Everything you need to know about navigating LearnRagas.com and understanding Indian classical music ragas
Explore our collection of 75+ ragas with complete notation and characteristics
Understand ragas organized by their melodic framework (thaat)
Find ragas by name, thaat, rasa, or time of performance
Many ragas include flute renditions to help you hear their beauty
A raga (राग) is a melodic framework in Indian classical music. It's more than just a scale—it's a complete musical personality with specific ascending (aroha) and descending (avaroha) patterns, characteristic phrases (pakad), mood (rasa), and time of performance.
Start with popular ragas like Yaman, Bhairav, or Bhupali. These are foundational ragas that will help you understand the basic structure. Visit our "Learn" section for theory basics, then explore individual raga pages to see their notation and listen to audio examples.
Not necessarily! We provide audio examples for many ragas. However, learning basic sargam notation (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni) will greatly enhance your understanding. We use simple, clear notation with komal (flat) swaras underlined for easy identification.
Underlined swaras (like R, G, D, N) represent komal swaras (कोमल स्वर), which are flat notes. For example, G is komal Gandhar (flat G), different from regular G (shuddh Gandhar).
Aroha (आरोह) is the ascending scale of a raga, showing how notes move upward from Sa to Sa'. Avaroha (अवरोह) is the descending scale, showing how notes move downward from Sa' to Sa. These patterns define the raga's basic structure.
Pakad (पकड़) is the characteristic phrase or catch phrase of a raga. It's like the raga's signature—a specific pattern of notes that immediately identifies the raga and captures its essence.
Vadi (वादी) is the most prominent note in a raga, while samvadi (संवादी) is the second most important note. These notes are emphasized during performance and help define the raga's character.
Thaat (थाट) is a parent scale or melodic framework in Hindustani classical music. There are 10 thaats (Bilawal, Khamaj, Kafi, Bhairav, Poorvi, Marwa, Asavari, Bhairavi, Todi, Kalyan), and each raga belongs to one of them.
Use the search bar on the homepage or in the header. You can search by raga name in English or Hindi, by thaat, by rasa (mood), or by time of performance (morning, evening, night, etc.).
Yes! Each raga has a traditional time of performance. You can browse ragas by visiting the ragas page and using filters, or look for time-based categories in the navigation.
On raga detail pages, look for the "Listen to Raga" section (usually after the Musical Structure). Click the play button to hear a flute rendition of the raga. Note that not all ragas have audio yet—we're continuously adding more.
Yes! We provide bilingual content with English and Hindi (Devanagari) throughout the site. Raga names, technical terms, and descriptions are shown in both languages to honor the tradition and ensure global accessibility.
You can print individual raga pages using your browser's print function (Ctrl+P or Cmd+P). For personal educational use, you're welcome to save or print content. However, please don't redistribute or use it commercially without permission.
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Musical note. The seven basic swaras are: Sa (षड्ज), Re (ऋषभ), Ga (गान्धार), Ma (मध्यम), Pa (पंचम), Dha (धैवत), Ni (निषाद).
Flat note. Re, Ga, Dha, and Ni can be komal (lowered by a semitone). Shown with underline in our notation.
Sharp note. Only Ma can be tivra (raised by a semitone). Shown as Ma# or तीव्र म.
Classification by number of notes. Audav (5 notes), Shadav (6 notes), or Sampurna (7 notes).
The emotional essence or mood of a raga. Examples: Shringar (romantic), Veer (heroic), Shant (peaceful).
Each raga has an ideal time for performance based on its mood and note structure—morning, afternoon, evening, or night.