Bhairav flattens a different pair than Kafi does: Re drops to komal Re and Dha drops to komal Dha, while Ga and Ni stay shuddha. The komal/tivra count comes out the same as Kafi's — two — which is exactly why both thaats are worth comparing side by side: an equal COUNT of altered swaras does not mean the same swaras moved.
The seven swaras, from Sa
Declared as semitone offsets from Sa, then read through the same fixed chromatic-to-sargam table every thaat on this site uses — the frame's seven available positions, not a raga's actual phrasing.
| Degree | Offset (semitones from Sa) | Swara |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Sa |
| 2 | 1 | Komal Re |
| 3 | 4 | Ga |
| 4 | 5 | Ma |
| 5 | 7 | Pa |
| 6 | 8 | Komal Dha |
| 7 | 11 | Ni |
Where it falls on the sitar
With Sa placed on C, every fret across all five strings whose pitch class is one of Bhairav's seven swaras — computed from the registry's true open pitches and the instrument's fifteen-fret board:
| String | Frets | Swaras |
|---|---|---|
| 5th string (C3) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 | Sa, Komal Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re |
| 4th string (G3) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 | Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Komal Dha |
| 3rd string (C4) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 | Sa, Komal Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re |
| 2nd string (G4) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 | Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Komal Dha |
| 1st string (C5) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13 | Sa, Komal Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re |
Fret 1 is the tell on the C strings: Bilawal has nothing there (Re sits at fret 2), while Bhairav lights it for komal Re. The same one-fret drop shows up at fret 8 for komal Dha. On the G strings the pattern shifts one fret earlier at the low end (fret 6 rather than 8, since Pa opens the string rather than Sa) — the offsets are identical, only the starting point differs.
A frame, not a raga
Bhairav is often called a morning-raga thaat because several ragas classified under it (Bhairav itself among them) are traditionally performed early in the day, but that association belongs to the ragas and their performance convention, not to the seven swara positions in isolation. The thaat fixes which notes exist; it says nothing about time of day, tempo, or which of the seven a performance actually favors. This set of seven pitch classes matches nothing in this site’s 12-TET scale library: the comparison simply does not resolve, and reporting that is more useful than forcing a Western name onto the frame.
Where to start
Compare this table directly against Kafi: both carry a komal/tivra count of two, so lining up which swaras moved in each is the fastest way to see that the count alone never tells the whole story. Return to Bilawal as the zero-point, then run all three sets of swaras across the fretboard explorer to hear the difference rather than just read it.