Raga and rasa go hand-in-hand in Indian classical music. If rendered properly, every raga is capable of giving rise to some emotion, both in the person singing it and among the general audience too.
These are:. Each raga admits of one predominant rasa. One raga might even portray more than one emotion, if treated in different ways.
Oscillating one note feebly may give rise to veera rasa, while shaking it more vigorously could give rise to raudra rasa. The exposition of the raga and the resulting rasa s all really depends on the caliber of the musician and the extent to which his imagination stretches to define the boundaries of the raga.
Though the Natya Shastra speaks only of nine rasas, one more rasa may be added to the list and that is gana rasa. Gana rasa is the pure aesthetic enjoyment of music, without any other emotion involved. This capacity of the raga to give rise to rasas or emotions is what makes Indian music occupy a unique place in the history of world music. Of course, one experiences a plethora of emotions when one listens to artists like Bach, Beethoven or the famous singer, the late Amalia Rodrigues.
But the extent to which the rasa theory of Indian classical music has been systematized makes it a cut above the rest of world music. The raga devatA or the presiding deity of the raga is as important as the raga itself.
This is yet another point where Indian classical music stands out from the rest of the world music. Each raga or melodic mould is actually personified and given a form and shape. The concept of the raga devatA, in fact, is so important, that it is often said that singing raga phrases wrongly would cause injury or even headaches to the raga devatA! Raga, being a very vast subject, it has been classified in several ways, from time immemorial. Various methods of raga classifications have been tried out by experts from as early as the 9th Century, considering aspects of music that held its sway in that particular era.
But many of these classifications have not helped in the present scenario, as the ancient ragas themselves have evolved. Besides, many hundreds of new ragas have also come into existence today. So they would fit nowhere in the ancient system of raga classification. Ramamatya expounded the 72 Melakarta the full raga or the parent raga system for Carnatic music in the 16th Century, which was further elaborated and clarified by Venkatamakhi in the 17th Century.
This type of raga classification is the very anchor of the Carnatic system of music and has come to stay in this system. Famed scholar and musicologist Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkande, studied the Melakarta system in detail and came out with a monumental contribution to the world of Hindustani music. Out of the 72 Melakartas, he selected 10 sampoorna or full ragas and referred to them as Thaats.
After the sampoorna ragas, there came the janya ragas. These child ragas, which were derived from the Melakartas, had one of few notes missing in them, or would take notes foreign to the parent raga. So ragas were further classified on such basis. Depending on the swaras they took, these Varjya with notes missing in them janya ragas were classified as follows:.
It is believed that certain ragas are most beneficial while sung at an appropriate time during the day. Both the Hindustani and Carnatic music systems believe in the time theory, but it is the former that places much emphasis on this theory. The time theory was first constructed and propagated about years ago by the famous Hindustani north Indian classical music musician, Pandit Bhatkande. Pandit Bhatkande is hailed as the father of Hindustani music, as he was the one who built a systematized module for Hindustani music.
Hindustani singers faithfully follow the time theory by rendering ragas only at their specified timings. The time theory is split into two parts — the Purva ragas and the Uttara ragas. The Purva Ragas are those sung between 12 noon and 12 midnight, while the Uttara Ragas are ideally sung between 12 midnight and 12 noon.
The ragas to be sung between twilight and dusk are called Sandhi Prakash ragas. Besides the time of day, seasonal ragas also exist. It is best to sing certain ragas at certain times of the year. For example, raga Basant Bahar is best sung during spring, raga Amritavarshini during the rainy season or to bring in more rain and so on. The reason for compartmentalizing these ragas is probably because they already have the capability to generate a particular emotion, which can be heightened by that season.
Spring is a season for the heart to blossom with love. Singing a raga that exudes the Shringara rasa, brings out the real beauty of the raga. There has been a close inter-relation between music, painting and poetry. Much of Indian music has come into existence through the heartfelt outpourings of brilliant composers like Mirabai , Tulsidas, Purandaradasa Thyagaraja, His Highness Maharaja Swati Tirunal and so on. So, Indian music and poetry have a strong link that binds them together.
A clear link has been drawn between music and painting too. Since each raga is capable of emoting and is given a unique personality, it was inferred that these ragas could be actually expressed on canvas. The connection between the raga and painting came into the fore between the 16th and 19th Centuries, when painting of miniatures was encouraged by the Moghul rulers.
There have since even been several successful attempts at interpreting music through the use of colors and painting. The Bhakti devotion and Bhajana sacred tradition was petering out by the 13th Century and the new trend was towards secular music — the singing of ragas. A number of new ragas were coming into existence, bringing this field to the forefront.
Nevertheless, musicians of the old school still believed in the rasa theory and the time theory. They also believed in the raga devatA concept and carried on with propagating their views on music. The 14th Century saw a change in the music scene. These little poetic verses highlighted the characteristics of the ragas, breathing life into them and giving each of them a particular swaroopa persona of a deity, nayaka hero or a nayika heroine.
