Malkauns is a raga in Indian classical music. It is one of the oldest ragas of Indian classical music. The equivalent raga in Carnatic music is called Hindolam, not to be confused with the Hindustani Hindol.
Please note that the tabla player is in this performance is Shri Samir Chatterjee and not Anindo Chaterjee.
Malkauns belongs to the Bhairavi thaat. Its notes are Sa, komal Ga, shuddh Ma, komal Dha, and komal Ni. In Western classical notation, its notes can be denoted as: tonic, minor third, perfect fourth, minor sixth and minor seventh. In raga Malkauns, Rishabh (Re - second) and Pancham (Pa - perfect fifth) are completely omitted. Its jaati is audav-audav (five-five, that is, pentatonic).
Arohana : .Ni. Sa Ga Ma Dha Ni Sa
Avarohana : Sa Ni Dha Ma Ga Ma Ga Sa OR Sa Ni Dha Ma Ga Sa
The 'Ga' used is actually Ga-Sadharan (the rough minor third), 316 cent above Sa [3]
Malkauns is a serious, meditative raga, and is developed mostly in the lower octave (mandra saptak) and in a slow tempo (vilambit laya). Ornaments such as midh, gamak and andolan are used rather than 'lighter' ornaments such as murki and khatka. Komal Ni is generally considered the starting note (graha swara), and the notes komal Ga and komal Dha are performed with vibrato (andolit). All five swaras can function as pausing notes.
The komal Ni in Malkauns is different from the komal Ni in Bhimpalasi.
The best time for this raga is late night.
'Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj' (film Baiju Bawra), 'Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi' (film Navrang), 'Chham Chham Ghunghroo Bole' (film Kaajal), 'Ankhiyan Sang Ankhiyaan Laagi Aaj', 'Balma Maane Na' (film Opera House) and 'Rang raliyaan karat sautan sang' (film Birbal My Brother), 'Gori tera gaon bada pyara' (film Chitchor), 'Ek Ladki Thi' (film Love You Hamesha), 'Tumko Lekar Chale' (film Jism), are a few Hindi film compositions based on Malkauns. 'Rajasekhara' in the film 'Anarkali' in Tamil and Telugu is a composition based on this in South India.