Durga

Raag Durga is a Bilawal thaat raga of Hindustani music, performed late at night, that uses five notes: Sa, Re, Ma, Pa and Dha, all shuddha. Shuddha means natural, and a thaat is a parent scale. It is also written Doorga. George Howlett places it in the Bilawal raganga.

In this notation, a dot marks the lower octave and an apostrophe the upper. The aroha, or ascent, is S R M P D S'. The avaroha, or descent, is S' D P D M R S .D S, and neither uses Ga or Ni. The vadi, the most prominent note, is Ma, and the samvadi, its partner, is Sa, as David Courtney and Howlett also give them. The AUTRIM project of the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the University of Amsterdam names Sa and Ma as its important notes.

Courtney links Durga to Bhupali and Malkauns by murchchana, a shift of the tonic, so that its scale started from Ma becomes Bhupali and started from Dha becomes Malkauns. He also reports the suggestion that Durga comes from the Carnatic Shuddha Saveri. Howlett calls it likely evolving from that raga and gives it as an approximate counterpart.

KalaSudha presents Hindustani musicians in concert and releases their recordings. Its academy teaches ragas online and in local workshops, and each course is built by its instructor with KalaSudha.