Hindustani raga
A rare Kauns-family raga that uses shuddh Ga, giving the Malkauns mood a brighter colour.
Your guide to Nandkauns
New to classical music — moods, stories, film songs and simple listening.
Press play to hear the notes of Nandkauns, rising then falling.
Shringar. Traditionally heard at late 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. Nandkauns 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.
Nandkauns sounds mostly bright, with a few shadowed notes that add a bittersweet tint. Its emotional colour is love and beauty, sometimes the sweet ache of missing someone. Traditionally it is traditionally performed in the late night, because Indian musicians believe each raga matches the feeling of a certain hour or season.
A rare Kauns-family raga that uses shuddh Ga, giving the Malkauns mood a brighter colour. The beauty of Nandkauns 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 Re. Once you catch it, you've started to recognise Nandkauns.
Hindustani ragas mostly developed through oral tradition, passed guru to disciple. Medieval treatises such as Sangita Ratnakara (13th c.) and the later Raga-Ragini systems grouped them into 'families'.
In the early 20th century, V. N. Bhatkhande organised Hindustani ragas into ten thaats (parent scales). Nandkauns is classified under Khamaj thaat. The thaat is a modern classification, not necessarily the raga's historical origin.
Each gharana (school) interprets ragas slightly differently, so a raga's phrasing has kept evolving through the 19th and 20th centuries, and further through recordings and radio.
Looking for more history…
Arohana (ascent) · 5 notes
S G M D n S'
Avarohana (descent) · 5 notes
S' n D M G 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) |
|---|---|---|
| Sa | Unison | C |
| Shuddh Ga | Major 3rd | E |
| Shuddh Ma | Perfect 4th | F |
| Shuddh Dha | Major 6th | A |
| Komal Ni | Minor 7th | A# |
Omitted (varjya) swaras: Re, Pa.
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. Khamaj thaat: Komal Ni, all others shuddh. Equivalent to the Mixolydian mode and Carnatic Harikambhoji.
Time (Late night). Sung during the night prahars (roughly 9 PM–3 AM). Night ragas often stress the upper tetrachord (uttaranga).
Vadi and samvadi. M is the king note, the most emphasised and returned to. S is the minister, the second most important note.
Shringar
Romance and beauty, including love in union (sambhoga) and longing in separation (viraha).
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.
Nandkauns is traditionally sung: Late night.
Ragas that sound most like Nandkauns, and how to tell them apart.
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, …).