What is a Raga?

There is a saying in Sanskrit, "ranjayati iti raagah" - that which colours the mind is the Raga. A Raga is the melodic framework, established by tradition or born and inspired in the spirit of a master-musician. The beauty of a Raga leads the listener to a serene and peaceful frame of mind and brings him pure joy.

Samaya: There is a tradition of rendering a Raga within a time-frame (samaya), because Ragas have hours and sometimes seasons prescribed to them. For example, Yaman is an evening Raga, Darbari is rendered at night, Todi, in the morning and Brindavani Sarang in the afternoon. It is believed that to make the most of the tones and the notes, to be most creative with the given sounds of a Raga, the time-laws of the Raga help. In fact, most musicians would say that it is a must to follow this. Keeping the time in mind is believed to provide the right psycho-physical ambiance for original creation. Or, we can also say, that time has its occult impact on us, to the artist and the listener, and we tune ourselves with greater ease to a certain level of vibration and awareness at certain times.

Dhyana: It is said that each Raga has a dhyana, a meditative presence, associated with it. It is not difficult to accept that Ragas have life in them. Or, for those who think deeper, they can well understand if we say that every Raga has a soul, a life and a journey. A Raga is eternally becoming, blossoming out into new vivid forms through the musician.

Musical Notes

'Sa' is like the cry of the peacock,
'Re' is like that of the bull,
'Ga' is like the b;eating of the goat
and 'Ma' like the call of the crane,
the cuckoo sings in Spring with the sound of 'Pa'
'Dha' is like the neighing of the horse
and 'Ni' like the trumpeting of the elephant.

All these interesting derivations of the musical interevals were devised by old scholars, who realised that the cries of many animals are amde up of two distintct notes. If the lower note is placed as 'Sa', then the different intervals can be determined from the different animal cries.