Bilaval had become the basic scale for North Indian music by the early part of the 19th century. Its tonal relationships are comparable to the Western musicC major scale. Bilaval appears in the Ragamala as a ragini of Bhairav, but today it is the head of the Bilaval thaat. The Ragamala names Bilaval as a Putra (son) of Bhairav, but no relation between these two ragas are made today. Bilaval is a morning raga to be sung with a feeling of deep devotion and repose, often performed during the hot months[citation needed]. The Bilaval that is equivalent to the Carnaticmelakarta raga, Sankarabharanam, as well as the Western Ionian mode (major scale) and contains the notes S R G M P D N S'. The pitches of Bilaval thaat are all shuddha, or natural. Flat (komal) or sharp (tivra) of pitches always occurs with reference to the interval pattern in Bilaval thaat.
Bilaval is one of the raags that is in the Sikh tradition from northern India, and is part of the Sikh holy scripture (Granth), the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.[2] Every raga has a strict set of rules which govern the number of notes that can be used; which notes can be used; and their interplay that has to be adhered to for the composition of a tune. In the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, there are a total of 60 raga compositions. Bilaval is the thirty fourth raga to appear in the series. The composition in this raga appear on a total of 64 pages from page numbers 795 to 859.
The Indian National Anthem Jana gana mana is sung in the raga Gaud Sarang. It is believed that the National Anthem of India is in raga Bilaval,[3] but it isn't like that. There is a certain svara which changes the whole raga of the Anthem. In the national anthem, the tivra Madhyama svara is employed. Raga Bilaval doesn't have the svara of tivra Madhyama (obviously, raga Bilaval is the raga of all Shuddha Svaras and no other types of svaras).[4] But raga Gaud Sarang has the tivra Madhyama svara.[5] So from this, the National Anthem of India, Jana gana mana is in raga Gaud Sarang.
Bor, Joep (ed). Rao, Suvarnalata; der Meer, Wim van; Harvey, Jane (co-authors)The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas. Zenith Media, London: 1999.
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