Conversion of music in digital format and easy access and widespread use of Internet
has given rise to many websites devoted to Indian Classical Music. Performances
given by Maestros and Music Teaching Institutes run by Musicians all over the world
have evoked interest in Indian Classical Music.
However, in print form, information is available to a large extent in Indian Languages.
Only few books or web sites are available in English or other languages. The available
web sites/ books generally deal with 150-200 Ragas which are commonly heard. There
are some web sites which contain audio files of Anwat “the lesser known” Ragas,
but they either provide only the music or give little or no theoretical information
about Ragas.
The Anwat “the lesser known” Ragas are rarely presented in Programmes. The number
of Maestros who conceived, mastered and presented such Ragas is diminishing fast.
Moreover, old recordings of such Ragas, if any, are available in private Archives
and on spools or cassettes which are susceptible to wear and decay thus making retrieval
difficult in future.
The theme of this website may be summarized as follows;
i) To make available a Data Base giving Basic theoretical information of
a large number of Ragas in English (presently 1800+ Ragas have been included);
ii) To preserve and present audio samples of Ragas including Common, as well
as, Anwat “the lesser known” Ragas in the form of Digital files (presently 850+ Ragas
have been included); iii) To provide two software tools A) a Unique Raga Search Wheel
which enables a visitor to input a querry to find desired Raga/s through 8 options
and (B) “Find scale-congruent Ragas”.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that late Pt. V N Bhatkhande had listed in the
last two pages – “Pages 766 and 767 of Volume IV of the book “Bhatkhande-Sangeet
Shastra” 15 projects (envisaged by him in 1930’s) which he could not complete
in his lifetime and needed further study; and the theme of this website is included
in that list. The information and the archive of audio files contained in this web
site is a small but significant step in fulfilling one of the dream projects of
late Pt. V N Bhatkhande.
Updated 13th May, 2021