Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c8.60

c8.60

Thus, the vādī note will determine whether a rāga belongs to the Pūrva, or Uttara group, and an analysis of the note-structure will determine during what quarter of the day or night, a particular rāga is fit to be sung. Another determinant element is offered by the use of the note sharpened ‘ma’ (tīvra madhyama). “Most of the rāgas taking a tīvra ma in their construction are rāgas assigned to the period between sunset and sunrise. The note Madhyama (f), therefore is looked upon as an ‘Adva-darśika’ or guiding note.² This function of the note ‘ma’ (f) is very picturesquely illustrated by Vyankatamakhi in his Catur-daṇḍi-prakāśikā: ‘Just as by a drop of curd, a jar of sweet milk is converted to the quality of curd, so by the introduction of the note ‘ma’, a Pūrva rāga melody is turned into an Uttara-rāga melody.”³ Pandit Bhatkhande cites Pūrvī and Bhairava; Kalyāṇa and Bilāwala as practical illustrations of this principle. Thus, the