Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c5.1

c5.1

The conception of Rāgas is one of the basic principles of the system of Indian Music. A rāga (*Vulgo Rāg*) is generally mis-translated as a tune, air, or key. It is, in fact, a peculiar conception, having no exact parallel in any other system of music. Literally, rāga is something that colours, or tinges the mind with some definite feeling,—a wave of passion, or emotion.¹ In a special sense, a rāga is a sonal composition of musical notes (*svaras*) having a sequence, form, or structure of a peculiar significance. Some of its component notes stand in a significant relationship to one another to give a character to the rāga, *e.g.*, the starting, or initial note (*graha svara*), the predominant or expressive note (*amśa svara*), and the terminating, or the final note (*nyāsa svara*), has each a peculiar significance in the composition of a rāga.