Devotional Music in Raga

Hindustani raga cannot be summed up in just a few words. Raga touches all areas of music. Theatre, dance, song, devotional services, story-telling, poetry, and any and all combinations of the aforementioned areas are also examples of raga. In defining the function of raga, we must first question "what is a raga?" "In the broadest sense, the word refers to the colors and more specifically, the emotion or mood produced by a particular combination or …

…a great history and significant spiritual implications..regarding time, personality, and mood." (Alison, Arnold pg.65) raga is also given other definitions, and in restating musical parameters, "a raga is an abstract, tonally centered combinations of pitches, often as simple as a scale but more often a series of melodic motives within a scale; in a few cases, these can add up to a complete composition-a song for example- with fixed melodic contours and rhythmic implications.