The Origin of Coltrane's India

Coltrane's India is likely based on an Indian raga, "Raga Bhairavi." Coltrane probably heard it while listening to a field recording of Indian Vedic chants and religious music which led to him composing his own "India." The collection of field recordings was the Smithsonian Folkways Religious Music of India, which was first released in 1952. All the following songs use the Indian drone, something John Coltrane would do quite often in his own recordings, which also proves how heavily influenced by Indian music he truly was. Examples include "Naima," "Om," "Psalm" and many other compositions.

Here is the Smithsonian Folkways record http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=11722
Check out "Raga Bhairavi" and notice the similarities between it and John Coltrane's India.
http://www.folkways.si.edu/listen2.aspx?type=preview&trackid=11724

Here are some other "Raga Bhairavi" songs I found on grooveshark
http://grooveshark.com/s/Raga+Bhairavi/3A2mXB?src=5
http://grooveshark.com/s/Raga+Bhairavi/3hI7bq?src=5
http://grooveshark.com/s/Raga+Bhairavi/1tuVX1?src=5
http://grooveshark.com/s/Raga+Bhairavi/2Jvm61?src=5
http://grooveshark.com/s/Raga+Bhairavi+Amjad+Ali+Khan+Bismillah+Khan/3UZBEa?src=5

John Coltrane http://grooveshark.com/s/India/3pxxY8?src=5