Purvi is considered to be the fundamental rag in Purvi That. It is performed around sunset (Sandhi Prakash). There are two philosophies concerning this rag. The first approach is to use only the swar of Purvi That. Unfortunately, this approach impinges upon Puriadhanashri. The second and more common approach is to use a touch of Shuddha Ma. We will only use the second approach here.
The structure of Purvi is a bit complex. The inclusion of shuddha Ma forces a somewhat convoluted approach. This rag is sampurna - sampurna with Ga as the vadi and Ni as the samvadi. Here are its overall characteristics:
sampurna - sampurna - (general discussion of jati)
Sunset - (general discussion of time and rag)
Purvi That - (general discussion of that)
Sa-Pa - (general discussion of drone)
For more information check out "Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 1" and "Elementary North Indian Vocal: Vol 2"
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