Chandraprabha | SRmdNS | Hindustani Raga Index

S-R-m-d-N-S

A magical audav raga matching the scale of ‘Chandrakauns with Re instead of ga’ (or ‘Kirwani no ga/Pa‘, thus allowing for poorvang shades of Sarang. Benares bansuriya Ajay Prasanna cites the raga as a creation of his father Bhola Nath Prasanna, adding that Chandraprabha “celebrates the light and glow of the moon…its serene calmness and mystery, hiding behind the clouds and occasionally glowing from behind them”. The best full-length instrumental renditions I can find are by Bismillah Khan (shehnai: see transcription below) and Happu Khan (violin) – with stellar vocal efforts coming from Akbar Ali (live at the 2015 Lahore Music Forum), Faiyaz & Niyaz Ahmed Khan (a masterful 1971 duet), Inayat Kaur Bajaj (in her words: “this raga feels like a forgotten dream”), and Zeeshan Khan (“he renders the full-speed aakar taans and sargams of the Rampur-Sahaswan gayaki”). Also see other ragas ‘enclosed’ by Kirwani and other ‘fragmented‘ ragas (=where over half the swaras are ‘detached‘) – and compare to Sarangkauns (which takes komal ni instead) and Rasaranjani (shuddha Dha instead; and the only other audav raga in the index to entirely omit both Ga and Pa).

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राग चन्द्रप्रभा

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• Hindustani Raga Index •

Aroha: SRm, dNS

Avroh: SNdm, RS

Chalan: e.g. S, Sdm, mdNS, mdNRS, dSNRS, SRRm, mR NSRS, SRm, Rmdm, mdN Nd, NS, dNSRS, RNSdm, RmdNdm, mdmNdm, RmR, dSNRS (OOR)

—Bismillah Khan (~1980s)—

[taans & gat, e.g. 8:20] S(R)S R(m)R m(d)m d(N)S S(N)d d(R), RmdNS dNS SNdmR mdNSR SNdm mdNS(dmR); RmdNS N\d, d\m, m\R mdm, R R(S)S; RmdNS N\d…

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• Recent Raga Index Updates (Nov 2025): Added new ragas: e.g. Asa, Basant Bahar, Badhans Sarang, Bayati, Chandni Todi, Chandraprabha, Deepavali, Firozkhani Todi, Gaud, Japaniya, Kaushiki, Kokilapriya, Latangi, Maru, Palas, Sarangkauns, Shanmukhpriya, Shivanjali, Shrutivardhini • Analysed the overlap of DoGa Kalyan and the Beatles’ Blue Jay Way • Amir Khan’s ‘168 merukhands’ • Uncovered Prabhateshwari‘s origins • Transcribed Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar’s ‘Amodini‘ lec-dems • Experiments (e.g overtonal Bhairav, jazz Malkauns) • Survey of Sa Tunings • More Masterlist ragas (1000+)

• Classifiers •

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

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

Symmetries: Mirror | Rotation | Palindr.

Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

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

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Murchana: Bhup. | Bihag | Bilaw. | Charu.

Raganga: Bhairav | Malhar | Kan. | Todi

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: (none found)

Also see other audav ragas which omit Ga and Pa

–Swara Geometries–

• Core form: S–R–m–d–N–S

• Reverse: SrGPnS (=Sundarkali)

• Negative: 1-2-1-2-1-2-3

• Imperfect: 4 (Sa, Re, dha, Ni)

• Detached: 3 (Re, dha, Ni)

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Harikauns (on Re)

• Quirks: ‘fragmented‘ (at least half the swaras are detached)

–Global Translations–

• Carnatic: Priyadarshini

S-R₂-M₁-D₁-N₃-S

• Jazz: Harmonic Minor (no 3rd/5th)

1-2-4-b6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-5-8-11-0

(2–3–3–3–1)

o • o • • o • • o • • o o

• Tanpura: Sa–ma

• Names: Chandraprabha, Chandra Prabha, Chandraphrapbha

• Transliterations: Hindi (चन्द्रप्रभा)

—Faiyaz & Niyaz Ahmed Khan (1971)—

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Sa | Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

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George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Homepage for more, and hit me up for Lessons!