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The Raga System
It is almost inconceivable
that anyone familiar with Indian music has not come across the term Raga.
Raga is one of the key concepts of Indian music. Over the centuries, Indian
musicians and musicologists have developed this concept to an amazing level
by way of sheer variety and sophistication. It would be no exaggeration to
say that the Carnatic raga is one of the most complete, concrete,
methodical and systematic melodic entities. Matanga, the author of
Brihaddesi, mentioned the term Raga in the 5th century AD for the first
time although the Jatis mentioned by Bharata in his treatise Natya
Sastra had a similar concept.
Raga can be defined as a
melodic entity arising out of the combination of notes (musical scale), with
ornamentation (Gamaka). In other words, a raga is much more
than a mere scale. They are highly individualistic and possess the power to
create different moods. Which is why we see some ragas creating an
atmosphere of bright cheer while others invoke a mood of sorrow or fear or
anger etc.
Thus each raga has an
entity of its own, derived not only through its particular pattern of
ascending and descending notes, but also their place-values i.e., the manner
of rendering them. For example, some notes may be rendered plain, while
others are rendered with gamaka. Similarly, a few may be elongated
while others may be shortened.
Again, a few may require a
bit of sharpening or flattening depending on the context. Thus the mela
Dheerasankarabharanam (which is incidentally referred to as just
Sankarabharanam and is one of the major ragas in Carnatic music) cited as an
example earlier, would sound quite different when sung with the appropriate
ornamentations. Ornamentation can be defined as the connection between two
given notes to enhance the beauty and aesthetic value of the raga. Thus many
micro-tonal variations are seen in the frequency of any given note from one
raga to another. In Brihaddesi, Matanga defines a raga as that which
is decorated with Swara-s (notes) and Varna-s (tone
shades) and entertains the listener.
Janya Ragas
From each of the
seventy-two melakartas, numerous possible scales can be derived. Such ragas
are called Janya ragas. They can be derived in the following ways:
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By omission of one, two,
three or four notes, either in the ascent or descent or both. The general
term used for these ragas is Varja raga. There are several
types of Varja ragas as listed below:
a) A five-note scale is known as an Audava
raga. E.g. Raga Mohanam, which has Sa Ri Ga Pa Dha Sa in the
ascent and the exact reverse in the descent.
b) A six-note scale is known as a Shadava
raga. E.g. Raga Sriranjani, which has Sa Ri Ga Ma Dha Ni Sa and
vice-versa in the ascent and descent respectively.
c) A four-note scale, which is rarely used, is
called a Swarantara raga.
Either an
ascent or descent sometimes also permit the use of only three notes. It
should be noted that a minimum of three notes is compulsory to obtain a
derived scale.
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By a zigzag pattern of
swaras, viz. irregular order of notes either in the ascent or descent or
both. These are known as Vakra ragas. (Vakra means
crooked in Sanskrit). E.g. Raga Kadanakutuhalam, which has Sa Ri Ma Dha Ni
Ga Pa Sa in the ascent, but a straightforward Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa in
the descent.
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A combination of 1 and 2
viz., Varja and Vakra is also possible. E.g. Raga
Asaveri, which uses Sa Ri Ma Pa Dha Sa in the ascent, which is of a
Varja variety, but Sa Ni Sa Pa Dha Ma Pa Ri Ga Ri Sa in the descent
which is Vakra.
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By the introduction of
one or more foreign notes, viz., notes that are not found in the parent
raga. Such ragas are known as Bhashanga ragas. E.g. Bhairavi
(Sa Ga Ri Ga Ma Pa Dha* Ni Sa - Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa) uses two
varieties of Dha. The * indicates the foreign note, Dha 2, in this case.
Thus innumerable scales are
theoretically possible using the above methods. However, because certain
combinations lack in aesthetic values only around 600 ragas are in vogue
today.
So far, we saw how ragas
can be classified based on their scales. However, since a raga is not a mere
scale, it can be further classified on the following bases:
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The emotion or
rasa it creates for the listener or the performer. E.g. Raga Mukhari is generally known to depict sadness. However, this classification is not
justified completely since a raga can evoke more than one emotion
depending on the perception of an individual or the manner or occasion in
which it is rendered. This is apart from other factors like the external
ambience.
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The scope of
handling. A raga can be classified as major, medium or minor, according to
the creative scope for development and also its status in a concert. E.g.
Raga Kalyani is considered a major raga while raga Phalamanjari would fall under the category of a minor raga.
Other classifications could
be based on the deity for a particular raga, the colour, origin (Hindustani
or Carnatic or any other system, ancient or after the 72-melakarta scheme),
resemblance shared between two ragas in terms of either the notes or some of
the important phrases (allied ragas). Some of the other classifications
mentioned in music literature from ancient times are either obsolete or fit
into any one of the above categories.
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