Raga

A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as a result has no direct translation to concepts in classical European music. Each ''rāga'' is an array of melodic structures with musical motifs, considered in the Indian tradition to have the ability to "colour the mind" and affect the emotions of the audience.

Each ''rāga'' provides the musician with a musical framework within which to improvise. Improvisation by the musician involves creating sequences of notes allowed by the ''rāga'' in keeping with rules specific to the ''rāga''. ''Rāga''s range from small ''rāga''s like Bahar and Shahana that are not much more than songs to big ''rāga''s like Malkauns, Darbari and Yaman, which have great scope for improvisation and for which performances can last over an hour. ''Rāga''s may change over time, with an example being Marwa, the primary development of which has been going down into the lower octave, in contrast with the traditional middle octave. Each ''rāga'' traditionally has an emotional significance and symbolic associations such as with season, time and mood. The ''rāga'' is considered a means in the Indian musical tradition to evoking specific feelings in an audience. Hundreds of ''rāga'' are recognized in the classical tradition, of which about 30 are common, and each ''rāga'' has its "own unique melodic personality".

There are two main classical music traditions, '' Hindustani'' (North Indian) and '' Carnatic'' (South Indian), and the concept of ''rāga'' is shared by both. ''Rāga'' are also found in Sikh traditions such as in '' Guru Granth Sahib'', the primary scripture of Sikhism. Similarly, it is a part of the '' qawwali'' tradition in Sufi Islamic communities of South Asia. Some popular Indian film songs and ghazals use ''rāgas'' in their composition.

Every raga has a swara (a note or named pitch) called shadja, or adhara sadja, whose pitch may be chosen arbitrarily by the performer. This is taken to mark the beginning and end of the '' saptak'' (loosely, octave). The raga also contains an adhista, which is either the swara Ma or the swara Pa. The adhista divides the octave into two parts or ''anga'' – the ''purvanga'', which contains lower notes, and the ''uttaranga'', which contains higher notes. Every raga has a '' vadi'' and a '' samvadi''. The ''vadi'' is the most prominent swara, which means that an improvising musician emphasizes or pays more attention to the ''vadi'' than to other notes. The samvadi is consonant with the vadi (always from the ''anga'' that does not contain the vadi) and is the second most prominent swara in the raga.

Terminology

The Sanskrit word ''rāga'' (Sanskrit: राग) has Indian roots, as ''*reg-'' which connotes "to dye". Cognates are found in Greek, Persian, Khwarezmian and other languages, such as "raxt", "rang", "rakt" and others. The words "red" and "rado" are also related. According to Monier Monier-Williams, the term comes from a Sanskrit word for "the act of colouring or dyeing", or simply a "colour, hue, tint, dye". The term also connotes an emotional state referring to a "feeling, affection, desire, interest, joy or delight", particularly related to passion, love, or sympathy for a subject or something. In the context of ancient Indian music, the term refers to a harmonious note, melody, formula, building block of music available to a musician to construct a state of experience in the audience.

The word appears in the ancient Principal Upanishads of Hinduism, as well as the '' Bhagavad Gita''. For example, verse 3.5 of the ''Maitri Upanishad'' and verse 2.2.9 of the ''Mundaka Upanishad'' contain the word ''rāga''. The ''Mundaka Upanishad'' uses it in its discussion of soul (Atman-Brahman) and matter (Prakriti), with the sense that the soul does not "color, dye, stain, tint" the matter. The ''Maitri Upanishad'' uses the term in the sense of "passion, inner quality, psychological state".A Concordance to the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavadgita
GA Jacob, Motilal Banarsidass, page 787 The term ''rāga'' is also found in ancient texts of Buddhism where it connotes "passion, sensuality, lust, desire" for pleasurable experiences as one of three impurities of a character. Alternatively, ''rāga'' is used in Buddhist texts in the sense of "color, dye, hue".

The term ''rāga'' in the modern connotation of a melodic format occurs in the ''Brihaddeshi'' by Mataṅga Muni dated ca. 8th century, or possibly 9th century. The ''Brihaddeshi'' describes ''rāga'' as "a combination of tones which, with beautiful illuminating graces, pleases the people in general".

