Mela 61Rudra chakraM2
Kantamani
The name is the number
Kantamani
Kanka1tata616 reversed61
In the conjunct 'nta', the last consonant — dental ta = 6 — carries the value.
Every mela name encodes its own number — how the katapayadi sutra works.
SSR2R2G3G3M2M2PPD1D1N1N1SS (upper octave)
SS (upper octave)N1N1D1D1PPM2M2G3G3R2R2SS
How to know it
A bright, major-sounding lower half that clouds over into a dark, brooding upper register.
Hear it in songs
Nada Sukham Taru
Koteeswara Iyer · Adi
From Kanda Ganamutham, Koteeswara Iyer's Tamil cycle covering all 72 melakartas, each kriti carrying the raga's name as a mudra.
Sri Sugandhi Kuntalambike
Muthuswami Dikshitar
Dikshitar followed the asampurna mela scheme, where this scale is called Kuntalam rather than Kantamani.