Raga Comparison - Kaushiki and Malkauns

Background

In an earlier article, we surveyed several systems of Raga classification which have been used in Indian Classical music. While these systems have their differences, the common thread in all classification systems is the concept of a Janaka (parent Raga) and a Janya (derivative Raga). The parent and derivative Ragas share a common tuning system and note intervals.

In this series of articles, we select some popular Ragas, analyze their scales and examine the parent-child relationship between them.

Introduction

For this article, we have selected two related Ragas, namely, Kaushiki, also sometimes referred to as Kaishiki, and Malkauns.

Raga Kaushiki is an ancient Jati scale mentioned in our scriptures. Raga Malkauns is ofcourse a very popular Raga, also called Raga Hindolam in the Carnatic tradition of Indian Classical music. It is believed that Malkauns or Malakosh is an abbreviation of Malava Kaushiki.

By means of this article, we will see how these Ragas relate to each other and how they can be seen to share a common tuning system.

Reference Pitch and Basic Intervals

Before we begin, let us start with the concept of the fundamental note Sa. In Indian Classical music, all musical notes are defined based on their relationship with Sa. You can use the settings below to set the Sa to any pitch you prefer. All the demos on this page would play according to this setting.

Next, it is useful to familiarize ourselves with the four basic intervals of Dviguna (octave), Pancham (fifth), Madhyam (fourth) and Gandhar (major third). You can play and check these intervals using the keyboard below (just click Start to activate and tap a key to play). Here Sa denotes the fundamental and Ga, ma, Pa and SA denote the Gandhar, Madhyam, Pancham and Dviguna respectively. Note that the notes here do not match up with today's standard 12 tone equally tempered scale.

As you can hear, Pancham, Madhyam and Gandhar are pleasant sounding intervals. For the musically inclined, they may be recognisable by ear. These are the most fundamental intervals in Indian Classical music which a trained musician is expected to recognize with a fine level of precision.

Scale for Raga Kaushiki

Let us start by examining some common phrases in Raga Kaushiki. Here are a few fragments of phrases which are used to construct musical phrases in Raga Kaushiki.

ni' Re ni' Sa
ni' Sa ga Sa
Sa ma ga ma ga Re Sa
ma dha ni ma ni dha ma
ga ma dha ma ga dha ma
ma ni dha ni SA ni dha Pa ga Pa ma ga Re SA

Based on these phrase fragments, we can deduce the note relationships required for the phrases to sound correct and aesthetically appealing. Using the basic intervals introduced above, we can see that:

• ma being an achor point for this Raga, it would sound most pleasing if Sa ma is a consonant interval.

• The phrase ni' Re ni' Sa would sound pleasing if (ni',Re) is a Antara Gandhara interval. Note however that the usage of Re is Alpatva and Hrasva (less frequent and short duration, respectively).

• If we take the phrase ni' Sa ga ni' ga Sa, it would sound most pleasing if (ni',ga) is a consonant Madhyam interval.

• If we analyse the phrase ma dha ni ma ni dha ma, it is like a play between ma and ni. A consonant (ma,ni) interval (i.e., Madhyam) would make the phrase aesthetically most pleasing.

• Similarly, if we analyse the phrase ga ma dha ma ga dha ma, it would sound best if (ga,dha) is a Madhyam interval.

• In this Raga, the usage of Pa (like with Re, as noted above) is considered Alpatva and Hrasva. Typically, it is used as dha Pa dha ga Pa ma, where (ga,Pa) forms an Antara Gandhara interval.

It is important to note that in addition to the phrases, it is equally important to pay attention to the timing of notes in a phrase, and the usage characteristics like Alpatva, Bahutva, Hrasva or Deergha of the notes in the phrase to determine the appropriate pairings.

Using the above analysis of the phrases, the scale for Raga Kaushiki can be built using the Scale Builder tool with the following inter-note relationships.

(Sa,ma) = I(m)
(ma,ni) = I(m)
(ni',Re) = I(G)
(ni',ga) = I(m)
(ga,Pa) = I(G)
(ga,dha) = I(m)

The above relationships result in the following scale. Click Start below to expand the scale controls. Then play each note one at a time. For each note, observe how it sounds in relation to other notes in the scale.

Drone for Raga Kaushiki

Before we compare Raga Kaushiki with Raga Malkauns, let us start with the drone track for Raga Kaushiki. Click Start below and listen to the drone track for some time.

After you have spent some time and feel comfortable with the drone track, you can move to the subsequent sections. Let the drone track continue to play while you read and listen to the remainder of this article.

Sample phrases in Raga Kaushiki

Here are some simple phrases to understand the scale and structure of Raga Kaushiki.

Sa ga ma dha Pa(G)(-4,4,-4,2.5) ma ga Pa(G)(-4,4,-4,2.5) ma ga
ma dha ni dha Pa(G)(-4,4,-4,2.5) ma ga Re Sa 2

Raga Malkauns

Raga Malkauns is a pentatonic Raga with the scale Sa ga ma dha ni. This scale is very popular across India, and is called Raga Hindolam in the Carnatic tradtion. Here we present it as a derivative of Raga Kaushiki.

The important inter-note relationships in Raga Malkauns are as follows:

(Sa,ma) = I(m)
(ga,dha) = I(m)
(ma,ni) = I(m)

If you observe closely, you can see that these relationships are already present Raga Kaushiki. So, by dropping Re and Pa (which are Varjit or prohibited), we can arrive at the required scale with the required symmetry for Raga Malkauns.

Many of the Kaushiki phrases can directly be rendered in Raga Malkauns just by dropping the Varjit notes. For example, the phrase Sa ma ga ma ga Re Sa can be rendered in Raga Malkauns as Sa ma ga ma ga Sa. It also has its own characteristic phrases such as ni' Sa ga Sa, Sa ma ga Sa, where the important intervals of (ni',ga) and (Sa,ma) are used prominently.

Here is a sample phrase in Raga Malkauns.

ni' Sa ma ga ma dha ma dha ni dha ma ga Sa 2

Concluding Remarks

In this article, we looked at Ragas Kaushiki and Malkauns. We examined a few of their signature phrases and applied the basic intervals of Madhyam and Antara Gandhar to tune the scale for making it aesthetically appealing. We found that the note relationships and symmetry required for Raga Malkauns is already present in Raga Kaushiki. Thus, Raga Kaushiki, as a Sampoorna (Heptatonic) Raga, can be considered a Janaka (parent) Raga, while Raga Malkauns can be considered as a Janya (derivative) Raga. They share a common tuning system and some common Lakshanas. Therefore, they can be performed with the same drone tuning which supports the complete scale of Raga Kaushiki.

Category and Tags

Comparison of RagasComparison of RagasLakshyaLakshyaLakshanaLakshanaKaushikiKaushikiKaishikiKaishikiMalkaunsMalkaunsHindolamHindolam