Same Five Swaras, Two Ragas: Marking Raga Chhaya in a 12-Minute Practical
Two Class XII candidates, Meera and Aditya, both play the same five shuddha swaras - Sa, Re, Ga, Pa, Dha - in a 12-minute instrumental practical. Meera's alap settles repeatedly on Ga, and Dha appears mostly in passing; her ascents move S R G P D S'. Aditya's alap lingers on Dha for two or three matras at a time, and the descending phrase D P G R S closes almost every avartan. Both write 'Bhoopali' on their slate. The examiner allots 10 marks for raga chhaya and 5 for pakad. In the viva, a third candidate, Farah, argues that the raga must be Deshkar because 'the swara set is identical', and that the thaat is Bhairav because 'every note is shuddha'. The examiner asks you, as a peer assessor, to write a short justification for the marks awarded to Meera and Aditya and to correct Farah's two statements.
1. Which raga is each candidate actually projecting, and what evidence in the setup supports your judgement?
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The slate is not evidence; the lakshana is. Meera projects Bhoopali: Ga is her nyas and vadi, Dha is used sparingly as samvadi, and her ascent S R G P D S' matches Bhoopali's audav aroha. Aditya projects Deshkar: the same five swaras, but Dha is treated as vadi and Ga as samvadi, and the uttaranga-heavy phrase D P G R S is his recurring pakad. This is exactly the trap the question sets: scale alone cannot decide raga. Two ragas may share aroha-avaroha and still differ in vadi, samvadi, nyas, graha and pakad. In marking, I would award Meera high raga-chhaya marks for a consistent Ga-kendra, but deduct if her Dha is never given any weight at all, because Bhoopali still recognises Dha as samvadi. Aditya should not be penalised for writing 'Bhoopali' if his playing clearly establishes Deshkar, though a viva deduction for misidentification is fair. The examiner's 10+5 split should be applied to audible lakshana, not to the slate: a candidate can play correct swaras and still lose raga-chhaya marks if the vadi is not projected.
2. Correct Farah's two claims - that the raga is Deshkar because the swaras are identical, and that the thaat is Bhairav because the notes are shuddha.
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Farah's first claim confuses swara set with raga. Deshkar and Bhoopali are two different ragas that happen to be audav-audav and use the same five shuddha swaras. Deshkar's identity rests on Dha as vadi and Ga as samvadi, with a characteristic Dha-centred descent; Bhoopali's rests on Ga as vadi and Dha as samvadi. If the performance is Ga-kendra, calling it Deshkar is wrong even though every note matches. Her second claim is a category error: thaat is a classification scheme, not a description of individual notes. In the Bhatkhande system, Bhoopali and Deshkar are placed under Kalyan thaat, which contains tivra Ma; the ragas are janya of that thaat and simply omit Ma. 'All shuddha' does not point to Bhairav, because Bhairav contains komal Re and komal Dha. The right answer-sheet formulation is: thaat = Kalyan; raga = Bhoopali or Deshkar; jati = audav-audav; distinguishing markers = vadi, samvadi and pakad. This is also the safe way to write comparative answers: give the parent thaat, state which notes are omitted, then give the lakshana that separates the two ragas.
3. Design a 30-second demonstration that would make the Bhoopali/Deshkar distinction audible to an examiner, and explain what each phrase is meant to prove.
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A short test must isolate vadi emphasis, not just show the scale. One workable design:
- Neutral scale (3–4 seconds): play S R G P D S' and back, evenly, without dwelling anywhere. This proves both candidates use the same swaras and removes the scale as a distinguishing factor.
- Bhoopali test (8–10 seconds): dwell on Ga, cadence G R S, then use R G P with Ga as the resting point, allowing Dha only as a passing note. If the raga 'settles' on Ga, the Bhoopali identification is strengthened.
- Deshkar test (8–10 seconds): dwell on Dha, use P D P and the descent D P G R S, returning to Dha rather than to Ga. This is the Dha-kendra that defines Deshkar's chhaya.
- Closing cadence (3–4 seconds): return to Sa through the phrase that belongs to the raga being claimed.
The examiner should listen for where the music rests, not for which notes appear. A candidate who plays all five notes but rests only on Sa has demonstrated neither raga. In the answer sheet, I would state that the test is valid only if the vadi is actually lengthened; simply playing D P G R S quickly proves nothing, because that phrase can occur in both ragas as a passing figure.