Rag Marwa

Description

Rag Marwa is considered to be the most fundamental rag in Marwa That. It is an evening rag that is quite popular. This rag is unusual in that the tonic is not harmonically well defined; there is no pancham (5th) and the madhyam is tivra rather than shuddha (i.e., there is no natural 4th). It is this harmonic imbalance that gives marwa its peculiar character. Considering this imbalance, rag marwa has a surprisingly simple structure. It is shadav – shadav due to the total exclusion of pancham (the 5th). One well known song in this rag is “Payalia Banwari Bhaje“.

Discussing the vadi and samvadi for Marwa is very difficult. Tradition ascribes the vadi to komal Re and the samvadi to Dha. But this is clearly impossible, because the interval between the two is an augmented fifth. Such an interval is not permissible for a vadi/samvadi relationship. This has caused some to suggest that the vadi should Dha and the samvadi to be Ga. However, this too is problematic because Ga should not be emphasised in Marwa or it starts to impinge upon Puriya.