Choosing Jaunpuri After a Todi Performance
An inter-school Hindustani vocal competition is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. The previous performer has just sung Raga Todi for eleven minutes, ending with a tarana. The next student has a twelve-minute slot and must choose between two prepared items: a vilambit khayal in Raga Bhairav and a madhya-laya khayal in Raga Jaunpuri. Her voice is comfortable in C#, and both compositions are set in that tonic. The judges include an examiner who will ask about thaat, samay and vadi-samvadi. The student's teacher prefers Bhairav because it is a 'morning raga', but the student is worried that the audience has just heard Todi and that the two ragas share komal Re, Ga and Dha. The rules prohibit repeating a raga within a 30-minute block but do not prohibit sharing a thaat.
1. Recommend one of the two ragas and justify your choice using thaat, samay, vadi-samvadi and the need for contrast after Todi.
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Recommend Jaunpuri. Bhairav is an early-morning raga of Bhairav thaat, but Todi has just filled the hall with komal Re, komal Ga and komal Dha. Bhairav uses the same three komal swaras, so after Todi it can sound like a variant of the same chromatic colour rather than a new statement. Jaunpuri is Asavari thaat; it uses komal Ga, Dha and Ni, but shuddha Re and shuddha Ma, and it avoids Todi's teevra Ma. Its samay is late morning, which fits the 9:00 a.m. slot, and its vadi is usually given as Ga with Ni as samvadi, so the examiner can hear a clear emphasis on Ga. The contrast in thaat, in the treatment of Re and Ma, and in the absence of teevra Ma gives the student a distinct raga identity after Todi.
2. What would be the risk of choosing the other raga? Be specific about shared swaras and the examiner's likely objection.
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Choosing Bhairav would be risky because it shares komal Re, komal Ga and komal Dha with Todi, and both are morning ragas. The examiner could object that the student has repeated Todi's chromatic framework instead of offering contrast. Bhairav's vadi is Dha and samvadi Re in the Bhatkhande tradition, but those notes are also prominent in Todi's phrase structure; a listener may hear the new item as a continuation rather than a new raga. The student would also have to work harder to establish Bhairav's characteristic treatment of shuddha Ma and its andolan on komal Re and Dha. That is possible, but in a twelve-minute slot after an eleven-minute Todi, the burden of proof is higher. The safer judgement is to change the raga, not to rely on the rule that only forbids repeating the same raga.
3. If the student chooses Jaunpuri, how should she explain its thaat and samay in the viva, and what caution should she observe about its komal Dhaivat?
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She should say: Jaunpuri is Asavari thaat, a late-morning raga (second prahar); its aroha is S R g M P D n S and its avaroha is S n D P M g R S; komal Ga, Dha and Ni are essential, while Re and Ma are shuddha; the vadi is Ga and samvadi Ni in many textbooks. She should not claim it is a Todi-thaat raga simply because both are morning ragas. About komal Dhaivat, she should caution that it must not be reduced to a passing note or shaded toward shuddha Dha. In the avaroh, the phrase n D P should show D as a defined komal note, and the return from D to P or M should not blur its identity. If the examiner asks for a difference from Todi, she can point to Jaunpuri's shuddha Re and shuddha Ma and its lack of teevra Ma.