhatkhande has included brief references of the following variants of Raga Varati in Sangeet Shastra
Part 3.
1. Varati*;
2. Shuddhavarati*;
3. Todivarati:
4. Nagavarati*;
5. Punnagavarati*;
6. Pratapavarati*;
7. Shokavarati*;
8. Kalyanavarati;
9. Kuntalavarati*;
10. Dravidivarati;
11. Saindhavivarati;
12. Apasthanavarati;
13. Hataswaravarati;
The Raganames marked * are included in the book RagaPravaham ( Carnatic Music – written by Dr. M N Dhandapani and D. Pattamal) apart from the following Variants of Varali which are popular: Salagavarali; Shubhapanthuvarali; Jhalavarali; Panthuvarali; Vasanthavarali; Ganasamavarali; Kokilavarali; etc.
Credits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://anuradhamahesh.wordpress.com/
https://oceanofragas.com/
https://sujamusic.wordpress.com/