WHAT IS A RAGA? | ITS STRUCTURAL FEATURES | ITS CLASSIFICATION | RAGAMALA | RAGAS IN PERFORMANCE | TALAS IN PERFORMANCE | RAGA THERAPY | RAGA NOTATIONS | RAGA TIMINGS | HINDI FILM SONGS based on ragas | DICTIONARY

By the 13th century, the ancient performance traditions had largely vanished. The modes (jatis) of a repertory of sacred and dramatic songs had been replaced by ragas, the modes of a repertory of secular songs. The number of ragas had also expanded dramatically. Nonetheless, musicologists still attempted to reconcile the old theory with contemporary practice. The assumption that one or more particular sentiments (rasas) were associated with a raga, remained as a convention, and the idea that each raga should be performed at a certain time of day or during a certain season would continue to be an aspect of the theory and practice of North Indian music as well. Often a colour, deity, planet or animal was associated with the raga. This idea was carried through in the raga-ragini systems, in which the images of 'male' ragas and 'female' raginis, and the emotions they expressed, played a crucial role.

In music literature from the 14th century onwards, ragas and raginis are frequently described in a short Sanskrit verse (dhyana, 'contemplation'). In these poems they are personified as a particular deity or as a hero and heroine (nayaka and nayika) in various traditional love scenes. Later, these raga-ragini images were portrayed in series of paintings, known as ragamalas ('garlands of ragas'). As H. J. Stooke puts it: "Poetry, painting and music were thus brought into a new relationship."

A ragamala album usually contains 36 or 42 folios. The paintings portray a human or divine figure, with or without other persons, in a somewhat stereotyped romantic or devotional setting. Usually the central figure has one or more characteristic emblems. Most paintings are inscribed with the name of the raga or ragini they represent, and often also a dhyana. The pictorial descriptions of Shubhankara (c.1550), Meshakarna (1570), and particularly Damodara (c.1625) seem to have had the greatest impact on the ragamala-painters. Most likely these authors, or the painters themselves, based their descriptions on earlier, hitherto unknown sources. According to Klaus Ebeling, a great majority of the painters used the following raga-ragini system:

In the 19th century, ragamala painting ceased to be a living art. Many of the ragas and raginis that had undergone transformations over the centuries were still classified and portrayed in an iconographically stereotyped fashion. Interestingly, Willard (1834) remarks that the ragamalas "offered for sale are sometimes so incorrect, that scarcely one of the representations is strictly in conformity with the descriptions given in books."

Most present-day musicians do not see a direct connection between the poetical descriptions and the painted raga-ragini images, and the feelings a particular raga can evoke. However, we have included these images in The Raga Guide because of their artistic, philosophical and historical significance, and because we believe they are an important key to understanding the musical meaning of individual ragas.

WHAT IS A RAGA? | ITS STRUCTURAL FEATURES | ITS CLASSIFICATION | RAGAMALA | RAGAS IN PERFORMANCE | TALAS IN PERFORMANCE | RAGA THERAPY | RAGA NOTATIONS | RAGA TIMINGS | HINDI FILM SONGS based on ragas | DICTIONARY