According to Emmie te Nijenhuis, a professor in Indian musicology, the ''Dattilam'' section of ''Brihaddeshi'' has survived into the modern times, but the details of ancient music scholars mentioned in the extant text suggest a more established tradition by the time this text was composed. The same essential idea and prototypical framework is found in ancient Hindu texts, such as the ''Naradiyasiksa'' and the classic Sanskrit work '' Natya Shastra'' by Bharata Muni, whose chronology has been estimated to sometime between 500 BCE and 500 CE, probably between 200 BCE and 200 CE.

Bharata describes a series of empirical experiments he did with the '' Veena'', then compared what he heard, noting the relationship of fifth intervals as a function of intentionally induced change to the instrument's tuning. Bharata states that certain combinations of notes are pleasant, and certain others are not so. His methods of experimenting with the instrument triggered further work by ancient Indian scholars, leading to the development of successive permutations, as well as theories of musical note inter-relationships, interlocking scales and how this makes the listener feel. Bharata discusses ''Bhairava'', ''Kaushika'', ''Hindola'', ''Dipaka'', ''SrI-rāga'', and ''Megha''. Bharata states that these can to trigger a certain affection and the ability to "color the emotional state" in the audience. His encyclopedic ''Natya Shastra'' links his studies on music to the performance arts, and it has been influential in Indian performance arts tradition.

The other ancient text, ''Naradiyasiksa'' dated to be from the 1st century BCE, discusses secular and religious music, compares the respective musical notes. This is earliest known text that reverentially names each musical note to be a deity, describing it in terms of ''varna'' (colors) and other motifs such as parts of fingers, an approach that is conceptually similar to the 12th century Guidonian hand in European music. The study that mathematically arranges rhythms and modes (''rāga'') has been called ''prastāra'' (matrix).

In the ancient texts of Hinduism, the term for the technical mode part of ''rāga'' was ''Jati''. Later, ''Jati'' evolved to mean quantitative class of scales, while ''rāga'' evolved to become a more sophisticated concept that included the experience of the audience. A figurative sense of the word as 'passion, love, desire, delight' is also found in the ''Mahabharata''. The specialized sense of 'loveliness, beauty,' especially of voice or song, emerges in classical Sanskrit, used by Kalidasa and in the '' Panchatantra''.

History and significance

Classical music has ancient roots, and it primarily developed due to the reverence for arts, for both spiritual (''moksha'') and entertainment (''kama'') purposes in Hinduism.

''Rāga'', along with performance arts such as dance and music, has been historically integral to Hinduism, with some Hindus believing that music is itself a spiritual pursuit and a means to moksha (liberation).; Quote: "Some Hindus believe that music is one path to achieving moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth", (...) "The principles underlying this music are found in the Samaveda, (...)".; Also see chapter 36 ''Rāgas'', in the Hindu tradition, are believed to have a natural existence. Artists don't invent them, they only discover them. Music appeals to human beings, according to Hinduism, because they are hidden harmonies of the ultimate creation. Some of its ancient texts such as the '' Sama Veda'' (~1000 BCE) are structured entirely to melodic themes, it is sections of ''Rigveda'' set to music. The ''rāgas'' were envisioned by the Hindus as manifestation of the divine, a musical note treated as god or goddess with complex personality.

During the Bhakti movement of Hinduism, dated to about the middle of 1st millennium CE, ''rāga'' became an integral part of a musical pursuit of spirituality. Bhajan and Kirtan were composed and performed by the early South India pioneers. A ''Bhajan'' has a free form devotional composition based on melodic ''rāgas''. A ''Kirtan'' is a more structured team performance, typically with a call and response musical structure, similar to an intimate conversation. It includes two or more musical instruments, and incorporates various ''rāgas'' such as those associated with Hindu gods Shiva ('' Bhairav'') or Krishna (''Hindola'').

