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Raag · 9 pm – midnight · Folk, pastoral

पहाड़ीPahadi

A folk raag of the hills, beloved of bansuri players: it lives in the lower octave, around mandra Pa and Dha.

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.

66 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.
SRGMPDNपहाड़ी

Tap a swara to hear it

Thaat
Bilawal
Jati
Audav–Sampurna
Vadi and samvadi
Sa and Pa
Its hour
9 pm – midnight, 2nd prahar of the night
Its mood
Folk, pastoral

Pahadi is a raag of the hills, born of their folk songs, and it has always belonged to the bansuri as much as to any instrument: pastoral, open, a herdsman's tune grown into a raag. It lives low, around mandra Pa and Dha, and is played lightly, often as a dhun. It belongs to Bilawal thaat.

Hear it

Aaroh
SRGPDS
Avaroh
SNDPMGRS
Pakad
DPSRGRSDPDS

How it moves

Sa is Pahadi's vadi and Pa its samvadi. Going up it uses Bhoopali's five swaras; coming down, Ni and Ma come in.

From mandra Dha and Pa, up to Ga
DPSRG
And back down below Sa
RSDPDS
Ga, Re, Sa, and Dha below
GRSD
Up to taar Sa
SRGPDS

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 pmnightdayPahadi9 pm – midnight
2nd prahar of the night, 9 pm – midnight. Its hour’s other raags: Durga, Desh, Khamaj, Kafi, Bihag, Charukeshi.

Pahadi is played in the second prahar of the night, though as a folk raag it is welcome at any hour.

On the bansuri

  • S
  • R
  • G
  • M
  • P
  • 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

Bhoopali climbs the same five swaras, but has no Ni or Ma at all, and lives a little higher:

SRGMPDNपहाड़ीPahadiVadi Sa, samvadi Pa · 9 pm – midnight
Pahadi’s pakad
DPSRGRSDPDS
SRGMPDNभूपालीBhoopaliVadi Ga, samvadi Dha · 6–9 pm
Bhoopali’s pakad
GRSDSRGPGDPGRS
Pahadi has Ma and Ni.

Practise it

  1. Long notes on mandra Pa and Sa.
  2. The aaroh and avaroh.
  3. The pakad and the phrases, low and simple.
Mandra Pa and Sa, held
P–––––––S–––––––
A short aalap
DPSRG–––
RSDPDS––
SRGPDS––
SNDPMGRS
A riyaz of Raag Pahadi

Meend starts it with Aaroh–Avaroh, Pakad, 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

Listen

Hariprasad Chaurasia's Pahadi dhuns are among the best-loved recordings of the bansuri.

Questions

Why is Pahadi loved by bansuri players?

It is a folk raag of the hills, pastoral and simple, living in the flute's warm lower octave.

Which thaat is Pahadi in?

Bilawal.