Todi moves four swaras, three of them down and one up: komal Re, komal Ga and komal Dha with tivra Ma. Bhairavi also moves four, but all four downward — so the two frames tie on count and share the widest possible gap in how that count is spent.
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. Against the Bilawal reference this frame moves four swaras.
| Degree | Offset (semitones from Sa) | Swara |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Sa |
| 2 | 1 | Komal Re |
| 3 | 3 | Komal Ga |
| 4 | 6 | Tivra 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 Todi’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, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 | Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga, Tivra Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga |
| 4th string (G3) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13 | Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga, Tivra Ma, Pa, Komal Dha |
| 3rd string (C4) | 0, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 | Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga, Tivra Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga |
| 2nd string (G4) | 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13 | Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga, Tivra Ma, Pa, Komal Dha |
| 1st string (C5) | 0, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 | Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga, Tivra Ma, Pa, Komal Dha, Ni, Sa, Komal Re, Komal Ga |
Forty-eight positions fall inside the board — three more than Bilawal, two fewer than Bhairavi — and the reason is directional: the three downward moves pull swaras back into the fifteen-fret span while the tivra Ma pushes one out. On the C strings, 1, 3, 6, 8, 13 and 15 light against 2, 4, 5, 9 and 14 going dark; the G strings light 1, 6, 8, 11 and 13 against 2, 7, 9, 10 and 14.
A frame, not a raga
No entry in this site’s 12-TET scale library matches these seven pitch classes, and no Western name is offered for them here. Miyan ki Todi, Multani and Gujari Todi are conventionally grouped under this thaat and differ from one another in ascent, in which swaras are treated as resting places, and in whether Pa appears at all. Grouping is what a thaat does; distinguishing is what the ragas do.
Where to start
Reach Todi through Purvi, which is the same frame with Ga left shuddha — one swara apart, and the last step of a chain that starts at Kalyan. Then set it beside Bhairavi, the other four-move frame, and count what actually moved in each. That comparison is the whole lesson of these ten pages, and the fretboard explorer is where to finish it.