Hindustani raga
One of the first ragas taught to students, Yaman uses the sharp Ma (tivra madhyam) throughout and is known for its serene, devotional grandeur.
Your guide to Yaman
New to classical music — moods, stories, film songs and simple listening.
Press play to hear the notes of Yaman, rising then falling.
Shringar, Bhakti. Traditionally heard at early 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. Yaman 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.
Yaman sounds bright but dreamy and floating. The raised Ma gives a shimmering, slightly unresolved glow. Its emotional colour is love and beauty, sometimes the sweet ache of missing someone; and prayer and devotion, like music in a temple. Traditionally it is traditionally performed in the early night, because Indian musicians believe each raga matches the feeling of a certain hour or season.
One of the first ragas taught to students, Yaman uses the sharp Ma (tivra madhyam) throughout and is known for its serene, devotional grandeur. The beauty of Yaman 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 musician dwelling on G. Once you catch it, you've started to recognise Yaman.
Origin
Yaman is usually traced to the older raga Kalyan. Its name is often linked to 'Yemen' or to Persian influence in the Mughal-era courts, and tradition credits Amir Khusrau (13th–14th c.) with shaping the Yaman–Kalyan blend. Under V. N. Bhatkhande's 20th-century thaat system it became the defining raga of Kalyan thaat.
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). Yaman is classified under Kalyan 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) · 6 notes
N R G M# D N S'
Avarohana (descent) · 7 notes
S' N D P M# G R 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 Re | Major 2nd | D |
| Shuddh Ga | Major 3rd | E |
| Tivra Ma | Augmented 4th | F# |
| Pa | Perfect 5th | G |
| Shuddh Dha | Major 6th | A |
| Shuddh Ni | Major 7th | B |
Jati (Shadava–Sampurna). The ascent uses 6 distinct notes and the descent 7. Audava = 5, Shadava = 6, Sampurna = 7.
Krama (straight) movement. Notes are taken in order going up and coming down.
Parent scale. Kalyan thaat: Tivra Ma, all others shuddh. Equivalent to the Lydian mode and Carnatic Kalyani.
Time (Early night). Sung during the night prahars (roughly 9 PM–3 AM). Night ragas often stress the upper tetrachord (uttaranga).
Vadi and samvadi. G is the king note, the most emphasised and returned to. N is the minister, the second most important note.
Shringar
Romance and beauty, including love in union (sambhoga) and longing in separation (viraha).
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.
Same notes, but a different character because of emphasis, movement and phrasing.
Yaman is traditionally sung: Early night.
Ragas that sound most like Yaman, and how to tell them apart.
Ragas from the same family or named after Yaman, such as Yaman and Yaman Kalyan. They are related but each has its own rules.
Chandan sa badan
Saraswatichandra (1968)
Jab deep jale aana
Chitchor (1976)
Aansoo bhari hain
Parvarish (1958)
Ehsan tera hoga mujh par
Junglee (1961)
Mann re tu kahe na dheer dhare
Chitralekha (1964)
These songs are in Kalyani, the Carnatic counterpart of Yaman.
Mannavan vandhanadi
Tamil · Thiruvarutchelvar (1967)
Kalaivaniye
Tamil · Sindhu Bhairavi (1985)
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, …).