Ragas — Body Hours
Ragas — Body Hours is a Hindu / Hindustani — raga time-body map body system as transmitted through the lineage Hindustani performance traditions associate many ragas with times of day, while Ayurveda describes recurring daily dosha periods. This system places representative time-theory ragas on a front-view body using the dosha clock as an interpretive bridge; the organ locations are editorial attention anchors, not an anatomical teaching of Hindustani music.. This page lists every point in the system with sourced placements and links to cross-tradition correspondences curated for The Body Spiritual.
Open in interactive explorerPrimary sources
- Alain Daniélou, The Ragas of Northern Indian Music (Munshiram Manoharlal, 1980) — Documents North Indian raga theory, including melodic frameworks and conventional time associations; it does not establish this body projection or a universal organ map.
- Richard Widdess, The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas (Nimbus Records, 1999) — Provides modern ethnomusicological descriptions of representative Hindustani ragas and their performance contexts; the body coordinates here are editorial.
- Vāgbhaṭa, Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya, Sūtrasthāna (Classical Ayurveda text; standard Sanskrit editions, daily-regimen and doṣa-cycle chapters) — Classical Ayurvedic daily-regimen material supplies the interpretive doṣa clock used here; it does not document Hindustani raga time theory or this raga-to-organ map.
Known lineage variants
- Raga time assignments differ by gharana, repertoire and performance context; the representative names and broad periods here are a teaching display rather than a binding concert rule.
- The doṣa clock is an Ayurvedic interpretive overlay, not a claim that Hindustani musicians historically used a single organ-by-hour chart.
- All body coordinates are front-view attention projections. They do not locate a raga in an organ, diagnose a doṣa or claim that listening changes organ function.
Related systems
No other systems share this tradition label.
Points
- Pre-dawn — Bhairav — vata transition / breath
- Morning — Bilawal — kapha morning / settling
- Late morning — Todi — pitta approach / clarity
- Afternoon — Multani — pitta heat / transformation
- Evening — Yaman — sunset transition / opening
- Late evening — Bageshri — kapha night / inwardness
- Midnight — Malkauns — vata night / spacious resonance
Frequently asked
What is Pre-dawn — Bhairav?
Bhairav is used as a representative pre-dawn raga in this display, where the day changes from the quiet vata period. Its chest placement is a symbolic breath-attention cue and is not a claim that the raga resides in the lungs.
What is Morning — Bilawal?
Bilawal represents the bright morning repertory in this map and is placed in the chest as the visual centre of a settling kapha period. The pairing is a cross-tradition editorial analogy, not a textual statement that Bilawal controls the heart.
What is Late morning — Todi?
Todi is presented as a representative late-morning raga at the approach to the pitta-active middle of the day. The upper-abdominal position is an editorial dosha-clock projection, not a claim about digestion or liver physiology.
What is Afternoon — Multani?
Multani stands for the heat-heavy afternoon repertory in this illustration and is placed over the anatomical-right upper abdomen. The liver and fire tags are an Ayurvedic-style visual metaphor; Hindustani raga theory does not supply an organ diagnosis here.
What is Evening — Yaman?
Yaman is shown again at evening because its conventional time association is commonly used as an evening example, while the earlier point represents a different display phase. The chest anchor marks a sunset listening transition and is not an anatomical duplicate claim.
What is Late evening — Bageshri?
Bageshri represents the inward, late-evening repertory and is placed in the lower abdomen as a visual cue for quieting attention. This water-and-emotion vocabulary is an interpretive overlay, not a claim about reproductive or digestive organs.
What is Midnight — Malkauns?
Malkauns is used as a representative midnight raga and closes the displayed cycle at a low pelvic focus. The spacious vata language belongs to the cross-tradition rendering and should not be mistaken for a historical raga-organ correspondence.