Prescribed Ragas: Identification, Structure and Comparative Study
What this domain tests
Prescribed ragas are tested by identification, structure and comparison: you must supply aroha, avaroha, pakad, vadi, samvadi, jati and time, and distinguish ragas with similar scales.
Core rules
Build a one-line profile for every prescribed raga: thaat, aroha, avaroha, pakad, vadi, samvadi, jati and prahar. Compare ragas by their treatment of a single decisive swara rather than by thaat alone.
- Bhairav: komal Re and Dha; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; early morning.
- Bhairavi: komal Re, Ga, Dha and Ni; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; morning.
- Kafi: komal Ga and Ni; vadi Pa, samvadi Sa; night.
- Khamaj: komal Ni; vadi Ga, samvadi Ni; evening.
- Bageshri: komal Ga and Ni; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; night.
Worked example
A phrase uses komal Re and komal Dha but shuddha Ga and Ni. That points to Bhairav, not Bhairavi. Bhairavi would also flatten Ga and Ni. Check the pakad and the time: Bhairav is early morning, Bhairavi is morning but has a different phrase structure. The decisive evidence is the pair of shuddha Ga/Ni in Bhairav.
Traps
Identifying by thaat only; mixing Bhairav and Bhairavi; ignoring asymmetrical aroha/avaroha; giving the wrong prahar; and writing a pakad that is merely the full scale.