Kirwani
Keeravani crossed the Vindhyas and learned to weep in a new tongue
Musical Anatomy
Thaat
Bhairavi
Jati
Sampoorna
Time
Night
Vadi
Ga
Samvadi
Ni
Nature
Romantic, emotional, South Indian influence
Arohana (Ascent)
Sa Re ga Ma Pa dha Ni Ṡa▲Avarohana (Descent)
Ṡa▲ Ni dha Pa Ma ga Re SaPakad (Characteristic Phrase)
ga Ma Pa dha Ni Sa, Ni dha Pa Ma ga Re SaNotation guide
Notable Compositions
Raga attributions for film songs, ghazals, and semi-classical pieces are often disputed. Composers may draw from a raga without strictly adhering to it. Treat these as approximate — we show a confidence indicator on each entry.
"Tum ko dekha to yeh khayal aaya"
"Ae dil hai mushkil, jeena yahan"
"Surmayi ankhiyon mein nanha munna ek sapna de ja"
Kirwani · 11 compositions
Kirwani (Keeravani in Carnatic music) is a raga of South Indian origin that has become popular in Hindustani music and film music for its emotional depth.
Legend & Lore
Kirwani — known as Keeravani in Carnatic classical music, where it is the 21st melakarta — crossed the Vindhyas into Hindustani practice primarily through the medium of Hindi film music in the mid-twentieth century, achieving a popularity that eventually brought it into the concert hall as a legitimate classical raga.
Its tonal palette is arresting in its emotional legibility: komal Re (flat second) and komal Dha (flat sixth) alongside shuddha Ga and shuddha Ni create a scale that sounds simultaneously searching and resolved, moving between shadow and light within a single phrase.
R.D.
Burman recognized this quality and employed Kirwani's scale in memorable film compositions of the 1970s and 1980s, and Lata Mangeshkar's renditions made its distinctive flavor familiar to an entire generation of Indian listeners.
Within classical performance, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain have recorded it in jugalbandi format, and several Hindustani vocalists have incorporated it into khayal presentation as a night raga of considerable emotional depth.
The raga differs from Bhairavi — its nearest Hindustani relative — in its shuddha Ga and Ni, which prevent the pervasive gloom of Bhairavi and introduce a quality of bittersweet emotional complexity that is Kirwani's defining contribution to the Hindustani repertoire.
Knowledge Deep-Dive
Test Your Knowledge
1. What is Kirwani called in Carnatic classical music, and what is its number in that system's parent-scale classification?
2. How does Kirwani differ from Bhairavi, its nearest Hindustani relative, in tonal structure?
3. Which film music composer most prominently used Kirwani's scale in Hindi film compositions of the 1970s-80s, bringing it to mass audiences?
Cinematic Echoes
31 Hindi film songs rooted in Kirwani
Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi
Chori Chori · 1956
Music · Shankar–Jaikishan
Singers · Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey
Neend Na Mujhko Aye
Post Box No. 999 · 1958
Music · Kalyanji–Anandji
Singers · Hemant Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar
Tumhi Mere Mit Ho
Pyase Panchhi · 1961
Music · Kalyanji–Anandji
Singers · Hemant Kumar, Suman Kalyanpur
Beqaraar Dil, Tu Gaye Jaa
Door Ka Raahi
Music · Kishore Kumar
Singers · Kishore Kumar, Sulakshana Pandit
Enai kanavilaye neatrodu
TamilKadhal Desam
Music · A. R. Rahman
Singers · S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, OS Arun, Rafee
Tere Liye
Veer-Zaara · 2004
Music · Madan Mohan (posthumous)
Singers · Lata Mangeshkar, Roop Kumar Rathod
Discover More Songs in Kirwani
Search all major music platforms for Hindi film and classical recordings in this raag. These go well beyond the 31 indexed above.
Many Hindi film songs blend multiple raags across their mukhda and antara. When searching, you may discover songs primarily in other raags that share Kirwani's emotional palette — that's intentional cross-raag composition by the music director.