The Raga - Scales

Each melody in Indian Classical Music is called a raga. Literally translated, raga means "that which colors the mind". Ragas differ based on their scales and their important phrases and notes. Their are thousands of ragas, which are derived from the 72 possible combinations of heptatonic (7-note) scales (known as melakartas in southern India), as well as hundreds of possible combinations of hexatonic (6-note) and pentatonic (5-note) scales. Further, there are ragas that use 5 or 6 notes going up, but 7 notes coming down, and there are ragas that have notes in their natural form on ascent, but in their flattened form on descent. Some ragas use scales that are "vakra", which means crooked: one cannot simply go straight up or down. Finally, there are ragas that are "mishra" meaning they are mixed, and use notes in both their natural and their sharp or flat form, often resulting in more than 7 notes being used in the raga.

Examples of ragas with different types of scales:
-- 7 notes: Kirwani, Simendra Madhyam, Vachaspati
-- 6 notes: Gujri Todi, Janasamohini, Malaya Marutan, Mohini
-- 5 notes: Shivaranjani, Bhoopali, Hansadhwani, Durga, Madhyamad Sarang, Megh
-- 5 notes up, 7 down: Bhimpalasi, Bhairavi, Madhuvanti
-- 5 notes, with some shudd in ascent but komal in descent: Jog, Brindavani Sarang
-- Vakra: Tilak Kamod, Hameer
-- Mishra: Kafi, Sindhi Bhairavi, Piloo