The notion of a Raag is at the foundation of Indian Classical Music. Simply put, a Raag uniquely defines a set of musical notes and their allowed arrangements to form a melody to evoke a certain mood.

The Aaroh, Avroh, Vadi, Samvadi, Jati, Nyaas swars, Samay, and Pakad are the rules that define every raag. A raag is constrained by this framework while also allowing for endless improvisation.

Indian music uses a variety of ornamentation of notes, making scripted documentation extremely difficult. Although notation can be ambiguous, it is an important tool for communicating music.

In addition to the Aaroh, Avroh, Vadi, Samvadi and Nyaas swars, most Raags go a step further and define more advanced rules related to how much or how little of every note in the Raag should be used in phrases to stay compliant with the Raag and to show the beauty of the raag. Alpatva and Bahutva are the terms used to describe the dominance or the lack of it for each note in the Raag.

While presenting a raag, the act of showing or noticing another similar raag is known as Tirobhaav of the current raag. After a Tirobhaav, the act of making the original raag very apparent is called an Avirbhaav of the raag.