The early 13th century Sanskrit text '' Sangitaratnakara'', by Sarngadeva patronized by King Sighana of the Yadava dynasty in the North-Central Deccan region (today a part of Maharashtra), mentions and discusses 253 ''rāgas''. This is one of the most complete historic treatises on the structure, technique and reasoning behind ''rāgas'' that has survived.

The tradition of incorporating ''rāga'' into spiritual music is also found in Jainism, and in Sikhism, an Indian religion founded by Guru Nanak in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent. In the Sikh scripture, the texts are attached to a ''rāga'' and are sung according to the rules of that ''rāga''. According to Pashaura Singh – a professor of Sikh and Punjabi studies, the ''rāga'' and '' tala'' of ancient Indian traditions were carefully selected and integrated by the Sikh Gurus into their hymns. They also picked from the "standard instruments used in Hindu musical traditions" for singing ''kirtans'' in Sikhism.

During the Islamic rule period of the Indian subcontinent, particularly in and after the 15th century, the mystical Islamic tradition of Sufism developed devotional songs and music called '' qawwali''. It incorporated elements of ''rāga'' and ''tāla''.

The Buddha discouraged music aimed at entertainment, but encouraged chanting of sacred hymns. The various canonical '' Tripitaka '' texts of Buddhism, for example, state ''Dasha-shila'' or ten precepts for those following the Buddhist spiritual path. Among these is the precept recommending "abstain from dancing, singing, music and worldly spectacles". Buddhism does not forbid music or dance to a Buddhist layperson, but its emphasis has been on chants, not on musical ''rāga''.

Description

A ''rāga'' is sometimes explained as a melodic rule set that a musician works with, but according to Dorottya Fabian and others, this is now generally accepted among music scholars to be an explanation that is too simplistic. According to them, a ''rāga'' of the ancient Indian tradition can be compared to the concept of non-constructible set in language for human communication, in a manner described by Frederik Kortlandt and George van Driem; audiences familiar with raga recognize and evaluate performances of them intuitively.

The attempt to appreciate, understand and explain ''rāga'' among European scholars started in the early colonial period. In 1784, Jones translated it as "mode" of European music tradition, but Willard corrected him in 1834 with the statement that a ''rāga'' is both mode and tune. In 1933, states José Luiz Martinez – a professor of music, Stern refined this explanation to "the ''rāga'' is more fixed than mode, less fixed than the melody, beyond the mode and short of melody, and richer both than a given mode or a given melody; it is mode with added multiple specialities".

A ''rāga'' is a central concept of Indian music, predominant in its expression, yet the concept has no direct Western translation. According to Walter Kaufmann, though a remarkable and prominent feature of Indian music, a definition of ''rāga'' cannot be offered in one or two sentences. ''rāga'' is a fusion of technical and ideational ideas found in music, and may be roughly described as a musical entity that includes note intonation, relative duration and order, in a manner similar to how words flexibly form phrases to create an atmosphere of expression. In some cases, certain rules are considered obligatory, in others optional. The ''rāga'' allows flexibility, where the artist may rely on simple expression, or may add ornamentations yet express the same essential message but evoke a different intensity of mood.

A ''rāga'' has a given set of notes, on a scale, ordered in melodies with musical motifs. A musician playing a ''rāga'', states Bruno Nettl, may traditionally use just these notes but is free to emphasize or improvise certain degrees of the scale. The Indian tradition suggests a certain sequencing of how the musician moves from note to note for each ''rāga'', in order for the performance to create a ''rasa'' (mood, atmosphere, essence, inner feeling) that is unique to each ''rāga''. A ''rāga'' can be written on a scale. Theoretically, thousands of ''rāga'' are possible given 5 or more notes, but in practical use, the classical tradition has refined and typically relies on several hundred. For most artists, their basic perfected repertoire has some forty to fifty ''rāgas''. ''Rāga'' in Indian classical music is intimately related to '' tala'' or guidance about "division of time", with each unit called a ''matra'' (beat, and duration between beats).

