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Welcome to Ragacast — a video series dedicated to exploring North Indian classical ragas through performance, explanation, and the living tradition of the Imdadkhani gharana.
Episode 1 begins with Raga Jhinjhoti, a nighttime raga of remarkable beauty and warmth. This episode includes the foundational Sapats (scale exercises) that form the backbone of raga practice.
About Raga Jhinjhoti
Raga Jhinjhoti belongs to the Khamaj thaat family — one of the ten parent scales (thaats) identified by the musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in his systematization of North Indian classical music.
The raga is classified as Audhav-Sampoorna — it uses five notes (audhav) in its ascending form and all seven notes (sampoorna) in its descending form. This asymmetry creates a characteristic “reaching” quality in the ascent and a more flowing quality in the descent.
Key Musical Features
- Thaat: Khamaj
- Vadi (principal note): Gandhar (Ga)
- Samvadi (secondary note): Dhaivat (Dha)
- Time: Night (approximately 9pm–midnight)
- Rasa (emotion): Shanta (tranquility) and Bhakti (devotion)
- Structure: Audhav-Sampoorna (5 notes ascending, 7 descending)
“Jhinjhoti has a swinging, buoyant quality unlike almost any other raga. It welcomes you in immediately — and then reveals extraordinary depth the longer you spend with it.”
The Sapats
The video begins with four sets of Sapats — stepwise scale passages that help establish the character of the raga and build technical facility. These are practiced daily in Indian classical music and serve as both technical exercise and meditative practice.