Indian Rāgas 101: Jaunpuri

One of the most confounding facts about Indian music is that the same combination of notes may convey entirely different moods, depending on the way they are served. For example, the notes

S R g M P d n S`

Are common to a lot many raags; in fact, the combination of komal ga, komal dha & komal ni defines a thaat, Asavri.

Minor scales and Asavri

Incidentally, this is the same combination of notes

C D D# F G G# A# C`

that’s known as the C natural minor scale in Western music; a very common variants of the minor scale, the harmonic minor

C D D# F G G# B C`

translates to

S R g M P d N S`

(only the ni has changed, from komal to shuddha ni), has no equivalent in Indian raags; there is no thaat where there is combination of komal ga and komal dha. In similar vein, the melodic minor

S R g M P D N S`

(i.e. only a komal ga) has no Indian equivalent.

The movement of Darbari and Jaunpuri

Here’s the ascent and descent in raag Darbari, (which is quite grave)

The characteristic motif in Darbari is the hop during descent: S d n P, instead of S n d P (and also, unlike Jaunpuri, there is a komal ni during ascent). This little tweak imparts a profoundly sombre mood to the raag. Add to the fact that Darbari usually spends more time in the lower half of the octave.

The way Darbari is played, things tend to gravitate towards lower frequencies

Whereas, the mood of Jaunpuri, although using the same notes, is solemn and sacrificial; the ascent-descent routine produces a different spectrogram altogether

There is no komal ni to glide over during the ascent, the notes jump from komal dha directly to sa`. (Can you see it in the spectrogram)

A visible jump between low and higher end of the octaves

This little tweak also alters the time these two raags ought to be played: Jaunpuri in midmorning, Darabari at midnight. Jaunpuri moves with quick jumps between notes, often skipping 3–4 notes in between.

The canonical example of Jaunpuri is a quite well known Bhajan, which has been remade numerous times.

In fact, the next canonical example would be the same song remade into Bengali, by Nazrul Islam

The Asavri thaat has only a select set of Raags, which are not very dissimilar from each other in notation, but each imparts a very specific mood. I find Jaunpuri overtly sombre, often to the point of being shrill, in its devotional avatar. Darbari is a little self obsessed in its celebration of despair. And there’s Adana (ara-na), oh the out-of-this-world cosmic feel of Adana! However, the same notes can be rearranged to produce quite different results, although the framework of the thaat has to be bent ever so slightly, like using shuddha ni — N. Apart from such minor departures, Asavri fits several western compositions nicely.