Raag Des
राग देस
Khamaj thaat Also spelled: Desh
A monsoon raga from the Khamaj thaat, most widely recognised as the melody of "Vande Mataram".
- Thaat (parent scale)
- Khamaj
- Jati (type)
- Audav – Sampurna · 5 notes up, 7 down
- Vadi (king note)
- Re (Rishabh)
- Samvadi (minister note)
- Pa (Pancham)
- Varjya swara (omitted)
- Ga, Dha (in the ascent)
- Time of singing
- Second quarter of the night
Scale and structure
Key rule: Shuddha Ni in the ascent, komal Ni in the descent. Ga and Dha are omitted going up.
Aaroha (ascent)
सा रे म प नि सां
Avaroha (descent)
सां नि॒ ध प म ग रे सा
Sargam is given in Devanagari, as it is written in practice — a line beneath a note marks it komal (flat), and (मंद्र) marks the lower octave.
Examined at
Other ragas in Khamaj thaat
Learning this with a teacher
These pages will take you a long way on theory. The singing needs a guru — live online classes, one level at a time, with exam preparation built in.