Sarang ragas
The Sarang raga and all other ragas falling under this catogery are ragas in the Hindustani Classical music like other groups like the Malhar family and the Kanada family. The Sarang ragas are sung in the time period of early afternoon. This includes mainly of the folk music and songs. The Sarang raga and all other ragas falling under in this type depict the scenes of the Indian historic past events, for e.g. Raag Brindabani Sarang depicting Vrindavan or Lanadahan Sarang depicting Lord Hanuman singing this raga while burning Lanka with his tail, etc.
History
The main raag Sarang was created by Swami Haridas. The associated mythology being that he brought Lord Krishna to earth by singing this raga who took the form of an idol which can still be seen in Mathura. It may be so that raag Sarang is also called as Brindabani Sarang or Vridavani Sarang depicting that Lord Krishna being associated as Vrindavan as he lived there. This raag is sung mostly based on the Mathura region. The Gaths and the Bandhish are based on the Braja Basha or the Braja language/dialect.
List of ragas in the Sarang family
Following is the list of the ragas in the Sarang Family :
- Ambika Sarang
- Badhamsa Sarang / Badhans Sarang
- Barhams Sarang
- Dhulia Sarang
- Gaud Sarang
- Kauns Sarang
- Lankadahan Sarang
- Madhu Sarang
- Madhumad Sarang
- Madhyamad Sarang
- Maru Sarang
- Miyan Ki Sarang
- Raganga Sarang
- Salang
- Salang Sarang
- Samanta Sarang
- Sampurna Sarang
- Sarang / Brindabani Sarang / Vrudavani Sarang
- Sarangi (raagini)
- Saraswati Sarang
- Shuddha Sarang
- Shuddha Sarangi
- Shyam Sarang
Note
You must have noted that the raga Gaud having a suffix of Sarang is not been listed in the list. The reason for this is Raga Gaud Sarang doesn't have any characters of the Chalan of the raga Sarang. It is a complete different raga. But at the same time some consider this raga in the Sarang family. So it cannot be defined or determined about the placement of the raga Gaud Sarang.
Detailed historical information about some ragas
1. Raga Sarang - The associated mythology of raga Sarang is that 'being that he (Swami Haridas) brought Lord Krishna to earth by singing this raga who took the form of an idol which can still be seen in Mathura. It may be so that raag Sarang is also called as Brindabani Sarang or Vridavani Sarang depicting that Lord Krishna being associated as Vrindavan as he lived there. This raag is sung mostly in the Mathura region.'
2. Raga Lankadahan Sarang - Lanadahan Sarang depicts Lord Hanuman singing this raga while burning Lanka with his tail. In the Ramayan, when lord Hanuman goes in search of Devi Sita, he on purpose, let himself take, by the soldiers in the palace of king Ravan. King Ravan punishes Lord Hanuman by burning his tail. But clever lord Hanuman flies of and with the help of his burning tail, burns the whole of The Golden Lanka ! While burning Lanka, Lord Hanuman sings the raga Lankadahan Sarang. The word Lankadahan means Burning of Lanka this raga was sung with the aang of raga Sarang so it is called the Lankadahan Sarang or Lankadahani Sarang.
3. Raga Madhumad Sarang - The only difference between raga Brindabani Sarang and Madhumad Sarang is the Brindabani Sarang has both, the Komal and the Shuddha Nishad (Ni) but Madhumad Sarang has only the Komal Nishad.
4. Raga Miyan ki Sarang - Miyan ki Sarang is same as raga Sarang. It was sung beautifully in a different way by Miyan Tansen and so it is called Miyan ki Sarang. Ragas like Todi, Malhar, etc. have the prefix of Miyan too. This raga obtains by eliminating komal gandhar from Miyan Malhar and by advancing the Sarang Raganga.
5. Raga Saraswati Sarang - Saraswati Sarang is simply a mixture of ragas, Saraswati and Sarang.
6. Raga Kauns Sarang - Kauns Sarang is just a mixture of ragas, Malkauns and Sarang.
7. Raga Maru Sarang - Maru Sarang is a mixture of ragas, Maru (Putra raga) and Sarang.
8. Raga Shuddha Sarang - This is probably the most popular Sarang prakar. It employs both shuddha and teevra madhyam.
9. Raga Samanta Sarang - The approach to Shuddha Dhaivat and its assimilation in vakra aang is the main theme in raga Samant Sarang.
10. Raga Salang - This audav jati Sarang prakar is in a sense the obverse of Madhmad. That is, the komal nishad in the Madhmad contour is replaced by its shuddha counterpart here. This makes it somewhat tan-unfriendly.
11. Raga Ambika Sarang - This raga was designed by Chidanand Nagarkar. The gandhar is varjya, and elements of Shuddha Sarang and Kafi are blended together. There are occasional reminders of Raga Saraswati but the presence of shuddha nishad and shuddha madhyam make for a clear separation.