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Which is Pantuvarali?
 Pantuvarali is a fairly popular and well-known raga in Carnatic music. Just as G R Viswanath often went in "two down" in the Indian batting order, Pantuvarali has invariably been "one down" in a concert! That is the third piece after a varnam and a short, sharp piece.
But is the Pantuvarali that we commonly refer to the real Pantuvarali? A look at some of the historical facts surrounding this issue raises interesting questions. The common Pantuvarali that we all know is the 51st Melakarta - Kamavardhini. Now Kamavardhini found appearance only in the 19th century when the Kanakangi mela scheme was formed. Prior to that, this scale was always referred to only as Ramakriya. Also, as per the asampoorna mela paddhati, it was
Kashiramakriya.
Now one proof that the current Kamavardhini was the old Ramakriya can be got from texts which give Dipakam as a janya of Ramakriya. The notes in Dipakam are exactly the 51st
mela.
What happened to Ramakriya? Well Ramakriya, which has always been the 51st mela in the old texts, slowly got erased and replaced by Pantuvarali. For instance, some texts of Tyagaraja kritis give some songs as Ramakriya and some as Pantuvarali. 'Appa Rama bhakti' and 'Ennalu urage' are given as Pantuvarali whereas 'Vadera daivamu' and 'Shambho Mahadeva' are mentioned as
Ramakriya.
Now coming to the other point in this whole issue. What was Pantuvarali? According to Venkatamakhi, Pantuvarali was the 45th mela or the current-day Shubhapantuvarali. According to the asampoorna mela paddhati, it was called Shivapantuvarali. So that probably explains 'Ennalu urage' being mentioned as Pantuvarali as it is sung predominantly as the current day 45th mela
Shubhapantuvarali.
So, finally, we have a situation where Ramakriya has disappeared and become Kamavardhini. Pantuvarali has become Shubhapantuvarali. And Pantuvarali and Kamavardhini are the same today!
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