A ''rāga'' is not a tune, because the same ''rāga'' can yield an infinite number of tunes. A ''rāga'' is not a scale, because many ''rāgas'' can be based on the same scale. A ''rāga'', according to Bruno Nettl and other music scholars, is a concept similar to a mode, something between the domains of tune and scale, and it is best conceptualized as a "unique array of melodic features, mapped to and organized for a unique aesthetic sentiment in the listener". The goal of a ''rāga'' and its artist is to create '' rasa'' (essence, feeling, atmosphere) with music, as classical Indian dance does with performance arts. In the Indian tradition, classical dances are performed with music set to various ''rāgas''.

Joep Bor of the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music defined ''rāga'' as a "tonal framework for composition and improvisation." Nazir Jairazbhoy, chairman of UCLA's department of ethnomusicology, characterized rāgas as separated by scale, line of ascent and descent, transilience, emphasized notes and register, and intonation and ornaments.

Rāga-Rāgini system

''Rāginī'' (Devanagari: रागिनी) is a term for the "feminine" counterpart of a "masculine" rāga. These are envisioned to parallel the god-goddess themes in Hinduism, and described variously by different medieval Indian music scholars. For example, the ''Sangita-darpana'' text of 15th-century Damodara Misra proposes six ''rāgas'' with thirty ''ragini'', creating a system of thirty six, a system that became popular in Rajasthan. In the north Himalayan regions such as Himachal Pradesh, the music scholars such as 16th century Mesakarna expanded this system to include eight descendants to each ''rāga'', thereby creating a system of eighty four. After the 16th-century, the system expanded still further.

In ''Sangita-darpana'', the Bhairava ''rāga'' is associated with the following raginis: Bhairavi, Punyaki, Bilawali, Aslekhi, Bangli. In the Meskarna system, the masculine and feminine musical notes are combined to produce ''putra rāgas'' called Harakh, Pancham, Disakh, Bangal, Madhu, Madhava, Lalit, Bilawal.

This system is no longer in use today because the 'related' rāgas had very little or no similarity and the rāga-rāginī classification did not agree with various other schemes.

Rāgas and their symbolism

The North Indian ''rāga'' system is also called ''Hindustani'', while the South Indian system is commonly referred to as ''Carnatic''. The North Indian system suggests a particular time of a day or a season, in the belief that the human state of psyche and mind are affected by the seasons and by daily biological cycles and nature's rhythms. The South Indian system is closer to the text, and places less emphasis on time or season.

The symbolic role of classical music through ''rāga'' has been both aesthetic indulgence and the spiritual purifying of one's mind (yoga). The former is encouraged in Kama literature (such as ''Kamasutra''), while the latter appears in Yoga literature with concepts such as "Nada-Brahman" (metaphysical Brahman of sound). '' Hindola rāga'', for example, is considered a manifestation of Kama (god of love), typically through Krishna. ''Hindola'' is also linked to the festival of ''dola'', which is more commonly known as "spring festival of colors" or Holi. This idea of aesthetic symbolism has also been expressed in Hindu temple reliefs and carvings, as well as painting collections such as the ragamala.

In ancient and medieval Indian literature, the ''rāga'' are described as manifestation and symbolism for gods and goddesses. Music is discussed as equivalent to the ritual ''yajna'' sacrifice, with pentatonic and hexatonic notes such as ''"ni-dha-pa-ma-ga-ri"'' as Agnistoma, ''"ri-ni-dha-pa-ma-ga'' as Asvamedha, and so on.

In the Middle Ages, music scholars of India began associating each ''rāga'' with seasons. The 11th century Nanyadeva, for example, recommends that ''Hindola rāga'' is best in spring, ''Pancama'' in summer, ''Sadjagrama'' and ''Takka'' during the monsoons, ''Bhinnasadja'' is best in early winter, and ''Kaisika'' in late winter. In the 13th century, Sarngadeva went further and associated ''rāga'' with rhythms of each day and night. He associated pure and simple ''rāgas'' to early morning, mixed and more complex ''rāgas'' to late morning, skillful ''rāgas'' to noon, love-themed and passionate ''rāgas'' to evening, and universal ''rāgas'' to night.

Rāga and mathematics

According to Cris Forster, mathematical studies on systematizing and analyzing South Indian ''rāga'' began in the 16th century. Computational studies of ''rāgas'' is an active area of musicology.

