S-R-G-M-d-n-S

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Among the strangest of scales, Sehera’s six swaras are all spaced out in two-semitone jumps (akin to the Western Whole-Tone Scale). The resulting symmetries summon a curious, centreless mood, most famously known as a pan-cultural sonic signifier for ‘entering or waking from a dream‘. Best explored by its creator sarangiya Sultan Khan, who described Sehera as “the forbidden scale”, and, after pre-recording it for All India Radio, reportedly requested that the session “should not be aired…it is too sad”. Thankfully, he did cut a haunting ghazal with Mehdi Hassan, manipulating a GMdS refrain over ambiguous harmonium drones. Some even contend that the scale’s complete regularity disqualifies it from ‘full raga’ status (e.g. vocalist Ritvij Pant: “Sehra does not have any samvad…so I don’t think it can be called a raga, its just a scale”). The origins of the name ‘Sehera/Sehra’ are unclear, but may relate to an Arabic term for ‘Desert’ (صحراء): a fittingly ‘featureless’ landscape. Refer to concise renditions by Chris Stephens and Pamalka Karunanayake (in his words: “a blend of Charukeshi and Darbari, and suddenly a ‘slap’ with tivra Ma…not an attractive melody, to me it is like vibhatsa“) – as well as a handful of curious prakritis outlined below. Also compare to Gopriya (the Carnatic equivalent) – as well as Rishabhapriya (the same scale plus Pa), Imratkauns (shuddha ma instead), and Kokilapriya (another raga which features 5 whole-tone jumps in a row: ‘2-2-2-2-2‘).

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• Raga Masterlist (1000+) •

राग सेहरा

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• Hindustani Raga Index •

Aroha: SRGMdnS

Avroh: SndMGRS

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Pakad: variable, e.g. GMdS; MGRS

Chalan: (open-form) – illustrative sequences e.g. dnRS, SGMd, GMd, SdnRS, dndM, MGR, nR, dnRS (Dastidar)

—Mehdi Hassan & Sultan Khan (1977)—

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[refrain, e.g. 4:58] MGRS, dnSG, GMdMGMd, MGRS…

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• More •

Histories, melodies, mythologies, etc…

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—Further SRGMdnS forms—

After the release of this page in late 2023, I’ve encountered several other Hindustani forms which match the same ‘whole-tone’ scale. Notable examples include Dhyan Kalyan: which, as per rare raga explorer Abhirang, was created by late Kirana vocalist Mani Prasad ‘Dhyanrang’ via omitting Pa from Rishabhapriya, the 62nd Carnatic melakarta (he adds that Re is omitted in ascent, and that “the GMR sangati takes priority”: also evident in Ramesh Jule‘s crystal-clear rendition) – however Biswarup Ghosh Dastidar contends that shades of Pa can be included, making Dhyan Kalyan congruent with Rishabhapriya.

 

Dagarvani vocalist Ashish Dha also got in touch to discuss his own intriguing invention entitled ‘Trishanku‘ – currently existing as a pair of microtonally-tuned keyboard demos, each of which takes slightly different srutis in the upper scale [‘Trishanku #1‘ has Ma–dha–ni ratios of ‘10:7; 100:63; 25:14‘, whereas ‘Trishanku #2‘ has ‘25:18; 25:16; 225:128‘: equating to cent values of ‘617-800-1003‘ vs. ‘569-773-977‘]. The name ‘Trishanku’ refers to a mythical King of the Suryavamsha (‘Solar Dynasty’) featured in the Ramayana and other ancient epics, fabled for becoming suspended between Heaven and Earth after being cast out of the former.

 

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—Dhyan Kalyan (Ramesh Jule)—

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• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Chris Stephens (sitar)—

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A spellbinding 2025 rendition from multi-instrumentalist Chris Stephens (and Raga Index contributor) – in his own words, “My latest sitar experiment, [in] Raga Sehra – which lacks any leading tone. To overcome this obstacle, I tuned my drone strings to Sa and komal dha, like in Gujiri Todi. The resulting sound is quite unsettling… Sehera needs to be revived, as the mood is so strong!” (as per commenter reimann_pakoda: “It’s 2 in the morning right now, and this got me shivering…a feeling of longing for something I have never lost…”)

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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

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

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: (none found)

See all shadav ragas which omit Pa

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–R–G–M–d–n–S

• Reverse: SRGMdnS (=itself)

• Complement: SrgmPDNS (=Kokilapriya)

• Imperfect: 6 (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, dha, ni)

• Detached: 6 (Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, dha, ni)

• Symmetries: mirror (x6)

• Murchanas: itself (x5)

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• Quirks: the only raga to contain no samvad • ‘self-murchana‘ (rotationally symmetric) • ‘self-shadowing‘ (negative form=core form) • ‘fully fragmented‘ (6/6 detached) • ‘tivra Ma, komal ni‘ (rarest pairing) • ‘palindromic‘ (same intervals forwards & backwards) • ‘centred‘ (constellation balances at the wheel’s centrepoint) • ‘maximal‘ (swaras are optimally ‘spread out’)

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–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: Gopriya

S-R₂-G₃-M₂-D₁-N₂-S

• Jazz: Whole-Tone Scale

1-2-3-#4-b6-b7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-2-4-6-8-10-0

(2-2-2-2-2-2)

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o • o • o • o • o • o • o

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• Tanpura: Sa–??

• Names: Sehera, Sahera, Sehra, (~Gopriya/Dhyan Kalyan/Trishanku)

• Transliterations: Hindi (सेहरा)

—Sayeed Ur Rahman (1996)—