S-R-m-P-n-S

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Among the oldest surviving members of the Malhar family, Megh (‘Cloud’) is said to have saved the life of Miyan Tansen himself. Legend holds that the great composer’s powerful rendition of the fire-bringing Deepak caused the oil lamps in Emperor Akbar’s 16th-century royal palace to ignite and burn uncontrollably – and, soon, all the rivers and streams around the durbar began to boil and spill over their banks. Tansen’s efforts to quench the unending firestorm came to nothing, until, eventually, he came across two sisters – Tana and Riri – who sung Megh with enough force to summon a great storm, finally extinguishing the blaze (n.b. some tellings instead describe ‘an unbearable, unrelenting burning sensation on Tansen’s skin’ as the cause of his post-Deepak quest, while other versions recount that it was his daughter who sung Megh to save him). Also mentioned in numerous ancient shastras, with Sarngdeva’s 13th-century Sangita Ratnakara stating that “Bhairava, Kaushika, Hindola, Dipaka, Sri, and Megha are the six primary ragas”. Megh’s modern incarnation, which shares its five core swaras with Madhumad Sarang, often displays a stronger Dhrupad influence than many other members of its raganga, with countless compositions referencing the awe-inspiring power of the monsoon. While some artists stay within its pentatonic ‘Megh’ element (SRmPn), others expand the swara set to include ‘Malharic’ uttarang phrases (nDNS). Compare with other ancient Malhars including Shuddha Malhar, Arun Malhar, and Gaud Malhar – and also see overlapping forms such as Suha and Devshri.

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• Raga Megalist (365+) •

राग मेघ

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Aroha: SmRmRP, mPnS

Avroh: Sn, PmR, nS

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Chalan: mukhya, e.g. nSRPmR; mPmR; mP; PmnPmR; RRPmR; RSnS (Tanarang)

–Rajan & Sajan Mishra (2016)–

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“The mighty army, arrayed on the ground, straining to fight; With massed clouds descending, Indra poured torrents for four prahars; But Lord Krishna, holding up the mountain, protected Gokula; Saving all creatures: insects, worms, animals, and birds; Tansen’s Lord, how wonderful are your ways! Ruler of heavenly beings, rendered powerless, bowed his head.” (Megh bandish attributed to Tansen)

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—Context—

Origins, myths, quirks, & more

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[COMING SOON: click here to hasten the project’s expansion, so all 365+ raga pages can eventually look more like these]

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• Ragmalas •

Historic miniature paintings (learn more)

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“Megha Raga, as Lord Krishna, holding a sabre, with four female attendants” (Penn, c.1800)

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“Meghamallar Ragini, from a Rajasthani folio” (Sirohi, c.1725) / “Megh Malar, opaque watercolor and gold on paper” (Rajasthan, c.1760)

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—Phraseologies—

Melodies, movements, characteristics…

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Gwalior scholar Dr. Geeta Banerjee’s 1999 book Raga Malhar Darshan gives further information on the melodic character of Megh Malhar, focusing on the vital role of Re: “Sa apart, the Re occupies an important position both in aroha and avroh movements. Despite its deergha bahutva role, there can be no nyas on the Re: that swara is almost always andolit, and looks to ma for assistance [S(m)R; (m)R; mRR, nS]. The Re’s position in Megh Malhar is precarious: it cannot be elongated…if rendered sthira [‘stable’] it runs the risk of losing itself to Sarang. And because it is kept andolit, with the assistance of ma it cannot establish an identity of its own.”

 

“To strengthen the veera rasa component of the raga, Re is also used in a ‘mixed mode’ role…seen in the following passages: (m)R, (m)RmP (‘andolit’); and PmRm, (m)R, (m)RS (‘mixed’). The Re is never skipped, for it is the mukha swara of the raga (…where the intonation of a particular swara immediately suggests the raga identity, the said swara is known as the ‘mukha swara’). The Re of Megh Malhar and the ga of Darbari are such examples…”. Get Dr. Banerjee’s book here (Hindi language) – and also refer to her historical comments on Shuddha Malhar.

