S-r-G-m-P-D-n-S

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Ahir Bhairav’s unique swara set is inextricably linked to visions of the Indian sunrise. While the raga’s poorvang matches the usual pattern of the Bhairav raganga (SrGm), its uttarang presents its own geometries, taking a shuddha Dha and komal ni (PDnS) in a manner closer to the Kafi–ang (although many artists tune their Dha sruti closer to that of Bageshri than Kafi). Mythologically linked to North India’s Ahir cattle-herding caste, the raga is fabled to mimic the ringing of cowbells at dawn – with patient ascent motions eventually settling into extended oscillations on the komal re (said by some to symbolise the sun’s morning emergence: also see ‘non-zero Sa‘). Shuddha ma tends to outweigh Pa (visible in a ‘tonagram‘ by Rao/Meer) – although interpretations continue to vary, with Deepak Raja‘s survey of recordings stating that “the vadi seems elusive, and the samvadi does not even appear faintly on the horizon…”. Compare to Ahiri (the same scale with komal ga, seemingly of shared lineage) – as well as related forms including Prabhateshwari, Niranjani Todi, and Rati Bhairav (Kumar Gandharva’s ‘Bhairav + Ahir Bhairav’ blend).

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Aroha: nDrS, rGmDnS

Avroh: SnDPm, GmrS

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Chalan: e.g. DnrS; SrGm; m; Gm(G)r; DnrS; GmPDnDP; DnS; SnDP; Gm(G)r; rS (Parrikar)

–Wasifuddin Dagar (2018)–

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“I woke to the sound of Ahir Bhairav: the legendary voice of Amir Khan rendering the morning raga. I could visualise the scene: Keya would be sitting by the window, waiting for the first glimpse of dawn. The window would be open, and the white lace curtains would be swaying in the cool breeze, to the accompaniment of the wind chimes in the corner…like the cowbells of the Ahirs…” (Abhijit Bhaduri)

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—Context—

Origins, myths, quirks, & more

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I couldn’t help but share this particularly vivid imagining of the raga, lifted from renowned musicologist G.N. Joshi’s original liner notes to Call of the Valley: the famous 1968 trio album by Shivkumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia, & Brijbhushan Kabra, which soon became one of the first raga albums to sell widely in the West. Also read Joshi’s equivalent depictions for the rest of the record – a true Hindustani classic – which, together, form a full narrative sequence, essentially a ‘concept album’ (1: Ahir Bhairav, 2: Nat Bhairav, 3: Pilu, 4: Bhupali, 5: Desh, and 6: Pahadi):

 

“The scene opens at a very early hour in the morning; when the twinkling stars are trailing behind a pale moon in the West, while the horizon in the East gradually assumes a crimson hue, heralding the slow approach of the dawn. The tiny hamlet, nestling amid the snow-capped peaks, gradually comes out of the deep slumber of the blissful night. The notes on the guitar portray the advent of the dawn in all its charm. The tingling notes of the santoor come dancing on the first rays of the golden sun, and join the music from the guitar. The play-together of the two instruments depicts the heightening tempo of life as the hour advances. All themes are beautifully woven into Ahir Bhairav, ascribed to the early-morning period…it is a sub-melody of Bhairav, known for its grandeur – and ideally suited to paint the fascinating scene of the rising sun in the Kashmir Valley.”

 

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–Call of the Valley (1968)–

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—Phraseologies—

Melodies, movements, characteristics…

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As the name suggests, Ahir Bhairav is assigned to Bhairav thaat, despite differing from Bhairav‘s SrGmPdNS scale by two swaras (Dha and ni) – whereas it lies only a single swara-shift from Khamaj thaat (re). However, this Bhairav designation is fully warranted, reflecting the raga’s historical groundings and core melodic characteristics…

 

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—Moumita Mitra: gamak taans (2021)—

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“The ‘gamak taans‘: sometimes we use akaar taans…usually when we hit a swara, I hit it two, three, four, or times in series [e.g. GGG mmm GGG rrr SSS]. For dynamics, we can use more or less power to create other varieties – but the main thing is to practice many kinds of gamaks…” (Moumita Mitra)

