Megh (raga)

Megh (raga)
Thaat	Kafi
Time of day	Any time during the rainy season
Season	Rainy season
Arohana	S m R m P n S'
Avarohana	S' n P m R m 'n R S
Pakad	R R S 'n S m R P m R 'n S
Vadi	Sa
Samavadi	Pa

Megh is a Hindustani classical raga. The meaning of Megh in Sanskrit is 'Cloud'. Hence this raga is mostly sung or played in the Monsoon season. Another raga which describes rain is raga Malhar. So these 2 ragas where merged and a new raga was developed, this raga is raga Megh Malhar. The Carnatic equivalent of this raga is Madhyamavati.

Theory[]

Arohana & Avarohana

Arohana: S m R m P n S'

Avarohana: S' n P m R m 'n R S

Pakad

R R S 'n S m R P m R 'n S

Vadi & Samavadi

In this raga vadi is Sa and samavadi is Pa - Re is used a lot but always sliding down from M, n always slides from P

Organization & Relationships

Related ragas: Ragas of Malhar family, namely Megh Malhar, Miyan ki Malhar, Gaud Malhar, Ramdasi Malhar, Dhuliya Malhar, etc. as well as Madhmad Sarang.
Thaat: Kafi.

Mixture

The meaning of Megh in Sanskrit is 'Cloud'. Hence this raga is mostly sung or played in the Monsoon season. Another raga which describes rain is raga Malhar. So these 2 ragas where merged and a new raga was developed, this raga is raga Megh Malhar. So raga Megh has mixture with raga Malhar which forms raga Megh Malhar.

Behavior[]

Samay (Time)

Late night.

Seasonality

Raga Megh is commonly associated with the monsoon season. Because the meaning of Megh in Sanskrit is 'Cloud'. Hence this raga is mostly sung or played in the Monsoon season.

Rasa

Gambhir rasa

Historical Information[]

Origins

This is one of the very old ragas found in Indian classical music. This raga is related from Lord Krishna time period, when Govardhan Parvat (mountain) was on Lord Krishna's short finger during the Govardhan leela, then Lord Shiva generated a Damru sound to protect Lord Krishna. That sound which was generated by the Damru was raga MEGH....

Legend[]

There is legend stating that Tansen's physical agony after singing Raga was pacified with listening to Raga Megh Malhar rendered by two sisters, Tana and Riri.

Film Songs[]

Language:Tamil[]

Song	Movie	Composer	Singer
Muthukkalo Kangal	Nenjirukkum Varai	M.S.Viswanathan	T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela
Kana Kaanum	Agni Sakshi	M.S.Viswanathan	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Saritha
Velli Malarae	Jodi	A. R. Rahman	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Mahalakshmi Iyer
Oru Deivam Thantha Poove	Kannathil Muthamittal		P. Jayachandran, Chinmayi
Thumbi Thullal(Abheri traces also)	Cobra		Nakul Abhyankar, Shreya Ghoshal
Ennai Konja Konja	Aathi	Vidyasagar	Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan

Important Recordings[]

Amir Khan, Ragas Megh and Lalit, HMV LP (long-playing record), EMI-EASD1331
Pt Ajoy Chakraborty -Raag Megh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg6LDWgv4Tc)

References[]

The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas. Zenith Media, London: 1999.

Ramashreya Jha explains difference between Sarang and Megh http://www.parrikar.org/hindustani/sarang/