Bhopali

Bhopali, also known as Bhoop, Bhoopali or Bhupali, (Hin: भूपाली / भोपाली) is a Hindustani classical raga. It is a pentatonic scale (uses 5 notes in ascending and descending scale). Most of the songs in this raga are based on Bhakti rasa. Since it uses 5 notes, it belongs to the "Audav jaati" of ragas.

The same raga in Carnatic music is known as Mohanam.

Raga Bhoopali, Raga Yaman and Raga Bhairav tend to be the three basic ragas of Hindustani music, learnt first by its students.

Karhade (2011) explains that raga Bhopali consists of just 5 notes - स रे ग प ध (sa, re, ga, pa and dha). It does not use Ma (also called Madhyam) and Ni (also called Nishadh).

The Introduction consists of two parts - Aroh आरोह (where the notes are simply recited on an ascending scale) and avaroha (where the roles are simply recited on a descending order)

Thereafter, with these same five notes, different combinations are made by the singer, similar to short phrases, also called "chalan".

Writing about the musical theory of Indian classical music is fraught with complications. There is no universally accepted set of rules or formal method of writing notations. However, the Bhatkhande and Paluskar paddhatis are the two ways of writing down musical notations. Indian music has always been more of an aural tradition, and written word has never been an essential part of imparting talim (training/knowledge).

The scale of Bhopali uses only Shuddh swaras.

Gandhar - Ga (here-after G but not to be confused with note G of western music notations)

Dhaivat - Dha (here-after D but not to be confused with note D of western music notations)

The Pakad (catchphrase that often helps in identifying a raga) is:

S R G R S D1 S R G

or:

S R G R S D1 S R G P G D P G R S

or:

G R P G G R S R D1 S

or:

G R S D1 S R G R P G D P G R S

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