Abstract

Classification of raagas in north Indian classical music is an old subject of study of raagas and it has been done in several ways by musicologists. Although it is an old topic of study, it assumes its prime importance when it comes to teaching and learning the Indian Classical Music through any methodology, such as Guru-Shishya system or modern university pedagogical system. Dashavidh classification, Jaati method, raag-ragini classification, Raagang system of classification, raag-samay-chakra method based on the time of singing/playing, and the most widely accepted the Thaat system of classification are some of the well-known and amply described methods of raag-classification in the music literature. The present research paper puts forward a new approach based of the raag-rules. This approach takes fundamental rule of raaga composition as a base and manifests a comprehensive approach to systematically organize all raagas in seven classes. These classes are easy to remember and creates no additional ideology of its own because it does not assume any extraneous concept nor does it import/invoke any self-proclaimed principle. Therefore, it emerges out as an unassuming, explicitly accommodative and an easy system of raaga-classification.