Shankara is a raga

Raga

A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...

 in Hindustani classical music.

Technical description

The raga is of audav-shadav nature, i.e, it has five swaras (notes) in the arohana

Arohana

Arohana, Arohanam or Arohan, in the context of North Indian Classical Music and South Indian Classical Music, is the ascending scale of notes in a raga...

 (ascent) and six in the avarohana

Avarohana

An Avarohana, Avarohanam or Avarohan in Indian classical music terminology is the descending scale of any raga. Each raga has an avarohana and arohana. The notes descend in pitch from the octave tonic down to the lower tonic...

 (descent). All the swaras are used are shudhha swaras, no komal swara is used. It is an Uttaranga pradhan raga, with the higher notes on the saptak

Saptak

Saptak means "gamut" or "the series of seven notes". It denotes the set of swaras, Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni which comprise a musical scale in Indian classical music...

 (octave) being used more frequently.

Arohana: Sa Ga Pa Ni Dha Sa.

Avarohana: Sa Ni Dha Pa, Ga Pa Ga Re Sa.

Pakad

Pakad

In Hindustani music, a pakad is a generally-accepted musical phrase thought to encapsulate the essence of a particular raga. The pakad contains the melodic theme of the raga, on listening to the pakad a person who knows the raga is usually able to identify it...

: Sa Ni Pa Ga Pa, Re Ga Re Sa.

The vadi

Vadi

Vadi may refer to:* Vadi , musical note of special significance in Indian classical music* "Vadi" or Wadi, an Arabic term for valley or a dry riverbed* Fillipo Vado, author of De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, an Italian treatise on fighting...

 swara is Ga, and the samvadi is Ni. The rishabh (Re) is very weak, but yet significant in the way it supplements the gandhar (Ga). The raga is light, long khayals are usually not sung in this raga, rather lighter genres like thumris are explored in the raga.