During this Navaratri utsav I have had a chance to enjoy a lot of music (of all types). I became curious about the names of various Goddesses and their names being used for various raags. I heard a beautiful raagmaalaa in Raag Durga, that inspired me to pen something about the Pentatonic tune. The research led me to Malhars, Kamod, Kedar, Shyam Kalyan and allied raags. Thus came the two-part series related to Raag Durga !
Durga and Malhar
Durga and Shuddha Malhar share the same set of swars but differ in their gait. Pentatonic Durga is a pleasant raag with Sa Re Ma Pa Dha Sa having all shuddha swars. It has a straigt gait in aaroha and avaroha bringing out some resemblance to Bhoop. In fact, it can be turned into Bhoop by changing the base note (Sa) to Madhyam (Ma)
The chalan and pakad of Malhar gives it the characteristic "Ang" called Malhar ang. Malhar or Mal (मल) har (हर ) .. one that cleanses and removes the dirt/malaise! The raag associated with the season of Rains. There are books written on types of Malhars. Balwantrai Bhatt is the "musical Sage" who is credited as the most knowledgeable person in modern times about "Malhar". There are stories about Tansen, being able to cause rains by singing "Miyan Malhar".
Almost all raags have been mixed with "Malhar" to form a Jod-raag (amalgamated raag). The characteristic DNA of any Malhar has the following phrases of notes:
M (M)R (M)R P
The intonation of Rishab (R) graced by the Madhyam is characteristic for "Malhar ang" and is the DNA of Malhar!
The nominal M R P construct is common to raag Durga. The key phrases of raag Durga are:
(P)D (P)M R P and S R (S)D’ S
The following rendition by Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande is one that has the crux of Raag Durga .. the romance that is brought by Rains (Malhar) .. Ata hi ghanghor !
Naina Najara Lagaaye"
Here is a Raagmala in Raag Durga, that inspired these blogposts, called Devi Raagmala beautifully composed by Saurabh Savoor and sung by Savani Shende, having the flavors of 24 raags spread around Raag Durga. A perfect audio treat on the festive occasion of Navaratri.
1 Durga दुर्गा 2 Jaijaivanti जयजयवंती 3 Des देस 4 Sarang सारंग 5 Tilak Kamod तिलक कामोद 6 Sohoni सोहनी 7 Lalat ललित 8 Saraswati सरस्वती 9 Bageshree बागेश्री 10 Rageshree रागेश्री 11 Kalavati कलावती 12 Hansadwani हंसध्वनी 13 Kalyan (यमन) कल्याण 14 Bhoop भूप 15 Puriya पूरीया 16 Shree श्री 17 Shivaranjani शिवरंजनी 18 Ambika अंबिका 19 Shankara शंकरा 20 Nand आनंदी (नंद) 21 Dev Gandhaar (देव गांधार) 22 Bhairav भैरव 23 Darbari दरबारी 24 Bhairavi भैरवी.
Here is my continuously updated playlist of Raag Durga.
Concluding this blog with a quote from Rajan Parrikar:
"The Indian sages of yore clearly understood that the pursuit of music paves the way to paramAnanda (Supreme Bliss). The profundity of music reveals itself through manan-chintan (reflection) and anubhava (wisdom born out of experience). Appreciation of the finer points of raga does not come by easy; it is purchased through considerable training and musical maturity."