Artists Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Jasraj Ravi Shankar Shiv Kumar Sharma Hariprasad Chaurasia Amjad Ali Khan
As the sun sets, there is a set of sandhi prakash ragas, the evening counterparts of the pre-dawn ragas. But this time it is a meeting of light and darkness and the difference is reflected in the swaras used. The rishabh and dhaivat are Komal as in the correspondence ragas of the morning but these are used in combination with a strong teevra madhyam, which signifies great tension waiting for resolution normally provided by the pancham. Marwa and Pooriya are two examples. The sunset ragas are once again sombre and introspective. Sandhya is also a time for prayer and mediation.
As twilight deepens into night, the serene and tranquil ragas of the Kalyan family appear.
Their calm and reposefulness owe a great deal to the sounding of the shuddh gandhar, which is for them an important resting place. The life span of the Kalyans is very long. As a result there is considerable overlapping between and night ragas. The tranquil mood of the Kalyans gradually but briefly gives place to lyrical and romantic ragas like Anandi, Durga, Tilang and Kedar, ragas suitable alike for late evening or early night.
The major late night or midnight ragas are profoundly searching creations, full of magic, mystery and the depth of darkness. These are no special characteristics of scale or melodic phrase that can capture the rich melodic variety and for every rule there are as many exceptions. Some say that night ragas come into their own in the upper part of the scale, but there are exceptions even to this observation, because nothing can surpass the musical eloquence of ragas like Darbari and Malkauns when they are developed in the lower notes. The night ragas like Jhinjhoti, Shuddh Nat and Bageshri are majestic in their structures and as a whole present a rich feat of emotional colours.
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