Megh (raga)
ThaatKafi
Time of dayAny time during the rainy season
SeasonRainy season
ArohanaS M R M P Ṉ Ṡ
AvarohanaṠ Ṉ P M R M Ṉ̣ R S
PakadR R S Ṉ̣ S M R P M R Ṉ̣ S
VadiSa
SamavadiPa
EquivalentMadhyamavathi (Carnatic)
Egyptian Pentatonic Scale (Western)

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. These two ragas were merged and a new raga developed, raga Megh Malhar. The Carnatic music equivalent of this raga is Madhyamavati.

Theory

Arohana & Avarohana

Arohana: S M R M P Ṉ Ṡ

Avarohana: Ṡ Ṉ P M R M Ṉ̣ R S

Pakad

R R S Ṉ̣ S M R P M R Ṉ̣ 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.

Behaviour

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 Deepak (Poorvi Thaat) was pacified with listening to Raga Megh Malhar rendered by two sisters, Tana and Riri.

Film songs

Language: Hindi

Song Film Year Composer Singer
Khaike Pan Banaraswala Don 1978 Kalyanji-Anandji Kishore Kumar
Teri Tasveer Ko Sawan Ko Aane Do 1979 Raj Kamal K J Yesudas
Kahan Se Aaye Badra Chashme Buddoor 1981 K J Yesudas, Haimanti Shukla
Chaiyya Chaiyya Dil Se.. 1998 A R Rahman Sukhwinder Singh, Sapna Awasthi
Dheem Ta Dare Thakshak 1999 Surjo Bhattacharya
Munni Badnaam Hui Dabangg 2010 Lalit Pandit Mamta Sharma
Shankara Re Shankara Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior 2020 Mehul Vyas Adarsh Shinde

Language: Tamil

A few songs are composed in Raga Madhyamavathi, the Carnatic equivalent of Megh.

Song Film Composer Singer
Muthukkalo Kangal Nenjirukkum Varai M. S. Viswanathan T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela
Kana Kaanum Agni Sakshi S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Saritha
Aagaya Gangai Dharma Yuddham Ilayaraja Malaysia Vasudevan, S Janaki
Tholvi Nilayenna Ninaithal Oomai Vizhigal Manoj-Gyan P B Sreenivas, Abavanan, Chorus
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
Thom Karuvil Irunthom Star Shankar Mahadevan
Ennai Konja Konja Aathi Vidyasagar Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan

Important recordings

References

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

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

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