(S-R-G-m-P-D-nN-S)
Strictly speaking, Deepak is a ‘lost raga’, chiefly known to us through its status as Tansen’s fabled fire-bringing melody – said to have sparked uncontrollable blazes when he sung it at Emperor Akbar’s 16th-century durbar (…and requiring a special rendition of Megh to extinguish it). The raga appears in numerous ragmala paintings, and has a prominent place in many ancient texts – with Sarngdeva’s 13th-century Sangita Ratnakara stating that “Bhairava, Kaushika, Hindola, Dipaka, Sri, and Megha are the six primary ragas”, and Damodara Misra’s 1625 Sangita Darpana portraying the raga in poetic form (“Having put out the lamp, Dipaka, King of Ragas, draws near to his beloved in the darkened house. But he is made bashful by the brilliance of her jewelled crown…”). While its original swaras may have been lost to the winds of time, artists have since sought to reignite the spirits of these ancient tales, with three main ‘new Deepak’ varieties having arisen in recent generations: Bilawal-ang, Poorvi-ang, and Khamaj-ang (although, given the reimaginative nature of such endeavours, interpretations can vary wildly even within these categories). Tantalisingly, while the Deepak of Tansen’s era is hardly likely to have just ‘disappeared’, we will probably never know which modern ragas inherited its original essences. Also see Kedar: another fire-summoning form, traditionally classified as a ragini of Deepak.
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राग दीपक
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—Ghulam Mustafa Khan (2002)—
[Poorvi-ang bandish, e.g. 1:56] PdP, S/rS, (P)GPG, (G)r, S, P (P)SS, SS rr, S, G r S, r S; P(d)P, (P)GPG, (G)r, S…
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• Ragmalas •
Historic miniature paintings (learn more)
“Dipak Raga riding an elephant, with four female attendants (an illustration of Diwali)…” (Penn, c.1800)
“Dipak Raga, from a folio attributed to Jai Kisan” (Malpura, c.1756) / “Raga Dipak, opaque watercolor on paper” (Jaipur, c.1760)
• Recent Raga Index Updates (Oct 2026): Melodic ‘snapshots’ of prachalit ragas • Up to 365 raga pages! Some highlights: Bayati, Basant Mukhari, Bilaskhani Todi, Chandranandan, DoGa Kalyan, Jog, Kalavati, Kaushiki, Malkauns, Maru, Meladalan, Parameshwari, Sarangkauns, Vachaspati (+ try out ‘Audav Meladalan‘) • What does ‘Kauns’ mean? Analysing 60+ Kauns ragas • ‘Bifurcations‘: ‘poorvang vs. uttarang’ splits • Amir Khan’s ‘168 merukhands’ • Experiments (e.g. overtonal Bhairav, jazz Malkauns) • Survey of Sa Tunings • More Masterlist ragas (1000+)
Multi-step meend in Raag Bageshri: some riyaz improv in one of my all-time favourite ragas
#raga #jazzguitar #indianmusic #icm #londonmusic
Sep 30
E8 Boogie (Squarepusher): @sqpusher did I get them right? Tried to work out guitar voicings for this curious chord sequence in E8 Boogie (…originally at the request of a student!)
Original: Squarepusher/Tom Jenkinson (from 1997’s Hard Normal Daddy)
#jungle #jazzguitar #warprecords #idm #dnb @warprecords
Sep 27
Raag Jaiwanti Todi (SrgmPDnS): An Ahiri-prakriti raga introduced by Maharaja Jaiwant Singh Waghela (1904-1980): the hereditary ruler of Sanand who gained wide renown as a spiritual teacher, vocal educator, and generous patron of the nascent Mewati gharana (also the creator of Gyankali and other ragas). Sung here by his student Pandit Jasraj – a bandish I’ve always loved, especially the ferocious taan and colourful harmonium accompaniment…
—Original: Pandit Jasraj (khayal); Appa Jalgaonkar (harmonium); Nizamuddin Khan? (tabla)
#raga #khayal #indianmusic #worldmusic #icm
Sep 22
Raag Prabhateshwari (SrgmPDnS): A mysterious raga created by Hariprasad Chaurasia, played here by his nephew Rakesh – resembling a blend of the morning Ahir Bhairav and the late night Bageshri. I was inspired to learn the raga when researching Maa Annapurna Devi’s time teaching Hariprasad (many thanks to my crack team of experts including Rupak Kulkarni, Alam Khan, George Ruckert, Suresh Vyas, Anindya Banerjee, and Gopi Shanker, who all gave valuable assistance in illuminating the raga’s origins)
—Original: Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri), live at Darbar 2008 @chaurasia_rakesh @darbarfestival
#raga #darbarfestival #indianmusic #bansuri #worldmusic
Sep 15
• 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
Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact
Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra
Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row
Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna
Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna
Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2
Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night
Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball
Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern
Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang
Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.
• Prakriti: (uncodified)
–Swara Geometries–
(if assuming the Bilawal-ang form)
• Core form: S-R-G-m-P-D-nN-S
• Reverse: SrRgmPdnS (=Gandhari)
• Complement: SrgMdS (=Firozkhani Todi)
• Imperfect: 1 (Ni)
• Detached: none
• Symmetries: mirror (Gm—nN)
• Murchanas: Bihag set
–Global Translations–
• Carnatic: (~Begada)
S-R2-G3-M1-P-D2-N2-N3-S
• Jazz: Bebop Dominant
1-2-3-4-5-6-b7-7-8
• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):
0-2-4-5-7-9-10-11-0
(2–2–1–2–2–1–1–1)
o • o • o o • o • o o o o
• Tanpura: (Sa–Pa)
• Names: Deepak, Dipak, Dipaka (not ‘Deepaki‘)
• Transliterations: Hindi (दीपक)
—Shujaat Khan (~2000s)—
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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!
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