Raag time chart समय चक्र

Hindustani classical music has a time theory, the samay chakra. The day divides into eight prahars, four between sunrise and sunset and four between sunset and sunrise, and each raag belongs to one of them. Bhairav is sung at first light, Yaman at dusk, Darbari Kanada in the dead middle of the night.

The prahars are solar, not clock hours. They begin at your actual sunrise and they are unequal: a day prahar in June is much longer than one in December. The times below are for a day with sunrise and sunset at six, as at the equinox. The station works out the real window from where you are.

Prahar	Roughly	Raag	Thaat
Day · First Prahar Pratah प्रातः	6 am – 9 am	Raag Bhairav भैरव The first light, still arriving. A flat second and flat sixth pulled hard toward the tonic.	Bhairav
Day · Second Prahar Purvahna पूर्वाह्न	9 am – 12 noon	Raag Ahir Bhairav अहीर भैरव Bhairav's lower half with the top of the scale opened. Less severe, morning already underway.	Bhairav
Day · Third Prahar Madhyahna मध्याह्न	12 noon – 3 pm	Raag Brindavani Sarang बृंदावनी सारंग Five notes, no shadow work. A flat, overhead raag for the flattest hour of the day.	Kafi
Day · Fourth Prahar Aparahna अपराह्न	3 pm – 6 pm	Raag Multani मुलतानी A sharpened fourth straining upward. The day leaning toward its end.	Todi
Night · First Prahar Pradosh प्रदोष	6 pm – 9 pm	Raag Yaman यमन A sharpened fourth, never the natural one. A door opening rather than a threshold.	Kalyan
Night · Second Prahar Nishith निशीथ	9 pm – midnight	Raag Kedar केदार Both fourths, natural and sharp, kept close. A room gone quiet but not yet asleep.	Kalyan
Night · Third Prahar Madhyaratri मध्यरात्रि	midnight – 3 am	Raag Darbari Kanada दरबारी कानड़ा A flat third and sixth, held and made to waver. The hour when nothing else is happening.	Asavari
Night · Fourth Prahar Usha उषा	3 am – 6 am	Raag Lalit ललित Both fourths, no fifth at all. A phrase held in the air, refusing to land before the sun does.	Marwa/Purvi ang