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The jump Sa-Ma, the fourth, dominates raga-s like Kedar, Bahar,
Bageshri,Bhimpalasi, Bhairava, Shahana, etc. Out of these, probably, Kedar
is the only raga which includes teevra Ma. . [Kedar has another jump -- Pa
to taar Sa' also].
The raga Kedar is instantly established, while ascending, by Sa, Ma, Pa --
just three notes.Sa, of course, is mandatory in all the raga-s (though Marwa
almost tends to avoid Sa -- at least delays it). The remaining two notes,
Ma and Pa, represent the essence of consonance in Indian music, depicting
shadja-madhyama and shadja-panchama bhaava-s. So, we fully establish,
without any scope for doubt, Kedar by just Sa, Ma, and Pa. One reason for
this unique situation is, that the poorvanga (lower tetrachord) in Kedar is
almost vacant. The note Re is included, but when you take Re, you have to
go back to Sa, to be able to go to Ma. Re also acts as a leading note to Sa.
Re beautifies Ma, being its third. Hence it is included. We cannot help
singing Ga when we do Ma to Pa: Ma (Ga) Pa. Ga hardly amounts even to a
kana-swara, but aesthetically its inclusion sounds embellishing. Also,
including teevra Ma in the cluster Pa-(teevra Ma)-Dha-Pa, is natural and
attractive.
Going to uttaranga (upper tetrachord), if we take Pa Dha Pa, and go to the
taar Sa', we do NOT need Ni -- neither komal, not shuddha. So also, while
descending, if we take Sa' Sa' Dha Pa, it sounds complete -- nothing seems
to be missing. However, if we do not do Sa' Sa', and plan to go to Dha Pa
from Sa', we automatically touch shuddha Ni. So, now shuddha Ni is included,
too. But not komal Ni. We can sing kedar without taking komal Ni.
What about komal Ni? First of all, when included, komal Ni can be only
avarohi (descending), and has to be a part of a phrase like
Dha-(komal)Ni-Dha-Pa. Inclusion of komal Ni seems to satisfy a peculiar
aesthetic need for it in several raga-s like Bhairav, Deskar, Ustad Faiyaz
Khan saheb's Maru Bihag, etc.
Noteworthy is the fact that Re, teevra Ma, Dha, komal Ni, and shuddha Ni,
exist only as parts of their respective phrases: nyasa is not allowed on any
of them. [You can dwell on Re a little].
To sum up, in Kedar, Sa, Ma, Pa, Re, and the fifth note -- which is
mandatory for a raga to be formed -- truly fulfil the aesthetics of Kedar.
All other notes, teevra Ma, komal Ni, and shuddha Ni, are there mainly for
aesthetics. Of course, it can be very rightly argued that, a raga is first
amd foremost, an expression of aesthetics. Shastra comes in the picture
later. And that is absolutely right.
One more point: When both the lower and the higher variations of a note
occur in a raga (komal Ni and shuddha Ni in case of Kedar), the lower
variation is used when descending (avarohi). We may have inherited this
aesthetically significant application from folk music.
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