Day · Fourth Prahar · Aparahna अपराह्न
Raag Multani राग मुलतानी
A sharpened fourth straining upward. The day leaning toward its end.
When to listen to Raag Multani
Raag Multani belongs to the fourth of the eight prahars, Aparahna (day · fourth prahar). Afternoon, sloping toward dusk.
On a day with sunrise at six and sunset at six, that is roughly 3 pm – 6 pm. The prahars are measured from the sun, not the clock, so the window moves through the year and from place to place. The station works out the prahar from your own sunrise and plays what belongs to it.
What to listen for
Multani sits in the hour when the day starts to lean toward its end, and its sharpened fourth carries that lean inside a single note. Approach it from below, slowly, and you can hear the note straining before it resolves.
It is a difficult raag to sing badly convincingly. The strain has to be real, or the whole thing sounds like an ordinary phrase in the wrong key.
Aroha, avaroha and pakad of Raag Multani
| Thaat | Todi |
|---|---|
| Aroha (ascent) | ni re ga Ma# Pa ni Sa |
| Avaroha (descent) | Sa ni dha Pa Ma# ga re Sa |
| Pakad | ni re ga Ma# Pa, Ma# ga re Sa |
| Vadi | Pa |
| Samvadi | Sa |
| Swaras used | 7 of 12: Sa re ga Ma# Pa dha ni |
| Prahar | Day · Fourth Prahar (Aparahna) |
Notation: lowercase is komal (flat), Ma# is tivra (sharp), everything else is shuddha.
How Raag Multani differs from similar raags
Multani and Miyan ki Todi
The same seven swaras of the Todi thaat. Todi rests on komal dha and moves freely in the lower octave; Multani leans on Pa, thins its ascent, and lives higher. Same material, different centre of gravity.
Multani and Todi (Carnatic)
Carnatic Todi, Hanumatodi, is an unrelated scale despite the shared name. Do not read across between the systems on the strength of the word.
Multani and Puriya Dhanashri
Both are late-afternoon raags with komal re and tivra Ma. Puriya Dhanashri keeps shuddha Ga, Multani takes komal ga, which is the note that gives it the strain.
Listen: Raag Multani
Alick Sengupta
Film songs based on Raag Multani
- Aaj Gawat Man Mero — Baiju Bawra (1952), music by Naushad, sung by Ustad Amir Khan, D.V. Paluskar. Often listed under Todi rather than Multani; the two are close enough that sources differ.
Film songs borrow a raag's scale without always keeping its grammar, so attributions like these are widely published but rarely unanimous.
Origin
Named for Multan, now in Pakistan. One of several raags in the Todi family carrying the name of a city along the old trade routes of the Indo-Gangetic plain.
Worth knowing
Multani thins its ascent to five notes while keeping seven on the way down, so the raag opens out as it descends. Where Sarang is bright with the same economy, Multani's flat third and sharp fourth give it a completely different, straining character.
How sure is the time placement
well attested. Textbook late-afternoon raag, sung at the hour classical texts call sandhi prakash.
Sources: N.A. Jairazbhoy, The Rāgs of North Indian Music (1971); V.N. Bhatkhande, Kramik Pustak Malika; ITC Sangeet Research Academy raag notes.