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—Listen—

A brief selection of superb renditions

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–Debasmita Bhattacharya (2017)–

• Shahjahanpur sarod (5m): an outdoor alap–jor–jhalla filmed by Darbar at Italy’s Ravenna Festival, interspersed with scenes of local town life on the Adriatic Sea coast (in her own words, “for alap, it is good to be in an open space; and also the natural world is good for playing ornaments…The sound of the birds, the feel of the breeze, the smell of soil after rain…it feels like nature is summoning you to play, like the environment is drawing the music out of you…”):

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[alap, e.g. 0:07] D(S)n, (S)n/S, S; r(mG)P m(G)m G, G, r/m(G)m, m(G), Gm/P P(m), mP/D D(Pm), m(P)G, G(mrmGmPDPDP), r/D(Pm), (mG)m, m(Gr), rGm(PDPDP), G(DPmG), (mG)m, m(Gm) P(m) P(mG) mG(r), G(rDPD) (DPm)G(m), m(GmG), G, rGmPD PD(n) n…

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–Shivnath Mishra (1977)–

• Benares sitar (10m): an enchanting boat-borne rendition by my own guru-ji, filmed by the BBC in the middle of the Varanasi Ganges (just a few minutes away from the family gurukul near Assi Ghat, run with his talented son Deobrat Mishra: where the foundations of my raga journey – and thus this very project – were established). Note the tanpura‘s strong ni, and the subtle ornamental shades of komal ga:

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[gat, e.g. 0:38] r, (G)r, SS r, GGm, S(nS) D (G)m, G\rS, (P)GmG G\rS, n(Sr)S (n)D, n(rg)r, (g)r, r, SS r…

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–Further Recordings–

• Veena Sahasrabuddhe (5m): at Darbar (“indelible imprints of Gwalior and Jaipur, while her taankari has shades of Kirana”)
• Padma Talwalkar (9m): an AUTRIM pitch-graph (“a plea to the beloved: his lady has waited lifetimes to unite with him…”)
• Amir Khan (14m): somehow manages to conjure the raga’s varied moods within the span of the opening melody alone
• Ravi Shankar (16m): released on a 1967 album, exploring the mandra tones of his low-strung ‘Kharaj Pancham‘ tuning
• Nikhil Banerjee (29m): a differing Maihar sitar interpretation, ably accompanied by Farrukhabad tablist Karamatullah Khan
• Hariprasad Chaurasia (29m): from a 1992 album, supported by the secondary bansuri of his senior disciple Rupak Kulkarni
• Kishori Amonkar (30m): with sublime descents to ma (cited by director Mira Nair as her all-time favorite piece of music)
• Sultan Khan (31m): showcasing the sarangi master’s peerless command of sruti and alankar, with Ijaz Khan on tabla
• Vilayat & Imrat Khan (37m): a powerhouse 1965 sitar–surbahar duet in Edinburgh (compare their diverging styles)
• Gangubai Hangal (48m): a pair of tintal bandish (Rasiya Mhara & Badhai Aaj Nand Dwaar), with her daughter Krishnabai
• Shivkumar Sharma (88m): live at Dover Lane 2009 in Kolkata, with Yogesh Samsi providing ever-lively tabla support

• Experiments •

Novel interpretations of the raga’s essence…

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—Ramana Balachandran (veena + vocals)—

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An outstanding Carnatic rework from the rising Saraswati veena star (live at Darbar 2022), embodying the increasing trend of North-South interchange in recent years. To me, Balachandran’s melodic ornaments – relatively unencumbered by Hindustani norms – bring a fresh, direct energy to this well-trodden zone of raga. I eagerly await his future Hindustani borrowings!

