Music is an ancient science. In those days, the life of people was closely bound to nature. Music is therefore, intimately related with nature and changes in it- especially with respect to time and season. Music in those days was considered more, as a vehicle for devotion, expressing our gratitude to God, and less, for entertainment of people. Therefore, some traditions were followed, considering the personality of Ragas, state of mind of people, ambience of the nature around and the time of worship. The mood of the raga and prayer was believed to merge with and augment the cheerful state of mind and aura of nature so as to elevate listeners to highly ecstatic levels.
In the context of Ragas the following conventions were practised:
i). Some Ragas were performed in the time period following the sunrise or sunset;
ii). Some Ragas were preferred during twilight hours at sunrise or sunset; and
iii).The third group of Ragas was presented in mid-day or mid-night hours.
The day and night were broken in 4 parts ; each part was called a Prahar i.e. a quadrant , of duration 3 hours each. The day would begin at 7 a.m. and the subsequent quadrants at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and night at 7 p.m., 10 p.m., 1 a.m., and 4 a.m. respectively. The last quadrant of day and night i.e. 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. were considered as twilight hours. The notes characteristic of the Ragas of the three groups, time associated with them and Thatas are summarized in the table:
The Raga Samaya Chakra (Raga Time Combination Wheel) explains the theory pictorially. The 4 quadrants of day and night respectively are assigned colours, as found in nature and the Thatas assigned to them are marked along with prominent notes contained therein. Icons placed along side each quadrant are provided so that a viewer can see common ragas associated with the Thatas during respective quadrants.
A question certainly comes to an inquisitive mind- whether the correlation between effects produced by Ragas and the associated time have been scientifically proved? Research and efforts are being made to understand and establish such a relation, if any, but it still lacks the precision to draw any scientific conclusion from it. Perhaps multidisciplinary research teams, involving musicians, doctors and psychologists, with the help of precise measurement techniques may be able to throw more light on the theory.
Three other points need to be mentioned here-
i).Season and Ragas- Vasant ritu – Season of Spring and Raga Basant and its variants are closely associated.
Varsha Ritu - Rainy Season is associated with varieties of Malhar Raga. It is traditionally accepted that the said Ragas, when performed at any time of the day or night during the respective seasons appear highly pleasing and appealing.
ii).Madhyam the Adhwadarshak swara- The note Madhyam is considered to be a guide, or it influences the determination of Raga-Time combination. The period mid-night to mid-noon is considered to be appropriate for Ragas with Shuddha Madhyam i.e. M, e.g Bageshri, Kafi, Malkouns, Bhairav, Bilawal, etc. Similarly, the period mid-noon to mid-night is dominated by Teevra Madhyam i.e. m and is suitable for Ragas such as, Multani, Poorvi, Shree, Marwa, Yaman, Kamod, etc.
iii).Paramelapraveshak Ragas- Some Ragas which have some features of the two adjoining time quadrants are termed as Paramelapraveshak Ragas (Para- different/ another; mela- Thata; praveshak- one which enters) ; i.e. those Ragas which facilitate entry from province of one Thata to another Thata. Examples-
Jayjayvanti- Facilitates entry from Khamaj Thata to Kafi Thata;
Multani- Facilitates entry from Todi Thata to Poorvi Thata;
Desi- Facilitates entry from Asavari Thata to Sarang varieties-Kafi Thata;
Bhatiyar- Facilitates entry from Marwa Thata to Bilawal Thata;
Paraj- Facilitates entry from Poorvi Thata to Bhairav Thata.
*Note:-Time Periods of 3 hours each are shown for various Thatas in Raga Samaya Chakra from academic point of view. However, there is nothing sacrosanct about the restriction of 3 hours period. Therefore, in practice, the time followed for different Ragas may spill over marginally into adjoining time periods, e.g. Some Ragas of Khamaj Thata, (Tilakkamod, Sorath, Des) may be performed in the second quarter of night, i.e. after 10 p.m.
