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Thaat · one of Bhatkhande’s ten

भैरवBhairav

Komal Re and komal Dha, with Ga and Ni shuddh: the scale of dawn, solemn and luminous at once.

60 madhya
About these soundsMeend makes the harmonium and santoor sounds itself. They aren’t recordings of real instruments, so they sound close, but not quite the same. They are here to let you hear how the swaras go.The tanpura and tabla are recordings of real ones.
SRGMPDNभैरव

Tap a swara to hear it

Its swaras
S r G M P d N
What sets it apart
Komal Re and Dha
How bright
-2, two steps below Bilawal
In the West
The double harmonic major scale
In the South
Mayamalavagowla, the 15th melakarta, the scale of a Karnatic student's first lessons

Bhairav lowers Re and Dha to komal and leaves Ga and Ni shuddh: Sa komal-Re Ga Ma Pa komal-Dha Ni. Between komal Re and shuddh Ga, and between komal Dha and shuddh Ni, lie gaps wider than any in Bilawal, and they give Bhairav its solemn, ancient sound. It is the scale of dawn, of raag Bhairav, named for Shiva.

Its swaras

Aaroh and avaroh
SRGMPDNS
SNDPMGRS

Each half of the scale has the same shape: Sa komal-Re Ga Ma, then Pa komal-Dha Ni Sa. Each has a narrow step, a wide one, and a narrow one again. In raag Bhairav, komal Re and komal Dha are swung slowly, an andolan, never held still: that gentle swaying is the sound of the raag waking.

In threes, up and down
SRGRGMGMPMPDPDNDNS
SNDNDPDPMPMGMGRGRS

All ten alankars in Bhairav, to hear in your Sa →

How bright it is

Two komal swaras: two steps below Bilawal, beside Kafi and Todi.

  1. +1Kalyan
  2. 0BilawalMarwa
  3. -1KhamajPurvi
  4. -2BhairavKafiTodi
  5. -3Asavari
  6. -4Bhairavi
Brighter at the top: a step up for tivra Ma, a step down for each komal swara.

On the circle of thaats

Bhairav stands outside the ring of thaats. It is a single swara from Purvi: raise its Ma to tivra and Bhairav becomes Purvi. But no other thaat is a single swara away.

MaNiGaDhaReMa, NiGaDhaReMaSRGMPDNभैरवKalyan+1Bilawal0Khamaj-1Kafi-2Asavari-3Bhairavi-4Todi-2Purvi-1Marwa0Bhairav-2
Each thaat a swara from the next, the swara that changes on the line between them. Between Bhairavi and Todi two change; Bhairav stands outside, a swara from Purvi.

Its raags

Bhairav's family belongs to the early morning: Bhairav itself, Ahir Bhairav (Bhairav below, Kafi above), Ramkali, Kalingada, Gunkali, Jogiya and Bairagi. These are the sandhi prakash raags of dawn, the meeting of night and day.

In the West and the South

There is no Western mode with these swaras, but the scale is known as the double harmonic major, and is heard in the music of the Middle East.

In Karnatic music it is the 15th melakarta, Mayamalavagowla: the scale a Karnatic student learns first, for its even, balanced shape.

Practise it

Komal Re sits close above Sa and far below Ga: tune it against Sa, then cross the wide step to Ga.

Sa, komal Re, Ga: the narrow step and the wide one
S–––R–––G–––R–––
Bhairav's descent to Sa
GMD–PGMR–S

To make the ten thaats a daily riyaz, Meend has them ready: begin a riyaz of the thaats.

Questions

Which swaras are komal in Bhairav thaat?

Re and Dha. Ga and Ni are shuddh, Ma shuddh too.

Which raags are in Bhairav thaat?

Bhairav, Ahir Bhairav, Ramkali, Kalingada, Gunkali, Jogiya and Bairagi, among others: most of them raags of dawn.

Why isn't Bhairav on the circle of thaats?

Only one thaat, Purvi, is a single swara away from it. The others each differ from it in two swaras or more.