Raag Malkauns

Malkauns is a raga in Indian classical music. It is one of the oldest ragas of Indian classical music. The equivalent raga in Carnatic music is called Hindolam, not to be confused with the Hindustani Hindol.

The name Malkaush is derived from the combination of Mal and Kaushik, which means he who wears serpents like garlands — the god Shiva. However, the Malav-Kaushik mentioned in classical texts does not appear to be the same as the Malkauns performed today. The raga is believed to have been created by goddess Parvati (the wife of Shiva) to calm Shiva, when the lord Shiva was outraged and was not calming down after Tandav in rage of Sati's sacrifice.

Malkaush belongs to Shaivait musical school; in fact most pentatonic ragas belong to Shaivait musical school.

Malkauns belongs to the Bhairavi thaat. Its notes are Sa, komal Ga, shuddh Ma, komal Dha, and komal Ni. In Western classical notation, its notes can be denoted as: tonic, minor third, perfect fourth, minor sixth and minor seventh. In raga Malkauns, Rishabh (Re - second) and Pancham (Pa - perfect fifth) are completely omitted. Its jaati is audav-audav (five-five, that is, pentatonic).

Arohana : .Ni. Sa Ga Ma Dha Ni *Sa*
Avarohana : *Sa* Ni Dha Ma Ga Ma Ga Sa OR *Sa* Ni Dha Ma Ga Sa

The 'Ga' used is actually Ga-Sadharan (the rough minor third), 316 cent above Sa

The vadi swara is Madhyam (Ma) while the Samavadi swara is Shadaj (Sa).

Pakad: 'n S g m g S 'n S 'd 'n 'd 'm 'd 'n S

Malkauns is a serious, meditative raga, and is developed mostly in the lower octave (mandra saptak) and in a slow tempo (vilambit laya). Ornaments such as midh, gamak and andolan are used rather than 'lighter' ornaments such as murki and khatka. Komal Ni is generally considered the starting note (graha swara), and the notes komal Ga and komal Dha are performed with vibrato (andolit). All five swaras can function as pausing notes.

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