All the basic "swara" exercises ("Sarali, Janta, Daattu", etc.) are set to the "Mayamalavagowla" raga. These are learnt by beginners in Carnatic Music. It is commonly used in the basics, credited to Purandara Dasa's work in his time, when he did much work towards standardizing the teaching of Carnatic Music into a fully graded system. " Lambodara lakumikara " by Purandaradasa is generally used for this raga. The first mini-songs ("geetam") that are taught after the completion of basic exercises, are set to "Malahari", a "janya" of "Mayamalavagowla". Muthuswami Dikshitar's famous " kritis" (eight compositions with their raga names ending as "gowla"), on Goddess Nilothpalamba has "" for one of them.