Ragas with similar notes sound different not only because they may take higher or flatter varieties of the same notes as is the case with Mohanam and Shivaranjani, but because the treatment of the swaras and swara clusters will be different, whether in terms of ornamentation or emphasis.

Sometimes we come across Ragas that have exactly the same notes (in the Hindustani system), but are different, such as Puriya and Marwa, or Bhupali (Bhoop) and Deshkar.

So far we have seen that Aarohana and Avarohana sets always seem to begin with the Shadja, i.e. the note Sa. However, sometimes, when one comes across references to the Aroh-Avroh of Hindustani Ragas, one might see them beginning with another note, e.g the nishad, or Ni.

For example, the Aaroh and Avroh of the Raga Bhimpalasi or Bhimpalas, an audava-sampoorna Raga, is stated as:

Aaroh
n’ S g M P n S”
Avroh
S” n D P M g R S

(note: one comma after the note depicts the lower octave and two commas depicts the higher octave). The Aaroh in Bhimpalasi begins with the mandhra nishad, that is with the note Ni in the lower octave.

To hear the aaroh and avroh of Bhimpalasi go here.

You may also find people listing the aaroh and avroh of the same Raga differently. For example, you may see the aaroh and avroh of Raga Yaman, noted as follows:

Aaroh: ‘N R G M D N S’
Avaroh: S’ N D P M G R S

or as follows:
Aaroh: S R G M P D N S”
Avroh: S” N D P M G R S

You will come across references that list Yaman both as a Shadava-Sampurna Raga and as a Sampoorna Raga.

In descriptions of Hindustani Ragas there is often no reference to the aaroh and avroh at all, but quite often to the pakad and/or to the chalan.

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Take for example the aarohana and avarohana of the Ragam Mohanam:
S R G P D S
S D P G R S

Mohanam has five notes, i.e. is an audav-jati ragam and takes the higher varieties of R, G and D

The notes in the Ragam Shivaranjani are the same as Mohanam. The only difference is that Shivaranjani uses sadharana gandharam instead of antara gandharam, i.e. a lower flatter variety of G than Mohanam.

The Aarohana and Avarohana of Shivaranjani is as follows (I have used Hindustani notation to keep things simple at this stage as Carnatic notation can get confusing):

S R g P D S
S D P g R S

The clips above are from ragasurabhi. When you listen to them, pay particular attention to the way the note G, i.e. the Gandharam is intoned. It’s the same note, but is treated differently in each example.

The two Ragams “feel” and sound quite different. Shivaranjani has an altogether more sombre feel than Mohanam.

The video below is of ML Vasanthakumari singing Dayarani Dayarani, a composition in the Ragam Mohanam:

The video below is of ML Vasanthakumari singing Yamanelli Kananendu Helabeda in Shivaranjani:

The feel of a Raga is not learned by learning the aarohana and avarohana. That is learned through practices like learning many compositions in the ragam, learning its characteristic phrases and swara patterns, which notes to stress and where, where to ornament the notes etc and through lots of listening and practice and immersion with a Guru.

Updated to add: Thanks to Madhav who pointed to these lecture demonstrations on “allied” Ragas, i.e. Ragas with similar notes on raagabox.

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The notes in Mohanam/Bhoopali are S R G P D S. There are some missing notes (i.e. M and N). These are called varjya, varja or varjit swaras.

Sa, the adhara swara is always present as the other swaras exist in relation to it.

The number of notes in a Raga indicates its jati.

There are five notes in Mohanam/Bhoopali. Ragas with five notes are called Audava or audav-jati ragas.

Traditionally, it has been accepted that a Raga has to have a minimum of five swaras. However, Ragas of four swaras do exist.

Ragas with six swaras are called Shadava ragas.

There are many Ragas with all seven swaras. They are called Sampurna Ragas.

Examples of Sampurna Ragas are the Raga Kalyani in Carnatic music and the Raga Bhairavi in Hindustani music.

There are also Ragas with a different number of notes in the arohana and avarohana. Thus, for example, if there are five notes in the aarohana and six notes in the avarohana it will be called an Audava-Shadava Raga. If there are six notes in the aarohana and seven notes in the avarohana it will be called a Shadava-Sampurna Raga and so on.

Beware: knowing the aarohana/avarohana of a Raga does not teach one the Raga!

