Raag Bihag
राग बिहाग
Bilawal thaat Also spelled: Behag
A lyrical, romantic raga of the late night. Its resting points on Ga and Ni and the dominance of shuddha Ma give it its shape.
- Thaat (parent scale)
- Bilawal
- Jati (type)
- Audav – Sampurna · 5 notes up, 7 down
- Vadi (king note)
- Ga (Gandhar)
- Samvadi (minister note)
- Ni (Nishad)
- Varjya swara (omitted)
- Re, Dha (in the ascent)
- Time of singing
- Second quarter of the night
Scale and structure
Key rule: Re and Dha are skipped in the ascent. Shuddha Ma dominates; tivra Ma is only a light touch, in turns like Pa tivra-Ma Ga Ma Ga.
Aaroha (ascent)
नि (मंद्र) सा ग म प नि सां
Avaroha (descent)
सां नि ध प, म॑ प ग म ग, रे सा
Pakad (catch phrase)
नि (मंद्र) सा ग म प, ग म ग, रे सा
Sargam is given in Devanagari, as it is written in practice — a line beneath a note marks it komal (flat), and (मंद्र) marks the lower octave.
Other ragas in Bilawal thaat
Learning this with a teacher
These pages will take you a long way on theory. The singing needs a guru — live online classes, one level at a time, with exam preparation built in.