Purvi पूर्वी

Purvi thaat is one of the ten parent scales (thaats) of Hindustani music, using komal (flat) Re and komal Dha with tivra (sharp) Ma, the other four notes shuddha: S r G M# P d N. Raag Purvi, the raga of the same name, has its own page, and the raga takes both forms of Ma: Raag Purvi. In the system set out by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, the nearest thaat is Bhairav thaat, which keeps Ma shuddha; Marwa thaat shares komal Re and tivra Ma but keeps Dha shuddha.

The ragas grouped here include Shree, Puriya Dhanashri, Paraj and Basanta. Lalit, which takes both forms of Ma and drops Pa, is placed in Purvi by some and in Marwa by others. Alain Daniélou calls this scale Shri rather than Purvi, because the Purvi he describes takes shuddha Dha. The same seven notes form Kamavardhani, melakarta 51 of Carnatic music. Western music has no church mode on these notes.

In B. Chaitanya Deva's summary of Bhatkhande's time rules, ragas that pair komal Re and komal Dha with shuddha Ga and Ni, as Purvi thaat does, belong to the twilight hours. Bhatkhande lists most Purvi thaat ragas as evening ragas, with three of them sung in the morning. KalaSudha's concerts and recordings carry ragas of this thaat, and its courses, each built by its instructor with KalaSudha, teach them: see our courses.