Carnatic raga
Pentatonic, Bairagi equivalent.
Your guide to Revati
New to classical music — moods, stories, film songs and simple listening.
Press play to hear the notes of Revati, rising then falling.
Bhakti. Traditionally heard at night.
Film songs you may know ↓New to classical music?
Think of a raga as more than a scale: a set of rules and a personality. Revati has its own notes, its own favourite phrases, its own time of day and its own mood, the way a person has a recognisable voice and way of talking.
Revati sounds a mix of light and shade, sliding between bright and dark notes. Its emotional colour is prayer and devotion, like music in a temple. Traditionally it is traditionally performed in the night, because Indian musicians believe each raga matches the feeling of a certain hour or season.
Pentatonic, Bairagi equivalent. The beauty of Revati comes from patience: a good performer doesn't rush through the scale but lingers, bending into notes and letting each phrase breathe, so the mood builds slowly until it fills the room.
Listening exercise: Try this: press "Full scale" above, then open one of the recordings below. In the first few minutes, see if you can hear the missing Ga. Once you catch it, you've started to recognise Revati.
Revati is a janya (derived) raga, drawing its notes from its parent melakarta. Janya ragas often existed long before the melakarta system and were later fitted into it.
The Carnatic Trinity of the 18th–19th centuries (Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri) gave lasting shape to most popular ragas through their compositions. Their kritis remain the standard reference for how each raga should move.
Looking for more history…
Arohana (ascent) · 5 notes
S R1 M1 P N2 S'
Avarohana (descent) · 5 notes
S' N2 P M1 R1 S
Synthesised with Sa = A3. A real performance uses gamakas, meends and phrasing that a bare scale can't capture.
| Swara | Interval from Sa | Western (Sa = C) |
|---|---|---|
| Shadjam | Unison | C |
| Shuddha Rishabham (R1) | Minor 2nd | C# |
| Shuddha Madhyamam (M1) | Perfect 4th | F |
| Panchamam | Perfect 5th | G |
| Shatshruti Dhaivatam (D3) / Kaishiki Nishadam (N2) | Minor 7th | A# |
Omitted (varjya) swaras: Ga, Dha.
Jati (Audava–Audava). The ascent uses 5 distinct notes and the descent 5. Audava = 5, Shadava = 6, Sampurna = 7.
Krama (straight) movement. Notes are taken in order going up and coming down.
Parent scale. Melakarta 2 sits in chakra 1 of 12 and uses shuddha madhyamam (M1). Revati is a janya (derived) raga, drawing its notes from this parent.
Time (Night). Sung during the night prahars (roughly 9 PM–3 AM). Night ragas often stress the upper tetrachord (uttaranga).
Bhakti
Devotion and surrender to the divine.
Each link opens a YouTube or Spotify search for this raga by the instrument or artist.
These ragas use exactly the same notes, though their phrasing and ornaments differ.
Revati is associated with: Night.
Ragas that sound most like Revati, and how to tell them apart.
These Hindi film songs are in Bairagi, the Hindustani counterpart of Revati.
No well-known Hindi film song is confidently attributed to this raga yet.
No regional film song is confidently attributed to this raga yet.
Film songs often take liberties with a raga, so treat these as "based on" rather than strict renditions.
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Notation: Hindustani komal notes are lowercase (r g d n), M# = tivra Ma, ' = upper octave. Carnatic numbers mark swara variants (R1, G3, …).