Notations
Although notes are an important part of rāga practice, they alone do not make the rāga. A rāga is more than a scale, and many rāgas share the same scale. The underlying scale may have five, six or seven tones made up of swaras. Rāgas that have five swaras are called audava (औडव) rāgas; those with six, shaadava (षाडव); and with seven, sampurna (संपूर्ण, Sanskrit for 'complete'). Those rāgas that do not follow the strict ascending or descending order of swaras are called vakra (वक्र) ('crooked') rāgas.
The mood of the rāga and the way the notes are approached and used are more important than the notes it uses. For example, Darbari Kanada and Jaunpuri share the same notes but are entirely different in their renderings. Similarly, although Bilaskhani Todi is classified under the Bhairavi thaat because of the notes it uses, it is actually closer to Todi than to Bhairavi.
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