Bihag is a raag of the second prahar of the night, romantic and full of feeling. It belongs to Bilawal thaat, every swara shuddh, but it touches a tivra Ma too, in one phrase only: Pa tivra-Ma Pa Ga, a brief brightening on the way down. Going up it leaves out Re and Dha, climbing from Ni below Sa.
Hear it
How it moves
Ga is Bihag's vadi and Ni its samvadi.
Its hour
Bihag belongs to the second prahar of the night, from 9 to midnight.
On the bansuri
- S
- R
- G
- M
- M
- P
- D
- N
- S
- Keep tivra Ma to its one phrase, P M# P G, and keep it light: anywhere else, it would turn Bihag towards Yaman.
- Going up, skip Re and Dha: Ni Sa Ga Ma Pa Ni Sa.
Look-alikes
Yaman Kalyan uses both Mas too, but the other way round: tivra going up, shuddh touched coming down.
Hamsadhwani shares Bihag's leaps, Ga to Pa to Ni, but has no Ma or Dha at all:
Practise it
- Long notes on Ga and Ni.
- The aaroh and avaroh.
- The pakad and the phrases, the tivra Ma phrase lightly.
Meend starts it with Aaroh–Avaroh, Pakad, Aalap and Bandish, 27 minutes a day, and listens as you play: each swara of the notation lit as it is played, the time kept, a lotus grown petal by petal.
Questions
Where is tivra Ma used in Bihag?
Only in the phrase Pa tivra-Ma Pa Ga, on the way down, and lightly.
When is Bihag sung?
In the second prahar of the night, from about 9 to midnight.