Raga (singular rag or raga, plural raga or ragas) is a complex structure of musical melody used in India and should not be confused with scales.

A raga is basically a set of rules of how to build a melody. It specifies a scale, as well as rules for movements up and down the scale, which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes take which ornamentation, which notes must be bent, which notes may be bent, phrases to be used, phrases to be avoided, and so on. The result is a framework that can be used to compose or improvise melodies in, so that melodies in a certain raga will always be recognisable yet allowing endless variation.

The underlying scale is a five, six or seven tone-scale. In the seven tone-scale the second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh notes can be sharp or flat, making up the twelve notes in the Western scale. However, ragas can specify microtonal changes to this scale: a flatter second, a sharper seventh, and so forth. Furthermore, such variations can occur between styles, performers or simply follow the mood of the performer. There is no absolute pitch; instead, each performance simply picks a ground note, and the other scale degrees follow relative to the ground note.

Every time of the day, morning, afternoon, evening and night, has its specific ragas.

Also See Kirtan, Sikh Kirtan, Taal, Ragmala Also see Bhajan for interpretation purely in connection with Hinduism Kirtan is one of the pillars of Sikhism and in that context refers to the singing of the sacred hymns from the Guru Granth Sahib to set music normally in classical Raags format. ... Kirtan Tradition The Sikh tradition of Kirtan or Gurmat Sangeet was started by Guru Nanak at Kartarpur in in the early 1500s and was strengthened by his successors and particularly by Guru Arjan at Amritsar. ... The term Taal can refer to: A rhythmic pattern in Hindustani classical music. ...

The following are the ragas that are mentioned in the SGGS: Guru Granth Sahib (Granth is Punjabi for book, Sahib is Hindi meaning master, from Arabic, meaning companion, friend, owner, or master) or Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji or SGGS for short, is more than a holy book of the Sikhs. ...