Notations

Although notes are an important part of rāga practice, they alone do not make the rāga. A rāga is more than a scale, and many rāgas share the same scale. The underlying scale may have four, five, six or seven tones, called '' swaras'' (sometimes spelled as ''svara''). The ''svara'' concept is found in the ancient ''Natya Shastra'' in Chapter 28. It calls the unit of tonal measurement or audible unit as ''Śruti'', with verse 28.21 introducing the musical scale as follows,

These seven degrees are shared by both major ''rāga'' system, that is the North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic). The solfege (''sargam'') is learnt in abbreviated form: ''sa, ri (Carnatic) or re (Hindustani), ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, sa''. Of these, the first that is ''"sa"'', and the fifth that is ''"pa"'', are considered anchors that are unalterable, while the remaining have flavors that differs between the two major systems.

The music theory in the ''Natyashastra'', states Maurice Winternitz, centers around three themes – sound, rhythm and prosody applied to musical texts. The text asserts that the octave has 22 ''srutis'' or micro-intervals of musical tones or 1200 cents. Ancient Greek system is also very close to it, states Emmie te Nijenhuis, with the difference that each ''sruti'' computes to 54.5 cents, while the Greek enharmonic quarter-tone system computes to 55 cents. The text discusses ''gramas'' (scales) and ''murchanas'' (modes), mentioning three scales of seven modes (21 total), some Greek modes are also like them . However, the Gandhara-grama is just mentioned in ''Natyashastra'', while its discussion largely focuses on two scales, fourteen modes and eight four ''tanas'' ( notes). The text also discusses which scales are best for different forms of performance arts.

These musical elements are organized into scales (''mela''), and the South Indian system of ''rāga'' works with 72 scales, as first discussed by ''Caturdandi prakashika''. They are divided into two groups, ''purvanga'' and ''uttaranga'', depending on the nature of the lower tetrachord. The ''anga'' itself has six cycles (''cakra''), where the ''purvanga'' or lower tetrachord is anchored, while there are six permutations of ''uttaranga'' suggested to the artist. After this system was developed, the Indian classical music scholars have developed additional ''rāgas'' for all the scales. The North Indian style is closer to the Western diatonic modes, and built upon the foundation developed by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande using ten ''Thaat'': ''kalyan, bilaval, khamaj, kafi, asavari, bhairavi, bhairav, purvi, marva and todi''. Some ''rāgas'' are common to both systems and have same names, such as ''kalyan'' performed by either is recognizably the same. Some ''rāgas'' are common to both systems but have different names, such as ''malkos'' of Hindustani system is recognizably the same as ''hindolam'' of Carnatic system. However, some ''rāgas'' are named the same in the two systems, but they are different, such as ''todi''.

Recently, a 32 thaat system was presented in a book Nai Vaigyanik Paddhati to correct the classification of ragas in North Indian style.

Rāgas that have four swaras are called ' (सुरतर) rāgas; those with five swaras are called ''audava'' (औडव) rāgas; those with six, ''shaadava'' (षाडव); and with seven, '' sampurna'' (संपूर्ण, Sanskrit for 'complete'). The number of swaras may differ in the ascending and descending like rāga Bhimpalasi which has five notes in the ascending and seven notes in descending or Khamaj with six notes in the ascending and seven in the descending. Rāgas differ in their ascending or descending movements. Those that do not follow the strict ascending or descending order of swaras are called ''vakra'' (वक्र) ('crooked') rāgas.

Carnatic rāga

In Carnatic music, the principal rāgas are called '' Melakarthas'', which literally means "lord of the scale". It is also called ''Asraya rāga'' meaning "shelter giving rāga", or ''Janaka rāga'' meaning "father rāga".

A ''Thaata'' in the South Indian tradition are groups of derivative ''rāgas'', which are called '' Janya rāgas'' meaning "begotten rāgas" or ''Asrita rāgas'' meaning "sheltered rāgas". However, these terms are approximate and interim phrases during learning, as the relationships between the two layers are neither fixed nor has unique parent–child relationship.

