S-r-g-m-P-d-N-S

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During my original search for the ‘32 sampurna thaat’, I couldn’t find a single raga that precisely matched the SrgmPdNS swara-set. This surprised me, given the scale’s inherently fascinating shape – with a poorvang-uttarang bifurcation of ‘Bhairavi–Bhairav’ (Srgm+PdNS), equivalent to ‘Bhairavi shuddha ni’, ‘Bhairav komal ga’, ‘Todi shuddha ma’, or ‘Kirwani komal re’. While the sequence does turn up in Carnatic music as Dhenuka (mela #9: named after a legendary donkey-demon who was slain by Lord Krishna’s elder brother Balarama), my guess was that any congruent Hindustani experiments had probably been absorbed into the general ‘Mishra Bhairavi’ framework. Thankfully, scholar-singer Ashish Dha responded to my ‘unfilled thaat’ callout, sending in a superb Dhrupad rendition on the first day of 2026 (see transcription below). Dha titled his recording ‘Ardhanaarishvara’ in honour of the raga’s ‘Bhairavi-Bhairav’ split – ‘Ardhanārīśvara’ (‘Half-Female Lord’) refers to a combined incarnation of Shiva and Parvati, traditionally depicted as half-male and half-female to represent the divine synthesis of masculine and feminine (the Goddess Bhairavi is a form of Parvati, and Bhairav is named after Lord Shiva: read more about Hindu conceptions of ‘Shiva-Shakti’ here). According to Dha himself, “[The title] is so blindingly obvious…I can’t believe I spent half an hour thinking of a name! In the vast majority of writing systems, it even preserves the traditional Hindu gender placement: female to the left of the male”. His melodic summary lists essential phrases of gmdNP; dNS gmrS, also noting that re and Pa may be optionally omitted in aroha (in the manner of both Bhairavi and Bhairav), and highlighting the concluding motion dNS; gr\S (“Sung as ‘Ta-na-na To-o-om’; to be used as the section-ending phrase in Dagarvani-style alap“). Compare to other Ashish Dha experiments including Chandni Todi (another previously ‘unfilled thaat’), TrishNaa (“meaning ‘thirst’ in Hindi”), and Antariksh (“a companion raga to Shivkumar Sharma’s Antardhwani”) – and browse his interactive table of raga tetrachords, which helped inspire my own ‘Bifurcations’ analysis.

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Aroha: SgmdNS / SrgmPdNS

Avroh: SNdPmgrS

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Chalan: vital phrases – e.g. dNS gmrS; SgmdNP; gmdNP; PNP, PdNP; gmdNNS; dNS; gmrS (Dha)

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—Ashish Dha (2026)—

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[alap, e.g. 16:10] dNS (S)g\r\S, gmmm gPm mg\r, r rrr ggg PPmm mmPPP, PPPPPP, SSSS rrrr gggg gmPmg\r r\S, NNSNS, ddNNNSSS…

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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

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

Construction: Jod | Mishra | Oddball

Origin: Ancient | Carnatic | Modern

Dominance: Poorvang | Uttarang

Prevalence: A-list | Prachalit | Aprach.

• Prakriti: Thaat #24

–Swara Geometries–

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• Core form: S–r–g–m–P–d–N–S

• Reverse: SrGmPDNS (=Bhatiyari Bhairav)

• Complement: SRGMDnS

• Imperfect: 3 (ga, Pa, Ni)

• Detached: 1 (Ni)

• Symmetries: none

• Murchanas: Shanmukhpriya (on ma)

–Global Translations–

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• Carnatic: Dhenuka (mela #9)

S-R₁-G₂-M₁-P-D₁-N₃-S

• Jazz: Neapolitan Minor

1-b2-b3-4-5-b6-7-8

• Pitch classes (‘fret-jumps’):

0-1-3-5-7-8-11-0

(1–2–2–2–1–3–1)

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o o • o • o • o o • • o o

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• Tanpura: Sa–Pa

• Names: Ardhanaarishvara, Ardhanarishvara, Ardhanaareeshvar, Ardhanārīśvara

• Transliterations: Hindi (अर्धनारीश्वर); Assamese (অৰ্ধনাৰীশ্বৰ); Gujarati (અર્ધનારીશ્વર); Punjabi (ਅਰਧਨਾਰੀਸ਼ਵਰ); Arabic (أردهاناريشفارا); Kannada (ಅರ್ಧನಾರೀಶ್ವರ); Malayalam (അർദ്ധനാരീശ്വരൻ); Odia (ଅର୍ଦ୍ଧନାରୀଶ୍ୱର); Sinhala (අර්ධනාරීශ්වර); Tamil (அர்த்தநாரீசுவரர்); Telugu (అర్ధనారీశ్వరుడు)