Salaga Bhairavi

Salaga Bhairavi (sālaga bhairavi) is a rāgam in Carnatic music (musical scale of South Indian classical music). It is a janya rāgam (derived scale) from the 22nd melakarta scale Kharaharapriya. 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 Shuddha Saveri and the sampurna raga scale Kharaharapriya.

According to the Muthuswami Dikshitar school, this scale is of shadava-sampoorna type derived from Kharaharapriya scale.

Structure and Lakshana


Salaga Bhairavi is an asymmetric rāgam that does not contain gandharam or nishadham in the ascending scale. It is an audava-sampurna rāgam (or owdava rāgam, meaning pentatonic ascending scale). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure (ascending and descending scale) is as follows:


 * ārohaṇa :
 * avarohaṇa :

The notes used in this scale are shadjam, chatusruti rishabham, shuddha madhyamam, panchamam and chatusruti dhaivatam in ascending scale, with kaisiki nishadham and sadharana gandharam included in descending scale. For the details of the notations and terms, see swaras in Carnatic music.

Popular compositions
There are many compositions set to Salaga Bhairavi rāgam.


 * Padavini sadbhakti and Elatare mettu kontivi composed by Tyagaraja
 * Tyagarajena samrakshitoham by Muthuswamy Dikshitar
 * dandini shri candikambe, shrikantha dayanidhe by Muthiah Bhagavatar
 * Unnai Maravaamal by Vedanayagam Pillai
 * Kola Mayil Yerum by N S Chidambaram
 * Dashagresha by Madurai G S Mani
 * kalinga-mardana nanda-gopa, Nagarajam and shailaja-ramana by Bangalore S Mukund
 * Lalite sura-vinute in tishra triputa thalam composed by R Vishveshwaran
 * namo namo dasharathe by R Venugopal
 * pahi parama-guru raghavendraya bhakta-anugrahaya by R K Suryanarayana
 * radha-ramana by E S Shankaranarayana Iyer
 * saketa-rajakumara by R N Duraiswamy
 * tunga-tira-virajam shri raghavendra gururajam by Kamalesha Vittaladasa

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

Graha Bhedam
Dhanyasi can be derived from Salaga Bhairavi when sung from Rishabham to Rishabham.

Scale similarities

 * Salaga Bhairavi scale as per Dikshitar school uses sadharana gandharam in ascending scale, and also has a vakra prayoga (zig-zag usage of P D2 P). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R2 G2 M1 P D2 P S : S N2 D2 P M1 G2 R2 S
 * Shuddha Saveri, has a symmetric pentatonic scale, with the notes same as the ascending scale of Salaga Bhairavi. Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R2 M1 P D2 S : S D2 P M1 R2 S
 * Yadukula Kambhoji has antara gandharam in descending scale, instead of sadharana gandharam (descending scale of Harikambhoji, instead of descending scale of Kharaharapriya). Its ārohaṇa-avarohaṇa structure is S R2 M1 P D2 S : S N2 D2 P M1 G3 R2 S