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• Classifiers •

Explore hidden inter-raga connections: swara geometries, melodic features, murchana sets, ragangas, & more (also see the Full Tag List):

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Swaras: -4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10+

Sapta: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Poorvang: SRGM | SRG | SRM | SGM

Uttarang: PDNS | PDS | PNS | DNS

Varjit: Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

Double: rR | gG | mM | dD | nN

Thaat: 10 | 32 | Enclosed | Inexact

Chal: All-shuddha | All-komal | Ma-tivra

Gaps: Anh. | Hemi. | 3-row | 4-row | 5-row

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Aroha: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Avroh: Audav | Shadav | Sampurna

Jati: Equal | Balanced | Av.+1 | Av.+2

Samay: Morning | Aftern. | Eve. | Night

Raganga: Bhairav | Malhar | Kan. | Todi

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: Thaat #26

Also compare to other members of the Bhairav raganga

–Proximate Forms–

Ahiri = ‘Ahir Bhairav komal ga‘

Bageshri = ‘Ahir Bhairav shuddha Re‘

Rampriya = ‘Ahir Bhairav tivra Ma‘

Basant Mukhari = ‘Ahir Bh. komal dha‘

Bhatiyari Bhairav = ‘Ahir Bh. shuddha Ni‘

(n.b. these are just ‘scalar similarities’, with nothing particular implied about phraseological overlap)

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–r–G–m–P–D–n–S

• Reverse: SRgmPdNS (=Kirwani)

• Negative: 3-1-3-2-3 (e.g. Chandrakauns)

• Imperfect: 3 (re, Ga, Pa)

• Detached: 1 (re)

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Nat Bhairav set

–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: ~Chakravakam (mela #16)

S-R₁-G₃-M₁-P-D₂-N₂-S

• Jazz: Mixolydian b2

1-b2-3-4-5-6-b7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-1-4-5-7-9-10-0

(1–3–1–2–2–1–2)

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o o • • o o • o • o o • o

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–Around the World–

In Western terms, Ahir Bhairav’s SrGmPDnS scale form equates to the ‘Mixolydian b2‘ (1-b2-3-4-5-6-b7-8) – which, while rare in its own right, holds distinctive sway in jazz-linked styles. Lying just a b2 away from the prolific Mixolydian, the scale sketches a 7b9 ‘altered dominant’ chord (1-3-5-b7-b9) – essential to the harmonic language of bebop and beyond (n.b. Jog sketches the ‘sharp 9th’ counterpart of the same chord: 1-3-5-b7-#9). In particular, it is at home over the V7 chord of a 2-5-1 progression, with the ‘altered’ b9 extension introducing tritonal dissonance at the top of the chord (e.g. C7b9 can be played on guitar as ‘x-3-2-3-2-x‘).

 

Nevertheless, Ahir Bhairav’s tone-collection does appear in more stable form elsewhere. As well as the Carnatic Chakravakam, the equivalent note-set is known as Zanjaran in Middle Eastern maqam (played on an oud here, and on a qanun below: also see Basant Mukhari‘s posited roots in the interlinked Maqam Hijaz). Other congruents include most of Power of Wings by Djabe, a sitar-inclusive fusion group led by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett – although my personal favourite is definiely the ‘Lethal Lava Land / Shifting Sand Land‘ music from the 1996 Super Mario 64 soundtrack, composed by Koji Kondo (featuring pleasingly low-res tabla, sitar, tanpura, and pitch-bend meend).

 

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—Maqam Zanjaran (Lebanon)—

(Jamal Zarzour, 1995)

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“Maqam Zanjaran is a variant of Maqam Hijaz: with Jins Ajam [SnDP] on the 4th degree, and Jins Hijaz [mGrS] on the tonic…” (Maqam World)

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa (+ni)

• Names: Ahir Bhairav, Aheer Bhairava, Ahir Bhairab

• Transliterations: Hindi (अहीर भैरव); Bengali (আহির ভৈরব); Kannada (ಅಹಿರ್ ಭೈರವ್)

—More—

Further info: links, listenings, learnings, etc

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• Raag Ahir Bhairav: [coming soon]

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• Header audio: Sarangi alap by Sultan Khan (1997)
• Header image: ‘Aube sur le Gange: Feuve de l’Inde’ (Commons)

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