any of a large number of traditional melody patterns with characteristic intervals, rhythms, and embellishments, used by Hindu musicians as source material for improvisation
See raga in American Heritage Dictionary 4
(räˈgə)
noun
A traditional melodic type in Hindu music, consisting of a theme that expresses an aspect of religious feeling and sets forth a tonal system on which variations are improvised within a prescribed framework of typical progressions, melodic formulas, and rhythmic patterns.