Bansuri player, producor for Hindustani music, Asian music and Shomyo performance

4. Numbers of Raga

How many ragas actually are there? In general the raga is interpreted as a type of musical scale or melody. But it is not a simple arrangement of notes according to pitch as defined in Western music.
 B.C.Deva explains the rules of a raga as follows:
　1. It has a definite set of notes which is the raga’s alphabets.
　2. The minimum number of notes for a raga is five and the maximum is nine. However there are exceptions.
　3. It has a permitted manner of accent (arohana) and descent (avarohana).
　4. A raga uses characteristic melodic units (pakad, chalan, tan, sanchara or varna).
　5. Certain notes(svaras) in its alphabet find emphasis in varying degrees (vadi, samvadi, anuvadi). Melodic sections commence and end on defined notes (graha and nyasa).
　6. While there are graces and accents common to all ragas, most of them have their own gamakas, which give them distinctive qualities.

  The possible number of note arrangements out of 12 notes in one octave is vast. Indian scholars have been trying to calculate the possible number of note arrangements from musical as well as mathematical interest.
 Alain Danielou(1907-1994) wrote in his “The Raga-s of Northern Indian Music”.
"Ahobala speaks of 18,678 modes of seven notes, 31,050 modes of six notes and 17,505 modes of five notes in the Ma grama alone." Ahobala is a famous writer of the 17th century.
He also quoted from “Raga Kalpana-druma” by Krishnananda Vyasa: "For the sake of the 16,108 milkmaids, the Dark Lord, Krishna, took the same number of shapes. Each of milkmaids for each of the Krishna-s sang a different raga in a different rhythm, thus giving birth to 16,108 modes. These raga-s and ragini-s later became famous on earth."
  Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) who tried to reestablish the theory of Hindustani had a similar approach to the raga. He noted that 484 modes could be created for penta-tonic, hexa-tonic and hepta-tonic scales out of twelve notes. Then applying this number to 72 Melakarta based on South Indian music theory, he finally noted that 34,848 modes could be created. (Lakshya Sangeet). As a raga can be created not only from a mathematical combination but also from the difference of ascent and descent and position of vadi (the most emphasized note), the possibilities grow even more. However these calculations do not mean they can be applied directly to actual music.
 Then how many ragas actually are there? Performers and scholars whom I have met so far have given me mixed responses to the number of raga. Some say thousands or hundreds and others say there are countless. And books on Hindustani music published inside and outside India also give mixed answers or are ambiguous on this matter. Some of them are as follows.

"Theoretically, then, the number of derived scales can be astronomical in numbers and ragas infinite. In practice, however, not all of them are emotionally satisfying and hence only about 300 are known. Of these a hundred or so are common. A musician can, perhaps, render about fifty with some degree of confidence and some twentyfive with mastery."
…An Introduction to Indian Music by B.C. Deva

"Musicians say that there are about 75,000 rags. Most of these are not in the active literature and are merely hypothetical, but in an ideal sense, they remain always there to be composed or revived by musicians in every age. In practical use, the number is very much smaller, and perhaps only a few thousand rags have been played throughout history. In fact, in any given era, the active number may have been only in the hundreds. A competent musician could have twenty to fifty rags in his functional repertoire, depending on his age, practice, and training. Although he may know many more by recognized their main features, he would not feel ready to render them in public performance."
…The Classical Music of North India by George Ruckert

"The number of possible ragas is nearly infinite. Scholars have figured that given the seventy-two parent scales of Indian music, with all their permutations, each scale could give rise to hundreds of different patterns or combinations. That makes thousands of possible patterns in the seventy-two parent scales. But then, if other kinds of modes are taken into consideration, such as those which are formed from a combination of notes from two scales, the number of possible ragas becomes boundless. Actually, only several hundred ragas are in use."
…My Music My Life by Ravi Shankar

" The number of ragas is uncertain. Approximately forty or fifty are generally known and form the basic repertory of almost every performing artist. Around a hundred more ragas are fairly well established, but probably the total number is close to 500 if we include minor varieties and mixed ragas. Of course we then include many variants which the great masters would rarely recognize as independent manifestations. Some minor deviations and hybrids of main ragas have only a temporary existence. In other case one and the same ragas in interpreted differently according to style and school. In principle every raga should stand for a definite and independent musical idea, though in some cases two minor shades of one raga can grow into two distinct ragas."
…Hindustani Music in the 20th Century by Wim Van Der Meer
Wim Van Der Meer commented also on a footnote of the same book as "Chand Khan of Delhi showed me his own manuscript in which 2,000 ragas are treated. The authenticity is however doubtful."

 From quotations read in books they are also ambiguous about the actual number. Some say several hundred though they do not provide any basis. As Wim Van Der Meer commented, it is difficult to count the number because of the raga’s character and flexibility. Minor deviations and hybrids of a raga form new ragas quite easily. And ragas which have already lost popularity survive only in name. And as just described, there are no certain standards of what forms a raga. This must be why no writer could give a definite number. Therefore the number of ragas I have shown on this paper might give only be a rough indication.