Bilahari Explained

Bilahari is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a janya rāgam (derived scale) from the 29th melakarta scale Sankarabharanam. It is a janya scale, as it does not have all the seven swaras (musical notes) in the ascending scale. It is a combination of the pentatonic scale Mohanam and the sampurna raga scale Sankarabharanam.^[1]

Structure and Lakshana

Bilahari is an asymmetric rāgam that does not contain madhyamam or nishādham in the ascending scale. It is an audava-sampurna rāgam (or owdava rāgam, meaning pentatonic ascending scale).^[2] Its structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows:

• : they are used in every song
• :

The notes used in this scale are shadjam, chathusruthi rishabham, antara gandhara, panchamam and chathusruthi dhaivatham in ascending scale, with kakali nishadham and shuddha madhyamam included in descending scale. For the details of the notations and terms, see swaras in Carnatic music.

This rāgam also uses kaishiki nishadham (N2) as an external note (anya swara) in the descending scale. Hence it is considered a bhashanga rāgam, a scale with notes external to the parent scale.

Popular compositions

There are many compositions set to Bilahari rāgam. Here are some popular kritis composed in Bilahari.

• Shri Madurapuri Niharini By Muthuswami Dikshitar
• Sharanu Janakana By Purandara Dasa
• Belagu Javadi Baro By Vadiraja Tirtha
• Lakshmi Shobhane By Vadiraja Tirtha. This is one of the greatest literary works of Vadiraja Tirtha with 112 Charanas and the longest composition known by a carnatic composer
• Hanumana Maneyavaru by Vidyaprasanna teertha in Kannada
• Na jeevadhara, Dorakuna ituvanti and Kanukontini composed by Tyagaraja
• Sri Balasubramanya, Kamakshi Sri Varalakshmi by Muthuswami Dikshitar
• Smara Sada, Aaradhayami, Gopalam Seveham, Pahi Padmanabha, Jaya Suganalaya, Pahi Sarasanabha, Santhatham Bhajami and Vimukhava Tava by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
• Parithana michite by Patnam Subramania Iyer
• Sri Chamundeshwari by Mysore Vasudevacharya
• Anaamilo mahaboob is a Khayal in Hindi by Maharaja Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma
• Puraya Mama Kamam is a Tharangam by Narayana Teertha
• Raa ra venu Gopa Bala a famous Swarajathi was composed in Bilahari
• Rabindranath Tagore has composed Ami Marer Sagor Pari Debo In Raga Bilahari.
• Intha Chouka is a varnam composed by Veenai Kuppaiyer
• Maa Mayura a Tamil Kriti composed by Mazhavai Chidambara Bharathi

Film songs

Language:Tamil

Song	Movie	Composer	Singer
Orumaiyudan Ninathu Thirumalaradi	Konjum Salangai	S. M. Subbaiah Naidu	Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi
Unnaikkandu Naanada	Kalyana Parisu	A. M. Rajah	P. Susheela
Aval Melai Sirithaal	Pachhai Vilakku	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy
Alayamani Kathave Thalthiravai	Thiruvarutchelvar	K. V. Mahadevan	T. M. Soundararajan, Master Maharajan
Kondaliley Megam	Bala Nagamma	Illayaraja	K.J. Yesudas
Nee ondruthan	Unnal Mudiyum Thambi
Maaman Veedu	Ellam Inba Mayyam		Malaysia Vasudevan
Thendrale	Kadhal Desam	A. R. Rahman	Mano, Unni Krishnan
Omana Penne	Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa		Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon
Poo Pookum Osai	Minsara Kanavu		Sujatha Mohan
Pookkale Satru Oyevidungal	I		Haricharan, Shreya Ghoshal
Kummi Adi	Sillunu Oru Kaadhal		Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram, Swarnalatha, Naresh Iyer, Theni Kunjarammal, Vignesh, Chorus
Kadhal Anukkal	Enthiran		Vijay Prakash, Shreya Ghoshal
Vaanga Makka Vaanga	Kaaviya Thalaivan		Haricharan,Dr. Narayanan
Azhagiye	Kaatru Veliyidai		Arjun Chandy, Haricharan, Jonita Gandhi
Vaan Engum Nee Minna	Endrendrum Punnagai	Harris Jeyaraj	Aalap Raju, Harini, Devan, Praveen
Then Kathu	Gethu		Haricharan, Shashaa Tirupati
Mun Andhi	7aum Arivu		Karthik, Megha
Kalyana Sundari Yaro Oru Murai	Adaikalam	Sabesh–Murali	Shankar Mahadevan,Anuradha Sriram
Kanna Nee Thoongadaa		M. M. Keeravani	Nayana Nair
Siru Thoduthalile	Laadam	Dharan Kumar	Bombay Jayashree, Haricharan
Pularaadha	Dear Comrade	Justin Prabhakaran	Sid Sriram, Aishwarya Ravichandran
Rasavachiye	Aranmanai 3	C. Sathya	Sid Sriram
Aradhya	Kushi (2023 film)	Hesham Abdul Wahab	Sid Sriram, Chinmayi Sripada
Kaami Kaami	Tughlaq Durbar	Govind Vasantha	Govind Vasantha, Swastika Swaminathan

Related rāgams

This section covers the theoretical and scientific aspect of this rāgam.

Scale similarities

• Mohanam has a symmetric pentatonic scale, with the notes same as the ascending scale of Bilahari. Its structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S D2 P G3 R2 S
• Mohanakalyani is a rāgam which has the prati madhyamam in descending scale (descending scale of Kalyani) in place of the shuddha madhyamam. Its structure is S R2 G3 P D2 S : S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S
• Garudadhvani is a rāgam which has the ascending and descending scales interchanged, in comparison with Bilahari. Its structure is S R2 G3 M1 P D2 N3 S : S D2 P G3 R2 S

Desakshi is a raga which is similar to Bilahari. The arohana remains the same, while the sampoorna avarohana has Kaishiki Nishada in place of Kakali Nishada.

Notes and References

1. Ragas in Carnatic music by Dr. S. Bhagyalekshmy, Pub. 1990, CBH Publications
2. Raganidhi by P. Subba Rao, Pub. 1964, The Music Academy of Madras