Meendमींड Get the app

Raag · 3–6 pm · Restless, expectant

मारवाMarwa

Sunset: komal Re and tivra Ma, no Pa, and Sa seldom rested on, so that the raag never quite comes home.

This landscape is drawn from the raag: the far mountain rises with its aaroh and falls with its avaroh, and the near hills follow its pakad.

54 madhya
About these soundsMeend makes the harmonium and santoor sounds itself. They aren’t recordings of real instruments, so they sound close, but not quite the same. They are here to let you hear how the swaras go.The tanpura and tabla are recordings of real ones.
SRGMPDNमारवा

Tap a swara to hear it

Thaat
Marwa
Jati
Shadav–Shadav
Vadi and samvadi
komal Re and Dha
Left out (varjit)
Pa
Its hour
3–6 pm, 4th prahar of the day (sandhi prakash: twilight)
Its mood
Restless, expectant

Marwa is a raag of sunset, and it sounds like the restless, expectant hour when the day ends and the night has not yet begun. It gives its name to its thaat: komal Re, tivra Ma, the rest shuddh. The raag leaves out Pa altogether, and Sa is touched only lightly, so it seems never to come to rest. It is one of the sandhi prakash raags, the raags of twilight.

Hear it

Aaroh
NRGMDNS
Avaroh
SNDMGRS
Pakad
DMGRGMDMGRNRS

How it moves

Komal Re is Marwa's vadi and Dha its samvadi. Its phrases move between them, never settling on Sa:

Dha, down by tivra Ma and Ga, to komal Re
DMGR
Up from Ga to Dha
GMD
Tivra Ma, Ga, komal Re
MGR
From Ni below, by komal Re, to Sa, touched and left
NRS
High, to taar Re
DNRS

Its hour

1st prahar of the day, 6–9 am12nd prahar of the day, 9 am – noon23rd prahar of the day, noon – 3 pm34th prahar of the day, 3–6 pm41st prahar of the night, 6–9 pm12nd prahar of the night, 9 pm – midnight23rd prahar of the night, midnight – 3 am34th prahar of the night, 3–6 am4midnight6 amnoon6 pmnightdayMarwa3–6 pm
4th prahar of the day, 3–6 pm. Its hour’s other raags: Bhimpalasi, Patdeep, Multani, Puriya Dhanashri.

Marwa belongs to the fourth prahar of the day, the hour of sunset. Like most twilight raags it has a komal Re with a shuddh Ga.

On the bansuri

  • S
  • R
  • G
  • M
  • D
  • N
  • S
Its swaras on the bansuri, from Sa to taar Sa: a dark hole closed, a half-dark one half closed. Every swara’s fingering, in your key →

Look-alikes

Puriya Dhanashri adds Pa and a komal Dha, and rests far more easily:

SRGMPDNमारवाMarwaVadi komal Re, samvadi Dha · 3–6 pm
Marwa’s pakad
DMGRGMDMGRNRS
SRGMPDNपूरिया धनाश्रीPuriya DhanashriVadi Pa, samvadi komal Re · 3–6 pm
Puriya Dhanashri’s pakad
NRGMPDPMGMRGRS
Marwa has Dha; Puriya Dhanashri has Pa and komal Dha.

Lalit, of the same thaat, adds shuddh Ma beside tivra, a komal Dha, and belongs to the dawn:

SRGMPDNमारवाMarwaVadi komal Re, samvadi Dha · 3–6 pm
Marwa’s pakad
DMGRGMDMGRNRS
SRGMMPDNललितLalitVadi Ma, samvadi Sa · 3–6 am
Lalit’s pakad
NRGMMMGMDMMGRS
Marwa has Dha; Lalit has Ma and komal Dha.

Practise it

  1. Long notes on komal Re and Dha.
  2. The aaroh and avaroh, slowly.
  3. Paltas in its swaras, in threes.
  4. The pakad and the phrases.
Komal Re and Dha, held
R–––––––D–––––––
In threes, up and down
SRGRGMGMDMDNDNS
SNDNDMDMGMGRGRS

All ten alankars in Marwa, to hear in your Sa →

A short aalap
NR––GMD–
DMGR––––
GMDNR–S–
NDMGR–S–
A riyaz of Raag Marwa

Meend starts it with Aaroh–Avaroh, Pakad, Paltas in Marwa, Aalap and Bandish, 27 minutes a day, and listens as you play: each swara of the notation lit as it is played, the time kept, a lotus grown petal by petal.

Make it my riyazor check your playing on the tuner

Questions

Which swara is left out of Marwa?

Pa. Marwa uses Sa, komal Re, Ga, tivra Ma, Dha and Ni.

When is Marwa sung?

At sunset, in the fourth prahar of the day.

How are Marwa, Puriya and Sohini different?

They share their swaras. Marwa dwells on komal Re and Dha; Puriya low, on Ga and Ni; Sohini high, near taar Sa.