In the song Bantureethi Kolu Viya Vayya Rama, Tyagaraja says that worshipping Rama liberates one from the six vices of lust, anger, delusion, envy, greed and arrogance. This song in the raga Hamsanadam remains one of the most popular Carnatic compositions till today.

Hamsanadam means the “call of the swan” and is a joyous melody to hear. Besides Bantureethi, some popular songs in this raga are Kalyanarama (Oothakadu Venkatasubba Iyer) and Kripanidhe Kripajaladhe (Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavathar). The song Kalyanarama describes the swayamvara of Sita – from the prelude to the actual event.

A composition of Muthiah Bhagavathar in this raga rendered by Madurai TN Seshagopalan.

An old recording where Musiri Subramania Iyer sings a composition of Papanasam Sivan in this raga.

There is no Hindustani equivalent to this raga.

In movies, this raga has been used by several music producers.  Illayaraja has composed this unusual song Isayil Thodanguthamma for the Tamil movie Hey Raam.

Another song composed by Illayaraja, Om Namaha in the movie Idhayathai Thirudathe.

For those who want details, raga Hamsanadam is a derivative of raga Neetimati (Mela 60) and the scale is as follows. SR2M2PN2 SN2PM2R2S

Note – Sometimes, the Shatrusthi Dhaivatham (D3) is heard in this melody – this was the traditional way of singing the raga.