Abstract

Khayal is an important musical form of Hindustani Classical Music. Khayal as a word means imagination. It comprises of a short poetry of two lines and artist has freedom to improvise on it within the frame of Raag and Taal. There are various lineages following specific styles of singing for Khayal known as Gharana. Gwalior Gharana is the earliest in which Khayal was raised as a complete crystallized musical form. This research presents key points of history regarding musical construction of Khayal. The paper also includes a study about how Khayal was popularized as a structured musical form and contribution of Gwalior Gharana artists into it.