 

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—Sanskriti demo (2017)—

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“Viewed from the contemporary perspective, there are two distinct melodic entities contending for the melodic space defined by the concept of Megh Malhar. The ‘Megh’ element is the swara material taken from the pentatonic raga (SRmPn), and the ‘Malhar’ entity is a looped phrase (RPgmR) suggestive of Miyan ki Malhar, which uses the komal ga with andolan treatment. In practice, however, the relationship between nomenclature and melodic form remains inconsistent…” (Deepak Raja)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Salamat Ali Khan (1975)–

• Sham Chaurasia khayal (46m): a performance of spellbinding precision and expansive emotional range, soothing in its virtuosity across the full spectrums of saptak and laya – showcasing slow, sustained swaras (11:28), rapid-fire sruti control (19:58), monsoon-like taans (34:59), and much more:

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[refrain, e.g. 21:02] SS S\P, (R)S R, R(mR)P m\R, S(RS)S; SS S/P, (R)S R; nSRm(R)P nP (m)R(m)S, S\P (S)nS(R), (S)R Pm\R, SS…

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–Shivkumar Sharma (1991)–

• Shivkumari santoor (30m): the santoor’s icy sparkle adds a crisp precision to the raga’s monsoon incantations (‘freezing the rains’), with geometric ornaments and cascading layakari built around captivating gats in jhaptal and ektal:

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[refrain, e.g. 15:06] S(PnSP) nSnR, (n)S, RnSS; S(PnSP) nSnR, (n)S, RnSS…

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–Further Recordings–

• Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (3m): a bandish included in her Ragarachananjali book, re-released for the internet era
• Bahauddin Dagar (7m): an alap and an interview (“freedom in music, and how one’s svabhaav [character] is expressed…”)
• Veena Sahasrabuddhe (13m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“Black clouds have gathered, and the birds and animals are happy…”)
• Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (15m): a powerful Patiala rendition, with vocal support provided by his son Munawar Ali Khan
• Abhishek Lahiri (15m): the rising sarod star filmed at a Bazm-e-Khas baithak, accompanied by Zuhaib Ahmed Khan’s tabla
• Debasmita Bhattacharya (18m): another young sarodiya, self-recording a solo rendition during the 2020 lockdowns
• Nasir Aminuddin & Moinuddin Dagar (34m): the Senior Dagar brothers present the raga in its unadulterated Dhrupad format
• Kushal Das (36m): from Komal Nishad’s 2019 Malhar Festival, with tabla accompaniment from Ajrada exponent Ojas Adhiya
• Amir Khan (53m): in the words of Bhimsen Joshi, “Amir Khan planted fruit trees; we are tasting the fruits of those trees…”
• Kaushiki Chakraborty (57m): a Patiala take, accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar’s tabla and Milind Kulkarni’s harmonium
• Rashid Khan (57m): filmed with Vijay Ghate on tabla (“We read in holy scriptures that there is divine music playing in heaven…”)

• 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

Symmetries: Mirror | Rotation | Palindr.

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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: Madhumad Sarang

Also compare to other ragas matching the generic swaras ‘Sa-Re-Ma-Pa-Ni‘: including Bairagi (S-r-m-P-n-S); Devshri (S-R-M-P-n-S); Sarang (S-R-m-P-nN-S); & Madhusurja (S-rR-mM-P-n-S).

–Proximate Forms–

Devshri = ‘Megh tivra Ma‘

Bairagi = ‘Megh komal re‘

Sarang = ‘Megh double Ni‘

Gaudgiri Malhar = ‘Megh add ga‘

Gorakh Kalyan = ‘Megh add Dha‘

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

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–m–P–n–S

• Reverse: SRmPnS (=itself)

• Negative: 2-2-1-2-2-1-2 (e.g. Kafi)

• Imperfect: 1 (Re)

• Detached: none

• Symmetries: mirror (S—M)

• Murchanas: Bhupali set

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• Quirks: ‘palindromic‘ (same intervals forwards & backwards) • ‘atritonal‘ (no available tritones) • ‘maximal‘ (swaras are optimally ‘spread out’)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Madhyamavathi

S-R₂-M₁-P-N₂-S

• Jazz: Suspended Pentatonic

1-2-4-5-b7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-5-7-10-0

(2–3–2–3–2)

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o • o • • o • o • • o • o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+Sa)

• Names: Megh, Megh Malhar, Meghamallar (historic)

• Transliterations: Hindi (मेघ); Bengali (মেঘ)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Megh: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Gat in madhya jhaptal by Senia-Bangash sarodiya Amjad Ali Khan (1994)
• Header image: ‘White clouds gather over the Himalayan Brahmaputra’ (World Bank)

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