Revati (raga)


Revati is a rāgam in Carnatic music. It is an audava rāgam. It is a janya rāgam, as it does not have all the seven swaras.
In Hindustani music a raga that closely resembles Revati is Bairagi Bhairav. It is said to evoke Karuṇa rasa. This scale has also been used in chanting Vedas.

Structure and Lakshana

Revati is a symmetric rāgam that does not contain gāndhāram or dhaivatam. It is a pentatonic scale. Its structure is as follows :
  • [Arohana|] :
  • [Avarohana|] :
Revati is considered a janya rāgam of Ratnangi, the 2nd Melakarta rāgam, though it can be derived from other melakarta rāgams, Vanaspati, Hanumatodi, Natakapriya, Vakulabharanam or Chakravakam, by dropping both gāndhāram and dhaivatam.

Popular compositions

Revati rāgam lends itself for elaboration and exploration and has many compositions. Here are some popular kritis composed in Revati.

Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.
In Japanese/Western music Revati corresponds to Insen scale

''Graha bhedam''

Revati's notes when shifted using Graha bhedam, yields 2 other pentatonic rāgams, namely, Shivaranjani and Sunadavinodini. Graha bhedam is the step taken in keeping the relative note frequencies same, while shifting the shadjam to the next note in the rāgam. See Graha bhedam on Shivaranjani for more details and an illustration.

Scale similarities

  • Madhyamāvati is a rāgam which has the chathusruthi rishabham in place of the shuddha rishabham. Its structure is S R2 M1 P N2 S : S N2 P M1 R2 S