A basis for the organisation and classification of ragas depending on the notes used
Thaat:
Kafi
Preferred time or season for playing
Time:
Afternoon or any time during monsoon
The most prominent note of a raga
Vadi
/
The second most prominent note of a raga
Samvadi:
, 
Categorization based on number of notes used in aroh and avaroh
Jati:
Containing 5 notes
Audav
-
Containing 6 notes
Shadav
Do not follow strict ascending or descending order of notes
Vakra
Alternative names:
Surdasi Malhar
Emotions evoked by the raga
Mood:
Chanchal (Lively), Shringar (Romantic)
Sur Malhar is a variant of Malhar. It is believed that this raga has been created by the great saint Surdas and hence also called Surdasi Malhar. It has Sarang and Malhar as its components. This raga omits . It uses
A natural note (corresponds to notes in Western major scale)
shuddha
 in
Ascending movement of notes
aroh
 and
A flat note
komal
 in
Descending movement of notes
avaroh
. The rest of the notes are
A natural note (corresponds to notes in Western major scale)
shuddha
. is omitted only in
Ascending movement of notes
aroh
 and used in
Descending movement of notes
avaroh
. and represent the Malhar
Style of presenting based on another raga
ang
. This raga gets clear in
Descending movement of notes
avaroh
 with phrases like , . This raga has a characteristic movement/phrase from middle octave S to upper octave .