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Kedara is an old raga dating from Guru Nanak's time or
even earlier which has become a very important and popular North Indian raga today. It
is supposed to possess magical qualities, if correctly performed, which can heal the
sick. In the Ragmala, Kedara is a putra (son) of Megha but currently is in the Kalvan
thata. Kedara was used by Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan for a few short hymns. Several
forms of Kedara have been and still are in use. Thus considerable freedom of choice may
be exercised by the performer as to how this raga be performed in association with a
given test. In the most commonly used form, Kedara is performed during the first quarter
of the night and is particularly auspicious when the moon is visible, a planet with
which it has long been associated. The mood is one of contemplation associated with a
sort of ascetic idealism. The sadness expressed in Ragmala paintings suggests the
longing of man for the Supreme Being when this raga accompanies a sabda. The Kedara
scale is vakra (crooked) with unusual intervals:
Aroh : Sa Ma, Ma Pa, Dha Pa, Ni Dha Sa
Avroh : Sa Ni Dha Pa, M'a Pa Dha Pa Ma, Ma Re Sa
Vadi : Ma
Samvadi : Sa
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Introduction :
This raga is a very old raga and is considered as a complete raga of Bilawal thath. In different
schools of music it is considered as a ragini of ragas Nut (Ragaravan School), Deepak ( Bhart
School) and Sriraga (Shiv School).
This raga is mentioned as a son of raga Meg in the Ragamala listed at the end of Guru Granth
Sahib.
The scale and notes of the raga are as follows:
Arohi (ascending scale) - sa mama, ma pa, - dha pa na dha sa Avrohi (descending scale) - sa ni
dha,
pa ma ma, pa dha pa, ma ga re sa The vadi (most popular) note is 'ma' and samvadi (second most
popular) note is ' sa'.
This raga is sung in the fourth part of the day i.e., from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The season of its
recitation is summer (grikham) i.e., during May and June. In Guru Granth Sahib it has hymns from
pages 1118 - 1124 ( 7 pages).
The Composers:
The composers of bani (hymns) in this raga are:
Gurus
Bhagats:
The structure:
The sequence of the structure of compositions in this raga are:
Gurubani:
- Shabads 2 and 4 padas.
- Chhants
Bhagatbani:
Matrix
VISUAL ANALYSIS
Count of the use of Managals:
- Complete Mool Mantar = none
- Ik-ongkar Satgur Prasadh = 9
Placement and count of rahau verses:
First four shabads have no rahau verses in them, next all shabads have rahau verses, without
numeral
'1', and are placed in the beginning of the first padas of the shabads. The Bhagat bani has
numbered
rahau verses placed at the end of the first padas of the shabads.
Diversification of headings & subheadings in this raga:
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Page number
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Heading/Subheading
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1118
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Kedara Mehla 4 Ghar 1
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1123
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Raga Kedara Bani Kabir Jeo ki
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Composers Structure of Bani
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Padas
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Chhts
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Gurus
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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Ramdas
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1
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1
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Arjan Dev
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15
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1
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Bhagats
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Kabir
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2
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4
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Ravidas
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1
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Excerpts taken from:
Guru Granth Sahib: An Advance Study
Dr Sukhbir Singh Kapoor
Vice Chancellor World Sikh University, London
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