Raga is a special concept of Indian music. This concept is unique to Indian Music, both Hindustani and Carnatic style.

It is a particular type of scale that has aesthetic value.

There are certain rules, which have to be followed while rendering a raga.

Rules

1. The raga has its origin in a scale called ‘thaat[1]’ or ‘mela’.
2. There should be at least 5 notes in a raga.
3. The 2 forms of a note i.e. flat and sharp, should not come in succession in a raga.
4. A raga has both ascending and descending (aaroha and avaroha) order of notes.
5. A raga should have the note ‘sa’ i.e. ‘do’ of the solfa notation.
6. A raga should have at least one note from ‘ma’ and ‘pa’, i.e. ‘fa’ and ’so’ of the solfa notation.
7. A raga should have both ‘vadi[2]’ and ‘samvadi[3]’ notes.
8. A raga should have an aesthetic value.

There are a few ragas, which are exception to the 2nd rule; yet, they are quite popular and well accepted as classical ragas.

Apart from these rules, it has to be understood that a raga is much more than these rules. There may be 2 or more ragas with the same notes and their ascending or descending order; yet, they will sound very much different from one another. This is because; every raga has its own style of pronouncing every note.

In classical music performance, all these rules have to be followed strictly. But, in semi classical, light, devotional and other forms of Indian music, even if the tune of a song is composed in a raga, the rules are not strictly followed.

Origin Scales of Ragas i.e. Thaats or Melas

1. Bilawal	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
2. Yaman	sa re ga ma| pa dha ni sa
3. Khamaj	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
4. Bhairav	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
5. Poorvi	sa re ga ma| pa dha ni sa
6. Marwa	sa re ga ma| pa dha ni sa
7. Kafi	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
8. Asawari	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
9. Bhairavi	sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa
10. Todi	sa re ga ma| pa dha ni sa

Where ‘sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa’ mean ‘do re me fa so la ti do’ resp. of the solfa notation; ‘ma|’ means sharp ‘fa’; ‘re’, ‘ga’, ‘dha’, ‘ni’ mean flat re, me, la, ti resp.

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Note:

1. A scale having all seven notes in succession, with any one form, flat or sharp, of a note. There are 32 thaats in Hindustani (out of which, 10 are followed), and 72 in Carnatic style.
2. The most important note which is used and shown the maximum number of times in the raga.
3. The note that is in harmony with the ‘vadi’, and is next in importance, in the raga.