More Than Background Noise: Ragas, Rasas, and the Sound of My Culture

Think of the last time you were sad, down, or just not feeling it. What did you do? Maybe you went for a walk, texted a friend, or just put on a song. I started noticing the importance of music around 16. My family always had music going during car rides, it was never really a big deal, just something in the background. And at the age of 11, when I moved to Seattle from India, I realized at some point that I was doing the exact same thing on my own, putting on songs by artists like Drake whenever I was in a mood and needed to get out of it. It wasn’t Indian music I was reaching for, but looking back, it was the same thing I’d been watching my family do the whole time.  

Turns out, that’s basically the whole point behind what sitarist Rishabh Rikhiram does. He built a concert series called “Sitar for Mental Health,” playing shows across India and the US, and it’s not really about the performance, it’s about giving people a space to slow down and actually feel their emotions. 

And that is common with music in India in general and there is a huge variety of the types of songs. Some songs are bassy and instrumental, made to hit you in the chest, others are slow and sad and made to get you in your feels. Same with the lyrics, some are happy and upbeat, others are just sad and relatable. Whatever mood you are in there is probably a song which corresponds with just that. 

So, I started looking into the why. “Why is it that Indian music always seems to have a song that aligns with every mood?” 

I wasn’t expecting to find out that there’s an actual system behind it. It’s called the raga and rasa. A raga is like a blueprint, a specific set of notes meant to pull one exact feeling out of you when you hear it. That feeling is the rasa. I realized that this isn’t new at all, people in ancient India were doing this thousands of years ago, way before anyone had the ability to explain why music can mix with your mood. Some ragas are even tied to specific times of day, like there’s a different version of “sad” or “happy” for the morning than for night. 

The idea about ragas and rasas wasn’t just heard; it was painted, too. Indian artists created something called ragamala paintings, which translates to “garland of ragas” where each raga was turned into an image: a specific figure, a specific color, tied to a specific time of day or season. It’s the same idea as a raga itself, just in a different form. Instead of using sound to pull out a feeling, artists used paint and drawings. This connection between music and emotion runs so deep in Indian culture that it shows up in visual art, too, not just sound.

It also made a lot more sense to me why artists like Rishabh Rikhiram could build an entire concert series around music and mental health. He’s working inside a tradition that’s been mapping sound to emotion on purpose for centuries. 

The whole time I was thinking about my music interests, Drake. I never thought there was anything deep behind it, I just knew what song matched what mood. To my surprise, it turns out that feeling had a methods behind it. Even though Drake likely doesn’t know that he is using them, there’s still presence of ragas and rasas in his music.   

“I feel like listening to music, when I need a pump.” 

This is what my friend Amaan Azmi answered when I asked him if he ever listens to music. Amaan is also a high schooler who was born in India but later moved to Seattle,  just like me. Him and I both have developed a stronger connection to music as compared to when we moved. He agrees that music does help his mood get better especially, hip hop music.  

He also said that the hype around the music in this genre and the trendiness of hip hop also help his mood get better because then, he can relate to others our age through music. He prefers upbeat songs that make you want to bop your head with the beat too.   

He even played music at his dog’s funeral. Which sounds very odd given that in Indian culture funerals are supposed to be a sad environment and a place where you mourn someone’s life usually by being more silent that usual. Rather than mourning the death of their dog,  Amaan’s family celebrated the life of their dog through music. When I asked what type of music was being played, he said that he found it unusual that the type of music was more instrumental and melodic rather than being sad and slow.  

Indian culture uses a lot of symbolism, and music is a big part of it. One example is the shehnai, an instrument played at North Indian weddings when the groom arrives. It’s believed to symbolize joy, peace, and a prosperous future for the couple. Another example is temple bells. Before entering a temple, people ring a bell at the door. The sound is meant to invite good, divine energy in while pushing negative energy out. A third example is Krishna’s flute. In Hindu tradition, the flute represents the divine call to the soul, and it’s why Krishna is almost always pictured holding one. 

Looking back, I think about all the times music helped me without me even realizing it. When I was stressed about school, I’d put on a Drake song and somehow feel lighter. When I was upset, there was always a song that matched exactly how I felt, and just letting it play helped me sit with it instead of pushing it away. I never thought about why that worked, it just did. 

Now I see it differently. My family was doing the same thing on those long car rides back in Delhi, they just never called it anything. There was no raga or rasa in my head when I hit play on a Drake song, but the idea behind it was the same one my family, and people in India thousands of years ago, already understood, that the right song can meet you exactly where you are. 

Writing this article made me realize that music isn’t just something I listen to, it’s something I use, the same way people in my culture have used it for centuries. I just didn’t know I was part of that until now. 

 

---

 

Ojas was a fellow in the 2026 Story Gathering Workshop, a program that gives young writers the opportunity to publish an article for our news outlet, Voices.