Healing Through Raga: A Critical Examination of the Therapeutic Role of Indian Classical Music in Stress Management

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

This critical review examines the potential of Indian Classical Music (ICM) as a structured auditory intervention for stress management.This study synthesizes evidence from 35 peer-reviewed publications to examine the relationship between Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and contemporary psychophysiological research.By mapping traditional Raga Chikitsa frameworks against empirical markers such as heart rate variability (HRV) and cortisol, this review evaluates the regulatory impact of ragas on the autonomic nervous system.The available evidence suggests that ICM may provide a culturally relevant framework for emotional regulation, though the current literature remains heterogeneous.This paper proposes a conceptual Standardized Raga Protocol (SRP) to improve clinical reproducibility and future research quality.