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Ragas are not tunes. Tunes have to follow a fixed sequence of notes. When singing a Raga one does not sing the notes in the same pattern all the time.

There is a strong improvisational aspect to performing a Raga, as long as some rules about the melodic content/conceptual framework of the Raga are followed. This framework is known as the Raga’s lakshana .

The lakshana of a Raga includes what notes are to be ornamented and how, which notes are to be stressed, which ones are to be just touched upon and which ones are to be avoided.

Another factor that can influence the lakshana of a Raga are ascending and descending note sequences.

The aaroh or aarohana is the ascending note sequence in a Raga and the avroh or the avrohana is the descending sequence.

For example, the arohana for the Ragam Mohanam (Raag Bhoopali in the Hindustani system) is as follows:
S R G P D S
and the avarohana is
S D P G R S.

(Note: when the notes are written in all capitals as above that means it is the “higher/sharper” form of each note. Remember, there is more than one form of the notes R, G, M, D, N. If I write notes in lower case, that means they take on the lower “flatter” form. Sa and Pa are fixed).

Below is a clip of the Aarohana and Avarohana of Mohanam courtesy the excellent site ragasurabhi

Another example:

The Raga Saveri’s Aarohana (ascending pattern) is
S r m P d S
and its Avarohana (descending pattern) is
S N d P m G r S

Thus, if one is performing the Raga Saveri and touching upon the notes in an ascending sequence (aarohi prayoga), one may not sing Ni though the note is present in the Raga. However, one may sing Ni if it is approached in a descending sequence (avrohi prayoga). This applies whether one is actually singing out the names of the notes, singing a text free phrase (eg by just singing the vowel aaaaaaaa), or a composition with text.

More on note patterns, aarohana and avarohana in the next post.

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There are a lot of people these days who have jumped on to the “great Indian culture” bandwagon, but sadly, there are not many, or not enough, who devote much time to this phenomenal idea, the idea of Raga. Ragas are based on those other phenomenal things-swaras (inadequately translated as notes).

Indian classical music is sometimes referred to as Raga Music.

There is no English word that properly explains the meaning the of Raga.

Raga is a Sanskrit word, that literally means “colour” or “passion.” Ragas are meant to colour the mind with emotion.

Ragas are referred to as Raag in the North and Ragam in the South. However, all three words, i.e. Raga, Raag and Ragam are understood both in the North and the South.

Ragas are made up of notes or swaras. As noted in the previous posts, there are seven basic notes (Sa, Re( or Ri), Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni) known as the saptak or the saptaswaras. Sa is repeated at the end of the scale and is higher in pitch, the exact double of the first Sa. [This higher Sa will be referred to with quotation marks in front of it like this: S"]

Remember there are also “in-between notes” known as semi-tones and microtones (srutis), which are varieties of the seven main notes/tones.

Shadja, or Sa for short, is the swara that is always present in every Raga. It is the fundamental note and all the other notes are relative to it.

Traditionally, it has been accepted that a Raga has to have a minimum of 5 swaras. However, Ragas with fewer notes have been invented/discovered. The contemporary singer and composer Dr. Balamuralikrishna is famous for his Raga creations that have only three or four notes.

The reason why Indian Raga music sounds the way it does is because of the special treatment that is given to the seven notes and the use of microtones. The microtones are touched upon by using various techniques to ornament the notes, known as “gamaka,” “meend” etc.

Learning where to stress a note, where to ornament it, which one to give importance to, and which one needs to be gently caressed with a feather, so as to just give a hint of it, are things that can only be learned from a teacher and through a lot of listening.

A demonstration of some of what has been discussed above is provided in some enjoyable videos by Rama Varma, who discusses the Raga Shankarabharnam, a major raga of Carnatic music. He uses the word “gamakam” which refers to note ornamentation in Carnatic music.

Though different types of gamakas/gamakams are used in Carnatic and Hindustani music, what Rama Varma says is useful in understanding how notes can be differently ornamented and stressed in Ragas in general. A gamakam is also sometimes said to be an “oscillation” of a note.

Another video that is worth rewatching at this point is the one by Dhanashree Pandit Rai which I had posted earlier. The only quibble I have with this video is that Ragas are referred to as tunes, which they are not.

Distinguishing features of Ragas including ascending and descending sequences of notes, characteristic phrases etc will be discussed in more detail in following posts.

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