S-r-G-mM-P-d-N-S

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Poorvi is a long-lived sunset raga from East India, which some describe as evoking a ‘serious mood of mystical contemplation’. Mixing narrow and wide intervals (all swaras have at least one immediate neighbour), its complex twists and turns belie the base scale’s neat, palindromic nature – with Sa and Pa sometimes being omitted or rendered durbal in ascent in order to ‘obscure’ these geometric balances, set amidst Ma-mixing phrase patterns such as rmG, GMPd, PMGmrG. Generally considered to have evolved from an archaic form of Bhairav (the same scale minus tivra Ma), the raga’s modern incarnation is proximate to Puriya Dhanashree (which omits shuddha ma) – and prakriti with Paraj, Prabhat Bhairav, and Lalit Pancham‘s komal dha incarnation. Also see overlapping ragas including Reva, Purba, and Baradi.

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Aroha: SrGMP, MdNS

Avroh: S, NrNdP, dMGMrG, MGrS

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Chalan: e.g. SNSrG; MGrG; r(G)mG; rGMP; dMPM; Gm(r)G; MdNS; S; NrNd; P; dMGm(r)G; rSNSrG (Parrikar)

–Jyoti Hegde (2014)–

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“Purvika, in gold-woven garments; Bright and charming as the moon, holding a cup of wine and a parrot, attended to by woman; Graceful and lively like the fawn: her lover’s head rests in her lap…” (Sangita Raga-Kalpadruma)

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—Context—

Origins, myths, quirks, & more

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• Ragmalas •

Historic miniature paintings (learn more)

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“Purvi Ragini: a woman pines for her lover, seated in a palace courtyard. Her attendant is holding a peacock-feather fan, while another attendant on the right holds a crescent-shaped fan. The woman’s ‘crab’s claw’ gesture suggests physical ease and desire…” (Deccan, c.1770) / “Purvi: a female figure sits on a chair in a terrace, her hands outstreched in the form of a circle above her head. It is daytime, and the sky is cloudy…” (Jaipur, c.1800)

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“Purvi Ragini, from a folio” (unknown, c.1790) / “Purvi: from a series of 36 paintings, illustrated with verse…” (unknown, c.1750)

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—Phraseologies—

Melodies, movements, characteristics…

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[coming soon]

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—Moumita Mitra demo (2023)—

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“A few basic details of Poorvi: NSrG is frequent, and NrG is used too. Shuddha ma is taken as a sangati with komal re, and tivra Ma and komal dha are longer than Pa. The uttarang can be similar to Puriya Dhanashree [MdNrNDP], and the poorvang can be similar to Basant [MdSNdP]…” (Moumita Mitra)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Waseem Ahmed Khan (2021)–

• Agra khayal (13m): showcasing resonant sruti control alongside dense matra-divisions in vilambit ektal, augmented by expressive hand-waves which reveal how he feels the raga’s unfolding twists and turns – live from Darbar 2021 with Milind Kulkarni on harmonium and Gurdain Rayatt on tabla (watch their full rendition on the Darbar Player):

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[khayal, e.g. 5:27] (SN)SGM(PM)P, (GMG)P, (NSN)SGMP MP MG (MGmGP) m(G), G(GS)MG dMGr Gr(G)S, d\Md(SN)S (N)rS SS(N)S, (dM)d S(NS)…

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–Mita Nag (2022)–

• Bishnupur sitar (43m): an unaccompanied alap–jor–jhalla, replete with right-hand finesse and patient mandra explorations derived from her gharana’s Dhrupad roots (as per her preface to the recital, “Poorvi is a sunset raga, with a beautiful touch of the Bhairav–ang: the application of shuddha ma and komal re is very unique, and gives the raga its colour and its splendour…”):

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[motifs, e.g. 31:55] NNN rGMP PPP, NrGMP PPP, MGMG PMPM dPdP dPMP MGMG MPdMPM NdPMPd MPGMP GMGPMdM, rrrGGG rrrMMM…

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–Further Recordings–

• Pelva Naik (10m): an outdoor solo for Darbar VR360 (Stephen Berry: “I pictured the blue pinprick of Earth in the Martian sky…”)
• Aslam Khan (13m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“Oh friend, how do I describe the dream in which I saw my beloved embracing me?”)
• Jonathan Kay (12m): playing a Prasun Banerjee composition on his ‘shrutiphone’ (modified tenor sax), with Ashis Paul on tabla
• Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar (18m): another stellar Darbar VR360 rendition, lit by the lakeside sunset near Mulshi, Maharashtra
• Kishori Amonkar (22m): aided by Manik Verma on a raga she barely recorded (prior to 1985, given the lack of a swarmandal)
• Vilayat Khan (25m): a captivating alap, decorated with the Imdadkhani master’s full range of intricate, delicate ornaments
• Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (35m): singing the Charan Parasat bandish in America (also hear the drut: Awan Kaha Gaye)
• Poornima Kulkarni (44m): a composition by her guru Murli Manohar Shukla, live from FEA’s Crossroads Festival in 2019
• Shashwati Mandal (44m): a Diwali concert with the husband-wife harmonium–tabla duo of Seema & Vishwanath Shirodkar
• Bismillah Khan (47m): “like evening worship at a temple: when they started, it seemed like shankh dhwani [conch-shell sound]”)
• Ravi Shankar (61m): from a 1986 Delhi show (in the comments, Mita Nag hails “the purity and perfection of his ragadari…”)

• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Raga Mood (V Balsara)—

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Strident melodic writing from the renowned filmi composer, famous for his varied sonic explorations – with finely-balanced double-Ma interplay bringing new power to Poorvi’s core essences (from his 1968 Raga Mood album)

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• Classifiers •

Explore hidden inter-raga connections: swara geometries, melodic features, murchana sets, ragangas, & more (also see the Full Tag List):

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Swaras: -4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10+

Sapta: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Poorvang: SRGM | SRG | SRM | SGM

Uttarang: PDNS | PDS | PNS | DNS

Varjit: Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

Double: rR | gG | mM | dD | nN

Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact

Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra

Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Raganga: Bhairav | Malhar | Kan. | Todi

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: Paraj, Paraj Kalingada, Prabhat Bhairav

–Proximate Forms–

Bhatiyar = ‘Poorvi shuddha Dha‘

Roopkali = ‘Poorvi double Re‘

Lalita Gauri = ‘Poorvi double Dha‘

Ramkali = ‘Poorvi double Ni‘

(n.b. these are just ‘scalar similarities’, with nothing particular implied about phraseological overlap)

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–r–G–mM–P–d–N–S

• Reverse: SrGmMPdNS (=itself)

• Negative: 4-1-6-1

• Imperfect: 2 (Pa, dha)

• Detached: none

• Symmetries: mirror (S—M)

• Murchanas: none

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• Quirks: ‘palindromic‘ (same intervals forwards & backwards)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Kamavardhini

S-R₁-G₃-M₁-M₂-P-D₁-N₃-S

• Jazz: Double Harmonic (dbl. 4th)

1-b2-3-4-#4-5-b6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-1-4-5-6-7-8-11-0

(1–3–1–1–1–1–3–1)

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o o • • o o o o o • • o o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+Ni)

• Names: Poorvi, Purvi, Purava, Purvagauda, (not Purba)

• Transliterations: Hindi (पूर्वी); Bengali (পুরবী)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Poorvi: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Bada khayal by Agra vocalist Waseem Ahmed Khan (2021)
• Header image: ‘Cloudy sunset on the Goan beach’ (Commons)

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