Malhar
Hindustani raga
title: "Malhar" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["hindustani-ragas", "ragas-in-the-guru-granth-sahib"] description: "Hindustani raga" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malhar" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Hindustani raga ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox raga"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Miyan Ki Malhar |
| image_name | Sud-malaar.png |
| image_alt | Sudh Malaar Ragamala painting |
| thaat | Kafi |
| type | * This raga's Jati is Shadhav – Shadhav. |
| time | any time in monsoon, otherwise in the 2nd Prahar of the Night. |
| season | Monsoon |
| arohana | N S m R P n D N S' |
| avarohana | S' n P m P g(m touch) g(m touch) m R S |
| vadi | Pa |
| samavadi | Sa |
| pakad | N S m R P g m R S m R P n D N S' S' n D n P m P g g m R S |
| chalan | N S m R P g m R S m R P n D N S' S' n D n P m P g g m R S |
| synonym | Miyan Ki Malhar, Miyan Malhar, Tansen Ki Malhar |
| similar | Bahar |
| :: |
| name = Miyan Ki Malhar | image_name = Sud-malaar.png | image_alt = Sudh Malaar Ragamala painting | thaat = Kafi | type = * This raga's Jati is Shadhav – Shadhav.
- This raga has a Vakra form, i.e. this raga is a Vakra raga (meaning that the svaras of a raga are not completely in a particularly straightforward manner).
- This raga is a Gambhir Prakruti raga (meaning that is played slow with patience and which is played in a serious tone/note). | time = any time in monsoon, otherwise in the 2nd Prahar of the Night. | season = Monsoon | arohana = N S m R P n D N S' | avarohana = S' n P m P g(m touch) g(m touch) m R S | vadi = Pa | samavadi = Sa | pakad = N S m R P g m R S m R P n D N S' S' n D n P m P g g m R S | chalan = N S m R P g m R S m R P n D N S' S' n D n P m P g g m R S | synonym = Miyan Ki Malhar, Miyan Malhar, Tansen Ki Malhar | equivalent = | similar = Bahar
Raag Malhar, is an ancient raga with many variations, one variation known as Miyan Ki Malhar or Tansen Ki Malhar, was popularized by Sangeet Samrat Tansen. Malhar is a Hindustani classical raga. Malhar is associated with torrential rains.
Besides the basic Shuddha Malhar, which was the original Malhar, several Malhar variations or related ragas use the Malhar signature phrase S (m)R (m)R P, including Miyan ki Malhar, Megh Malhar, Ramdasi Malhar, Gaud Malhar, Sur Malhar, Nat Malhar, Dhulia Malhar and Meera ki Malhar. The Malhar Family is based on this signature phrase, where many such other ragas are created and are categorized under this family. This phrase, although it might seem similar and equivalent, is different from the swara phraseology employed in Raga Brindavani Sarang.
It can be determined that raga Miyan ki Malhar is a mixture of ragas Brindavani Sarang, raga Kafi and raga Durga.This raga has a Vakra form (meaning that the swaras of a raga are not completely arranged in a particularly straightforward manner), and is classified as a Gambhir Prakruti raga (meaning that it is played slow with patience, and it is played in a serious tone/note).
Legend
According to legend, Malhar is so powerful that when sung, it can induce rainfall.
Many written accounts describe the Raga Malhar. Tansen, Baiju Bawra, Baba Ramdas, Nayak Charju, Miyan Bakhshu, Tanta rang, Tantras Khan, Bilas Khan (son of Tansen), Hammer Sen, Surat Sen, and Meera Bai are some of those said to be capable of starting rains using various kinds of Raga Malhar.
Mughal emperor Akbar once asked his court musician Miyan Tansen to sing "Raga Deepak", the raga of Light/Fire, which caused all the lamps in the courtyard to light up and Tansen's body to become so hot that he had to sit in the nearby river to cool himself. However, the river began to boil, and it became apparent that Tansen would soon boil to death. So he set out to find someone who could sing Raga Malhar to cure him. In due course, he reached Vadnagar, a town in Gujarat. There he came across two sisters named Tana and Riri, whom he asked for help, to which they agreed. The moment they started singing the Raga Malhar, rains came down in torrents, which helped cool Tansen's body.
The many variations of Raga Malhar have been categorised chronologically by era – prachina (before the 15th century), madhyakalina (15th – 18th century) and arvachina (19th century and beyond). Ragas Shuddha Malhar, Megh Malhar and Gaud Malhar belong to the first period. "Miyan Ki Malhar", also known as Gayand Malahar as both nishads (shudh and komal) swing around the dhaivat like a (gayand) elephant swinging his head.
Prominent Bandishes composed in Raga Malhar
::data[format=table]
| S.No | Bandish Name or Bandish Initials | Composer/Creator | Taal | Malahar Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tu hi Ek Hai Aneko mei Roop tere aur naam Suhana | Pandit Gokulotsav Ji Maharaj | TeenTaal | Miyan Ki Malhar (Gayand Malhar) |
| 2 | Jare Kare Badara Umada Ghumad Ghan Ghor | Pandit Gokulotsav Ji Maharaj | BrahmaTaal (cycle of 28 beats) | Miyan Ki Malhar (Gayand Malhar) |
| :: |
In popular culture
In Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Bengali language novel Anandamath (1882), a band of yogis sing Vande mataram in Raga Desh.Raga . Centre of South Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
In Satyajit Ray's film Jalsaghar, Raga Malhar is used to link the powers of nature and the hero's internal conflict.
The song Thumbi Thullal from the movie Cobra is based on this raag. It is composed by A. R. Rahman and sung by Shreya Ghoshal & Nakul Abhyankar.
The song Garaj Garaj from Web Series Bandish Bandits is based on this Raag, composed by Trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and sung by Farid Hasan & Mohammed Aman
Historical information
There is a legend stating that Tansen's physical agony after singing Raga Deepak (Poorvi Thaat) was pacified with listening to Raga "Megh Malhar" rendered by Tana and Riri.
Film songs
Tamil
::data[format=table]
| Song | Movie | Composer | Singer |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Muthukkalo Kangal" | Nenjirukkum Varai | M.S.Viswanathan | T. M. Soundararajan, P. Susheela |
| "Velli Malarae" | Jodi | A. R. Rahman | S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Mahalakshmi Iyer |
| "Thumbi Thullal" (Abheri traces also) | Cobra | Nakul Abhyankar, Shreya Ghoshal | |
| "Ennai Konja Konja" | Aathi | Vidyasagar | Hariharan, Sujatha Mohan |
| :: |
References
References
- ''Bhavan's Journal'' v.26:14-26 (1980). Page 27.
- Manorma Sharma. (2007). "Music Aesthetics". APH Publishing.
- "An evening of Malhar raags".
- Banerjee, Dr. Geeta. (2000). "Raag Malhar Darshan". SAWF.
- Chaitanya Deva. (1995). "Indian Music". Taylor & Francis.
- Mathur, Dr Neeta. "Shastriya Sangeet Ke Bahuayami Stambh". Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi.
- Mathur, Dr.Neeta. (2011). "Shashtriya Sangeet Ke Surya Acharya Pandit Dr Gokulotsavji Maharaj.". Radha Publishers.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::