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Regarding the creation of raga-s, a study of several raga-s has resulted in
deriving some generalisations. Many of those are formalized statements of
the obvious. It should be noted that the aesthetics of the raga gets
precedence over the theory of the raga. The following are among the more
important guidelines:
1. The "Sa" (called tonic, or the key) can never be absent in a raga. The
"Sa" in a raga is the reference note. The remaining notes can be defined
only in relation to "Sa". Hence the Sanskrit name of Sa: shadja. It means
generator of the six (notes), namely, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni.
Exception: There can be no exception to the fact of "Sa" being the
reference note. However, the "Sa" is de-emphasized during the performance
of the raga Marwa.
2. A raga does not have less than five notes. And, it cannot have more
than seven notes.
Exceptions: e.g. only four notes comprise the raga Malashri (Sa, Ga, Pa, Ni).
3. A raga can exclude either "Ma", or "Pa"; but no raga excludes both "Ma"
and "Pa" simultaneously.
4, A raga has to have at least one note in each of the two anga-s
(tetrachords).
The presence of "Sa" being mandatory, this means that each raga must have
present at least one of RE, Ga, and Ma; and at least one of Pa, Dha, Ni
and Sa. Of course, the rule #2 and #3 are presumed to have already been
observed.
The two anga-s are: (i) poorvanga: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma; (ii) uttaranga: Pa,
Dha, Ni. The anga-s are often represented as Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa, and
Ma-Pa-Dha-Ni-Sa respectively.
5. Two variations of the same note are not performed one immediately after
the other.
Examples of two variations of the same note: (1) shuddha Ma, teevra Ma;
komal Ga, shuddha Ga, etc.
Exception: e.g. in the raga Lalit, shuddha Ma and teevra Ma are sung one
immediately after the other.
6. An indication about a raga can be given in terms of its aroha, avaroha,
vadi-samvadi and the thaat to which is assigned.
Notes: (1) Since a raga can be aesthetically represented by its note
patterns, mere aroha-avaroha can be uninformative and even misleading. (2)
There can exist difference of opinions regarding the vadi-samvadi of a
raga. (3) Some raga-s, like Madhukaus, Chandrakaus cannot be
satisfactorily classified in terms of the ten thaat-s.
7. The sonant (vadi) and consonant (samvadi) represent several aspects of
the theory as well as the aesthetics of a raga. Two important points to
note: (1) The samvadi is either the fourth (shadja-madhyama bhaava), or
the fifth (shadja-panchama bhaava) from the vadi; (2) If the vadi is
located in the poorvanga, its associated samvadi will be located in the
uttaranga, and vice versa.
Examples of shadja-madhyama bhaava: Sa-Ma, Re-Pa, Dha-Ga (Dha, Pa, Ma, Ga).
Examples of shadja-panchama bhaava: Sa-Pa, Ma-Sa (Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa),
Ga-Ni.
8. According to a general feeling, the poorvanga-pradhana raga-s get
represented better in the ascending mode; conversely, the
uttarang-pradhana raga-s get represented better in the descending mode.
- to continue -
2003/09/01
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