I am just introduced to Karnatic Music. I have a question regarding, Pallavi, anupallavi and Charanam.

In case of Cine Songs, by default it is composed of 3 paras. The first is Pallavi. Which is the Charanam? Is it the 3rd para or the 2nd para.

In case of more than one Charanam, how to differenciate between Charanam and Anupallavi?

-- Sriram (subramaniamsri@hotmail.com), March 27, 2002

Answers

Hi Sriram,

Usually the caraNam is the 3rd stanza. However, some songs have no anupallavi, and the caraNam is then, of course, the second, and is called a samashti caranam. Some compositions can also have multiple caranams, as you mentioned.

Usually the anupallavi is shorter than the caranam (anu means atom, or small). For example, if the anupallavi is 2 lines, the caranam may be 4 or 6 lines. The last two lines of the caranam often have the same tune (or similar) as that of the anupallavi. That is one distinguishing characteristic. If there are multiple caranams, they will usually all have a similar tune or structure, especially in film songs. However, many film songs have no anupallavi and just two or more caranams that are of the same length and tune.

hope that helps. rani

-- rani (promiserani@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

Hi Rani,

Thanks for your explanation..

-- Sriram

-- Sriram (subramaniamsri@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.