The raga Nelambari in the classical Indian Karnatic system of music is said to be able to induce sleep and also have some sleep promoting qualities. This hypothesis was scientifically tested using sleep polysomnography with eight healthy subjects who listened to either Neelambari (test) raga or Kalyani (control) raga. There was no difference in sleep architecture or in subjective feeling of quality of sleep. The anecdotal references to the quality of sleep promoting effects of Neelambari probably reflect a conditioned response since most lullabies in South India are sung in Neelambari raga.
The north Indian classical music, too, has a raga by the name Neelambari. It comes across as a particularly beautiful tune, but is remotely linked to its namesake down the peninsula. The Neelambari in Carnatic is a derivative of the popular raga Shankarabharanam, which is codified as 29th in the Melakarta matrix that the idiom got in the 17th century.
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