There are many popular Bollywood songs that have used Raag Charukeshi as their basis. The equivalent scale in Western music is commonly known as the Aeolian Dominant scale, though there are other names as well.

 

The intervals in this scale after the Tonic note are Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Minor 6th and Minor 7th.  The Swars are Sa, Re, Ga, ma, Pa, dha, ni – all Shuddh except dha and ni. As such, the intervals are the same as the Aeolian scale, except for a shuddh Ga instead of komal ga.

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The Aeolian Scale is also known as the Aeolian Mode of the Diatonic Scale or more commonly the Natural Minor Scale. For instance, the A Aeolian scale will have the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G and its home chord will be Am. The A Aeolian Dominant scale will have the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F, G and its home chord will be A.

 

Songs based on Raag Charukeshi typically use the following chords: a Major Triad built on Sa (Sa, Ga, Pa), a Minor Triad built on ma (ma, dha, Sa) and a Major Triad built on ni (ni, Re, ma), So if your Sa or tonic note is A, you cover the song with A, Dm and G chords.

 

Here’s a fretboard diagram showing the notes in an A Aeolian Dominant scale. If you take the 5th note of the scale, which is D, as your Tonic note, you will get the D Harmonic Minor scale (D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C#)