The Raga That Cannot Be Malkauns
In a practical viva a candidate is played nothing; instead she is handed a written sargam line with no raga name and asked to identify the raga and defend her answer. The line reads: 'S G M P D n S - S n D P M G S', with komal Ga and komal Ni, shuddha Ma, and Pa appearing twice; a second line given separately reads 'P M G M D n S'. She answers 'Malkauns' because of the flat Ga, flat Ni and the heavy, dark colour, and the examiner marks the answer wrong but invites her to reconsider. The examiner then asks two further questions: at which time of day she would programme the raga in a December concert, and which swara she would treat as vadi while opening her alaap. The candidate has two minutes to answer and no instrument.
1. Reconstruct the correct reasoning. Separate what the written evidence proves from what it merely suggests, and name the most likely raga.
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The certain part. Malkauns is audav–audav: aroha S g M d n S, avaroha S n d M g S, with no Re and no Pa. The written line contains Pa twice. A single Pa is enough to exclude Malkauns as the raga of that line, whatever the colour suggests. The candidate reasoned from mood - flat Ga, flat Ni, dark - which is a real signal but a weaker one than the swara inventory.
The probable part. With komal Ga, komal Ni, shuddha Ma and Pa all present, the standard candidate is Kaunsi Kanada, a night raga that uses komal Ga, komal Ni and Pa and is built on phrase-based (vakra) movement around Ma rather than on straight runs. The second line, 'P M G M D n S', is the kind of Ma-centred turning figure that supports this.
The caveat that earns the marks. Two lines cannot settle the identification. What would settle it: whether Re appears at all, and whether tivra Ma appears alongside shuddha Ma. If Re is present with komal Ga, komal Ni and shuddha Ma, Adana becomes a genuine alternative; if there is no Re and no Pa anywhere, the answer swings back towards Malkauns or Chandrakauns. The candidate should say this explicitly rather than upgrading a probable answer to a certain one.
Model phrasing: 'The presence of Pa rules out Malkauns conclusively. The most probable identification is Kaunsi Kanada, but I would confirm by checking for Re and for tivra Ma before committing.'
This is the difference the examiner is testing: a good answer states what the evidence excludes firmly and what it suggests provisionally.
2. Answer the time-of-day question for a December concert, and explain what the season does and does not change.
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Answer. Kaunsi Kanada is a night raga, placed in the second prahar of the night; programme it roughly from 9 pm onwards, not at the start of an evening. If the concert runs 7–10 pm, it belongs in the second half.
What the season changes. Very little in the prahar system itself. The eight prahars are a framework of day and night, not of clock time tied to sunrise; December shifts sunrise and sunset, and a concert that begins at 6 pm in December is effectively deeper into the night than a 6 pm start in June. So the practical answer is: the raga is still a night raga, and the December start time only makes an early slot slightly more defensible, not correct.
What the season very much changes elsewhere. Seasonal association is a separate axis from time of day. Miyan ki Malhar is a monsoon raga and would be a poor choice in December at any hour; Basant and Bahar are spring ragas. The candidate should show she knows these are two different systems - prahar and ritu - and that December constrains the seasonal ragas, not the night ragas.
Programming judgement. Do not place this raga next to another komal-Ga, komal-Ni raga in the same evening; the audience will hear the second as a repeat of the first and neither will sound distinct. A shuddha-degree raga in the first half and this one in the second gives the contrast the raga needs.
Model phrasing: 'Second prahar of night, so after about 9 pm. December does not reclassify it - it only means an early start is less wrong than it would be in June. Season affects Malhar and Basant, not this.'
3. If the identification is Kaunsi Kanada, which swara anchors the opening of the alaap, and what must the singer avoid in the first minute?
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The anchor. Madhyam. In the common teaching, Ma is vadi and Sa samvadi in Kaunsi Kanada, and the raga's identity lives in phrase-based movement around Ma - Ma to Pa, Ma to komal Ga, the turning figure 'P M G M' that appears in the examiner's second line. Open by establishing Ma as a resting point, not merely a passing note.
A workable opening shape. Begin below with the lower tetrachord, then settle on Ma, treating the komal Ga as a neighbour that colours Ma rather than as a note in its own right. Let Pa and komal Ni appear only after Ma is established as the centre. The characteristic phrase 'M P, M G M, P M G' should be audible in the first thirty seconds - a listener who has not yet heard Ma-centred movement has not yet heard the raga.
What to avoid in the first minute.
- Komal Ga without Ma. A long, unanchored komal Ga is the fastest way to sound like another komal-Ga raga - Bageshri, or even a mis-shaped Malkauns - and it is the mistake the candidate already made by trusting colour over structure.
- Straight, scale-order runs. This is a vakra raga; an aroha sung as a clean ladder contradicts its grammar even if every swara is legal.
- Re, until you know it belongs. The Re question is exactly what the two written lines leave open; asserting it early commits you to an identification you have not settled.
- Both Madhyams at random. If tivra Ma is admitted, it is a special colour, not an alternative to shuddha Ma; alternating them loosely makes the raga sound undecided.
Model phrasing: 'Ma is the anchor and Pa the doorway to it; komal Ga colours Ma and must not stand alone. The first minute should be a Ma-centred turning phrase, not a scale.'