Bilaskhani Todi
Tears falling at a father's grave crystallize into scale
Musical Anatomy
Thaat
Todi
Jati
Sampoorna
Time
Morning
Vadi
Ga
Samvadi
Ni
Nature
Melancholic, introspective
Arohana (Ascent)
Sa re ga Ma* Pa dha Ni Ṡa▲Avarohana (Descent)
Ṡa▲ Ni dha Pa Ma* ga re SaPakad (Characteristic Phrase)
re ga Ma* Pa dha, Ni dha Pa Ma* ga re SaNotation guide
Bilaskhani Todi is attributed to Bilas Khan, son of Tansen, who created it in mourning for his father. It shares Todi's structure with added emotional depth.
Legend & Lore
Bilaskhani Todi carries one of the most emotionally resonant origin stories in all of Hindustani music: it is attributed to Bilas Khan, the son of the legendary court musician Tansen who served in the court of Emperor Akbar — the greatest patron of classical music in the Mughal era.
According to the most widely cited account, Bilas Khan was so overcome with grief at his father's death that he sat at Tansen's grave singing in mourning, and from his sorrow a new raga was born — one that shared the structural bones of Todi but carried an added dimension of personal, devastating grief that set it apart from its parent.
The dense, chromatic environment of Todi — four flattened notes (komal Re, komal Ga, komal Dha, komal Ni) plus the raised teevra Ma — creates a web of dissonance and yearning that is among the most harmonically complex and emotionally charged in the entire Hindustani canon, and Bilaskhani Todi adds to this a particular introspective quality that traditions describe as the son's grief filtering through the father's musicological legacy.
Ustad Vilayat Khan recorded one of the most celebrated sitar interpretations of Bilaskhani Todi, bringing the cold chromaticism of the scale to life with his characteristically vocal, meend-rich approach.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's vocal recordings remain definitive benchmarks, demonstrating the raga's capacity for both austere structural development and deeply personal emotional expression.
The raga is performed in the morning hours, when the Todi family's connection to contemplation and sorrow is amplified by the liminal quality of early daylight.
Knowledge Deep-Dive
Test Your Knowledge
1. According to the legend of Bilaskhani Todi's origin, where was Bilas Khan when he first sang this raga into existence?
2. The dense chromaticism of Bilaskhani Todi derives from the simultaneous use of which set of altered notes?
3. Which sitar master's recording of Bilaskhani Todi is considered one of the most celebrated instrumental interpretations of the raga?
Cinematic Echoes
2 Hindi film songs rooted in Bilaskhani Todi
Discover More Songs in Bilaskhani Todi
Search all major music platforms for Hindi film and classical recordings in this raag. These go well beyond the 2 indexed above.
Many Hindi film songs blend multiple raags across their mukhda and antara. When searching, you may discover songs primarily in other raags that share Bilaskhani Todi's emotional palette — that's intentional cross-raag composition by the music director.