This is what led to the raga-ragini systems and the subsequent creation of the ragamala paintings, a series of portrayals of these raga-ragini bhavas expressions on canvas. These ragamalas or garland of ragas, is what clearly illustrated the close connection between poetry, painting and music.
To quote H. The ragamala paintings usually depict the raga as a human, divine or semi-divine figure, with or without other characters around. The theme for such paintings is usually Shringara romantic or Bhakti devotional oriented.
Most of the paintings also have the raga or ragini name inscribed in them, as also the dhyana or the Sanskrit verse, as mentioned above. Ragas have evolved through the decades, so many of these paintings do not seem relevant to the raga they mention. Besides, these paintings do not have any provision to describe newer and later raga additions.
So this, though a wonderful system at one time, has faded away into obscurity now. The raga-ragini system makes for an interesting study. The raga-ragini system of raga classification occurred between the 16th and 19th Centuries and preceded the modern classification of ragas, as it exists today. The raga-ragini system tries to draw a parallel between the dynamic and the static — the Prakruti and the Purusha.
Further, the raga-ragini system also illustrates the fluctuation in human behavior and responses to situations. It is related to the various mood changes in a person, with apt ragas to portray these emotions. It is the classification of ragas on the raga-ragini basis, that gave rise to the close link between poetry, art and music, as mentioned before. Various nayaka-nayika man- woman relationships and emotions were depicted with poetry, painting and music.
Again, Hindustani music relies more heavily on the raga-ragini system. Carnatic music merely acknowledges the existence of this theory. This book discusses in detail several songs of the Maithila dialect of the Hindi language. These songs were set to many ragas and raginis prevalent during that time. In his book, Lochana Kavi has dealt with both regional and local ragas and raginis of Mithila during that time. The raga-ragini classification of ragas is created with the following principle:.
This gives us a total of 84 ragas. Mentioned below is a detailed list of the ragas, raginis and their children:. A simple and common raga, this is seldom heard in concerts today, as it is deemed as a morning raga. As the name suggests, it is also a very auspicious raga. This system of raga-ragini classification was also accepted and upheld by the Tansen school of thought. The raga-ragini classification had not accepted very easily by scholars at that time.
Many musicologists argued that this basis for classification of ragas was merely imaginary and nothing to do with the actual ragas. But the raga-ragini theory started gaining importance when the scientific principle of the male-female raga elements showed up in the Vadi-Samvadi swaras or notes. Vadi-Samvadi notes are notes showing the male and the female character of the swara. In actuality, the raga-ragini parivara family system is believed to have existed many centuries ago, much before the bifurcation of Indian music into Hindustani and Carnatic music.
Indain music was one before the 13th Century, that is, till the Moghul invasion. It was after this that there was such a clear line of distinction between north Indian and south Indian music. Though both systems are similar even to date, the difference lies in the way the notes are treated and sung. The ancient raga-ragini system too had six main ragas, each with 5 wives or raginis.
Each of these raga-raginis had 8 sons or putras and 8 daughters-in-law or vadhus. So then the ragas totaled to There is no unanimity among the different schools of Hindustani music regarding what the main ragas are and who their respective raginis are either.
There is another school of thought that names six other ragas as the main ragas. This school of thought also points out to the existence of dasa and dasi male and female servant ragas and dhoota and dhooti ragas too, giving them certain specific characteristics.
Paraj , according to them, is also a male dasa raga of these ragas. This raga-ragini ambiguity lasted for a long time, but disappeared as soon as the MelakartA and Thaat parent raga systems came into being in Carnatic and Hindustani music respectively. The ragamala paintings ceased to be of great importance from the 19th Century onwards.
Now, it is an obscure art and has lost all its followers. Further, many of the original ragas and rAginis have evolved and transformed with the passing years, so their ancient iconography held good no more. Post by ajaysimha » Fri Feb 07, am. Post by Ananthakrishna » Fri Jan 01, am. Flat Style by Ian Bradley. Privacy Terms. Quick links. Which system uses the word rAgini, carnatic or hindustani?
Thank you Mahalakshmi. Post by vasanthakokilam » Wed May 21, pm If at all anyone uses it to any degree, it will be Hindusthani.
Re: difference between rAgA and rAgini Post by Ananthakrishna » Fri Jan 01, am The raaga-raagini system of raga classification occurred between the 16th and 19th Centuries and preceded the modern classification of ragas, as it exists today.
It is comparable to the stree-purusha classification, but is slightly different, The stree purusha raaga classification deals with the nature of the raagam, its delicacy and differentiating traits, and then assigns a raagam its gender, to presumably better understand the method by which a raagam must be delineated.
The raaga-raagini system takes this concept further, creating families of raagams. Hindustani music relies more heavily on the raaga-raagini system. Carnatic music merely acknowledges the existence of this theory. This gives us a total of 84 ragas. An example is given below with the Raag Bhairav HM counterpart to Malavagowla Raag Bhairav is known to be the first raga, that emanated from Siva himself.
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