Janaka rāgas are grouped together using a scheme called '' Katapayadi sutra'' and are organised as ''Melakarta'' rāgas. A Melakarta rāga is one which has all seven notes in both the ārōhanam (ascending scale) and avarōhanam (descending scale). Some '' Melakarta'' rāgas are '' Harikambhoji'', '' Kalyani'', '' Kharaharapriya'', ''Mayamalavagowla'', ''Sankarabharanam'' and '' Hanumatodi''.''Raganidhi'' by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras''Ragas in Carnatic music'' by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications Janya rāgas are derived from the Janaka rāgas using a combination of the swarams (usually a subset of swarams) from the parent rāga. Some janya rāgas are ''Abheri'', ''Abhogi'', '' Bhairavi'', ''Hindolam'', '' Mohanam'' and '' Kambhoji''.

In this 21st century few composers have discovered new ragas. Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna who has created raga in three notes Ragas such as Mahathi, Lavangi, Sidhdhi, Sumukham that he created have only four notes,

A list of Janaka Ragas would include '' Kanakangi'', '' Ratnangi'', Ganamurthi, '' Vanaspathi'', ''Manavathi'', Thanarupi, Senavathi, '' Hanumatodi'', '' Dhenuka'', '' Natakapriya'', ''Kokilapriya'', '' Rupavati'', ''Gayakapriya'', '' Vakulabharanam'', ''Mayamalavagowla'', '' Chakravakam'', '' Suryakantam'', '' Hatakambari'', '' Jhankaradhvani'', '' Natabhairavi'', '' Keeravani'', '' Kharaharapriya'', '' Gourimanohari'', '' Varunapriya'', '' Mararanjani'', '' Charukesi'', ''Sarasangi'', '' Harikambhoji'', ''Sankarabharanam'', '' Naganandini'', ''Yagapriya'', '' Ragavardhini'', '' Gangeyabhushani'', ''Vagadheeswari'', '' Shulini'', '' Chalanata'', '' Salagam'', '' Jalarnavam'', '' Jhalavarali'', Navaneetam, '' Pavani''.

Training

Classical music has been transmitted through music schools or through Guru–Shishya ''parampara'' (teacher–student tradition) through an oral tradition and practice. Some are known as '' gharana'' (houses), and their performances are staged through ''sabhas'' (music organizations). Each ''gharana'' has freely improvised over time, and differences in the rendering of each ''rāga'' is discernible. In the Indian musical schooling tradition, the small group of students lived near or with the teacher, the teacher treated them as family members providing food and boarding, and a student learnt various aspects of music thereby continuing the musical knowledge of their guru. The tradition survives in parts of India, and many musicians can trace their guru lineage.

Persian ''rāk''

The music concept of '' rāk'' or ''rang'' (meaning “colour”) in Persian is probably a pronunciation of ''rāga''. According to Hormoz Farhat, it is unclear how this term came to Persia, it has no meaning in modern Persian language, and the concept of ''rāga'' is unknown in Persia.Nasrollah Nasehpour, Impact of Persian Music on Other Cultures and Vice Versa, Art of Music, Cultural, Art and Social (Monthly), pp 4--6 (Vol. 37) Sep, 2002.

See also

*List of rāgas in Indian classical music
*Carnatic raga
** List of Janya ragas
**List of Melakarta ragas
* Prahar
* Samay
*Rasa (aesthetics)
*'' Rāga'', a documentary about the life and music of Ravi Shankar
* Raga rock
* Arabic maqam
* Persian dastgah

References

Bibliography

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Indian Music: Ancient Beginnings – Natyashastra
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Table of Contents
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External links

A step-by-step introduction to the concept of rāga for beginnersRajan Parrikar Music Archive – detailed analyses of rāgas backed by rare audio recordingsComprehensive reference on rāgas
A rare collection of more than 800 audio & video archives from 1902. Radio programs dedicated to famous ragas.

in Carnatic music.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raga
Hindustani ragas
Hindustani music terminology
Musical terminology
Modes (music)