Kanakangi (pronounced kanakāngi, meaning the golden bodied one) is a ragam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is the 1st Melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music. It is called Kanakāmbari in the Muthuswami Dikshitar school.
It is the 1st rāgam in the 1st chakra Indu. The mnemonic name is Indu-Pa. The mnemonic phrase is sa ra ga ma pa dha na. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) has all shuddha swaras, as follows (see swaras in Carnatic music for details on below notation and terms):
(the notes are shuddha rishabham, shuddha gandharam, shuddha madhyamam, panchamam, shuddha dhaivatham, shuddha nishadham)
It is a sampurna rāgam – a rāgam that has all seven swaras (notes) and is often dubbed the shuddha scale, owing to its swarasthanas. It is the shuddha madhyamam equivalent of Salagam, which is the 37th melakarta.
