Raag Madhuvanti | Flute | Pakhawaj | Tabla | Music of India | Purvi Festival 2023

Shanish Kumar Gyawali performs Raag Madhuvanti on bansuri at the Purvi Festival 2023, Motihari — the gat section that follows the opening alap. Aditya Dip accompanies on pakhawaj and Pankaj Rai, faculty at Banaras Hindu University, on tabla.

Madhuvanti, a late-afternoon raga of the Todi thaat, builds its character from two defining notes: the Teevra Madhyama and Komal Gandhar. Its ascent omits Re and Dha, pressing forward to the dominant Pancham. In the gat section, these structural tensions open out across vilambit and drut tempos, moving from slow, deliberate phrases into a faster rhythmic exchange.

The bansuri and pakhawaj work in close conversation throughout — Gyawali's long meends against the pakhawaj's percussive interplay, with the tabla holding the taal. The performance builds from the meditative pace of the vilambit into a tightly woven drut that closes the main body of the raga before the jhala.