Jaunpuri

Raga Jaunpuri takes its name from Jaunpur — the medieval city on the banks of the Gomti river in present-day Uttar Pradesh — which flourished in the 15th century as 'Shiraz-e-Hind' (the Shiraz of India) under the Sharqi Sultans, particularly Sultan Hussain Shah Sharqi (r. 1458–1505), himself an accomplished musician, poet, and devoted patron who transformed Jaunpur into one of the great cultural capitals of pre-Mughal India.

The raga belongs to the Asavari thaat and employs its triple-komal configuration — komal Ga, komal Dha, and komal Ni — which gives it the serious, introspective, and somewhat melancholic morning character that has made it one of the most psychologically profound ragas of the early-morning repertoire.

Its vadi Ga (flat third) as melodic center is the most emotionally ambivalent degree of the scale — neither as resolute as Pa nor as tense as komal Re — and the raga's characteristic dwelling on and around this note in the lower tetrachord creates a quality of deep, sober contemplation suitable for morning meditation and devotion.

Jaunpuri is structurally related to the Carnatic raga Asavari and is considered their Hindustani counterpart, though the gharana-specific characteristic phrases give Jaunpuri a distinct identity maintained through rigorous transmission.

The Kirana gharana's Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and the Agra gharana's Ustad Faiyaz Khan both rendered definitive Jaunpuri performances, and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's recordings in this raga — particularly his slow Vilambit khayal in Ektaal — are considered among the greatest early-morning raga performances ever captured.

Kishore Kumar's 'Aa Chal Ke Tujhe' from the film Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein draws from the Jaunpuri-Asavari emotional world of contemplative morning longing.