Darbar

Darbār is an upāṅga janya1 of the 22nd mēḷakarta2 Kharaharapriya. It is a ṣāḍava-vakra sampūrṇa3 rāga. The svaras4 occurring in this rāga in ascent are ṣaḍja, chatuśruti riṣabha, śuddha madhyama, pañchama, chatuśruti dhaivata, kaiśiki niṣāda. Sādhāraṇa gāndhāra occurs in descent5. Its ārōhaṇa6 and avarōhaṇa7 are

In terms of Western notes, if C is taken as the base, then the scale is

Darbār is a rakti rāga or a rāga which pleases instantaneously. It is a tristhāyi rāga, that is, it can be sung in all three octaves. It can be sung at all times. Gāndhāra and niṣāda are rāgachāyā svaras8. Other than ṣaḍja and pañchama, riṣabha and niṣāda are nyāsa svaras9. R-P, R-D are vādi-samvādi svaras (consonant notes). It can portray rasas10 like vīra (valour) and śṛṅgāra (romantic) very effectively, just as it can convey the feeling of devotion or bhakti bhāva. The elongated niṣāda and gāndhāra in the avarōhaṇa bring out the flavour of the rāga very well.

Some of the signature phrases of this rāga are

A few compositions in this rāga are-

Footnotes

1 A derived rāga which has notes only from its own parent rāga.

2 Parent rāga

3 Ṣāḍava- A scale with 6 notes- Hexatonic. Vakra-sampūrṇa- A scale that has all 7 notes, but not in their usual

order. Ṣāḍava-vakra sampūrṇa is a scale with 6 notes in ascent and 7 notes not in the usual order in descent.

4 Notes

5 There are 16 varieties of svaras in Carnatic music. They are

6 Scale in ascent

7 Scale in descent

8 Notes which most effectively bring out the mood of the rāga

9 The landing notes for elaboration in various stages during improvisation.

10 Emotions or moods.