"Malhar" is a Hindustani classical raga. Malhar is associated with torrential rains. Besides the basic Shuddha Malhar, which was the original Malhar, several Malhar-related ragas use the Malhar signature phrase m (m)R (m)R P, including "Miyan ki Malhar", "

Megh Malhar Megh Malhar is a Hindustani classical music, Hindustani classical raga. The name derives from the Sanskrit word ''Megh'', meaning ''cloud''. Legends say that this raga has the power to bring out rains in the area where it is sung. Megh Malhar is ...

", "Ramdasi Malhar", " Gaud Malhar", "Sur Malhar", "Shuddha Malhar", "Desh Malhar", "Nat Malhar", "Dhulia Malhar", "Daivi Malhar" ( Dev Malhar ) and "Meera ki Malhar". This phrase, although it might seem similar and equivalent, is different from the swara phraseology employed in Raga "

Brindavani Sarang Brindaavani Sarang or Brindaabani Sarang, also known as raga Sarang, is a Hindustani classical raga. It is also called Vridaavani Sarang. This raga falls under the category of Sarang ragas. Theory Brindabani Sarang is a Kafi thaat raga. ...

". It can be determined that raga Malhar or rather Miyan ki Malhar is a mixture of ragas "

", raga "

Kafi Kafi is a classical form of Sufi music in the Punjabi and Sindhi languages that originated from the Punjab and Sindh regions of South Asia. Some well-known Kafi poets are Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sa ...

" and raga "

Durga Durga (, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around combating evils and demonic ...

".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 Ghambir 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 Rāmtanu ( – 26 April 1589), popularly referred to as Mian Tānsen (), or Sangeet Samrāt (), was a Hindustani classical musician. Born into a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family in Gwalior, he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest regio ...

Baiju Bawra Baiju Bawra (Lit. "Baiju the Insane", born as Bacchu Nath or Baij Nath) was a dhrupad musician and composer from medieval India. Nearly all the information on Baiju Bawra comes from legends, and lacks historical authenticity. According to the mos ...

, Baba Ramdas, Nayak Charju, Miyan Bakhshu, Tanta rang, Tantras Khan, Bilas Khan (son of

), Hammer Sen, Surat Sen, and

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai, and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. She is mentioned in '' Bhaktama ...

Bai are some of those said to be capable of starting rains using various kinds of Raga Malhar.

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

emperor

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

once asked his court musician Miyan

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 Vadnagar is a town and municipality in the Mehsana district of the state of Gujarat in India. It is located from Mehsana. Its ancient names include ''Anartapura'' (the capital of Anarta) and ''Anandapura.'' It was a location visited by Xuanz ...

, a town in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

. There he came across two sisters named

Tana and Riri Tana and Riri is an Indian story about two girls born around 1564, who were asked to sing in the court of Akbar. The story has become part of Gujarati folk culture. The twins were from a northern town known as Vadnagar near Visnagar in the sta ...

, 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

In popular culture

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (anglicized as Bankim Chandra Chatterjee; 26 or 27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was an Indian Bengali novelist, poet, essayist and journalist.Staff writer"Bankim Chandra: The First Prominent Bengali Novelist" ''The ...

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

novel ''

Anandamath ''Anandamath'' ( ''Anondomôţh'') ( The Abbey of Bliss) is a Bengali historical novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and published in 1882. It is inspired by and set in the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion and Great Bengal ...

'' (1882), a band of

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 ...

s sing ''

Vande mataram Vande Mātaram (Bengali language, Original Bengali: বন্দে মাতরম্‌ ''Bônde Mātôrôm'' Devanagari script: वंदे मातरम्; , Transcreation: I Bow to Thee, Mother) is a poem that was adopted as the nati ...

'' in Raga Desh.Raga
. Centre of South Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

's film ''

Jalsaghar ''Jalsaghar'' ( ''Jalsāghar'', ) is a 1958 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a popular short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, and starring Chhabi Biswas. The fourth of Ray's feature fil ...

'', Raga Malhar is used to link the powers of nature and the hero's internal conflict. The song ''Thumbi Thullal'' from the movie ''

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

'' is based on this raag. It is composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

and sung by

Shreya Ghoshal Shreya Ghoshal (; born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Noted for her wide vocal range and versatility, she is one of the most prolific and influential singers of India. Often referred to as the "Queen of Dynamics'' for her remarkable voc ...

Nakul Abhyankar Nakul Abhyankar (born 25 May 1990) is an Indian playback singer, music composer and sound engineer. He has sung in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Tulu. He is best known for his songs "Love You Chinna" from the film '' Love Mocktail'' c ...

. The song Garaj Garaj from Web Series

Bandish Bandits ''Bandish Bandits'' is an Indian musical romantic drama television series on Amazon Prime Video created by Amritpal Singh Bindra and Anand Tiwari, produced by Still & Still Moving Pictures and directed by Anand Tiwari. The script was written b ...

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

's physical agony after singing Raga Deepak (Poorvi Thaat) was pacified with listening to Raga "Megh Malhar" rendered by

Film songs

Tamil

Also see

* Malhar (family of ragas)

References

{{Rāgas as per Performance Time Hindustani ragas Ragas in the Guru Granth Sahib