A raga is a complex structure of musical melody used in the Indian classical music. It is a set of rules of how to build a melody which can ignite a certain mood in the reciter and listeners. The Sikh holy book, Guru Granth Sahib, is composed in and divided by 31 ragas. Each raga is a chapter or section in the Guru Granth Sahib starting with Shree raag, and all the hymns produced in Shree raag are found in this section ordered chronologically by the Guru or other Bhagat that have written hymns in that raga.
Contents
List of ragas used in the Guru Granth Sahib
The following are the ragas that are used in the Guru Granth Sahib:
Raga: melodic scales
Ragas have a direct relationship to human moods and the following are the connections between Ragas and feeling:
- Soohi – joy and separation
- Bilaaval – happiness
- Gaund – strangeness, surprise, beauty
- Sri – satisfaction and balance
- Maajh – loss, beautification
- Gauri – seriousness
- Aasa – making effort
- Gujri – satisfaction, softness of heart, sadness
- Devgandhari – no specific feeling but the Raag has a softness
- Bihaagra – beautification
- Sorath – motivation
- Dhanasari – inspiration, motivation
- Jaitsree – softness, satisfaction, sadness
- Todi – this being a flexible Raag it is apt for communicating many feelings
- Bhairaagi – sadness, (The Gurus have, however, used it for the message of *Bhakti)
- Tilang – this is a favourite Raag of Muslims. It denotes feeling of beautification and yearning.
- Raamkali – calmness
- Nat Narayan – happiness
- Maali Gaura – happiness
- Maaru – giving up of cowardice
- Tukhari – beautification
- Kedara – love and beautification
- Bhairav – seriousness, brings stability of mind
- Basant – happiness
- Sarang – sadness
- Malaar – separation
- Jaijawanti – viraag
- Kalyaan – Bhakti Ras
- Vadhans – vairaag, loss (that is why Alahniya is sung in this Raag when someone passes away)
- Parbhati – Bhakti and seriousness
- Kaanra – Bhakti and seriousness
In addition to raag names, there exists an indication in the titles of hymns called ghar. The precise meaning of ghar is not fully understood, although recent research proposes it refers to raag variants.