Which one of the following Carnatic music ragas is similar to Raga Bilawal in Hindustani music? (a) Nat Bhairavi (b) Kamavardhini (c) Hanumatodi (d) Dheera Shankarabharanam

Core terms and standard equivalences

• Carnatic music / Hindustani music: The two primary classical traditions of India (diverging historically around the medieval period). Widely covered in NCERT music textbooks (e.g., Class 11 Hindustani Sangeet Gayan Evam Vadan and related Sangeet books), government cultural resources (Ministry of Culture, Sangeet Natak Akademi materials), and newspapers.

• Raga Bilawal (Hindustani): The foundational Bilawal Thaat using all seven shuddha (natural) notes (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni)—equivalent to the Western C major/Ionian scale. It is a basic reference scale in Hindustani theory.

• Dheera Shankarabharanam (also Shankarabharanam or Dhirashankarabharanam; Carnatic): The 29th Melakarta raga. It uses the identical set of all natural notes and is the direct structural equivalent of Bilawal. It is one of the most important/parent scales in Carnatic music (source of many janya ragas and compositions by the Carnatic Trinity). Frequently linked to India’s national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

• Nat Bhairavi (or Natabhairavi; Carnatic): The 20th Melakarta. Corresponds to the Hindustani Asavari Thaat (features komal/flat notes).

• Kamavardhini (also Pantuvarali; Carnatic): The 51st Melakarta. Corresponds roughly to the Hindustani Poorvi/Purvi Thaat (or raga Puriya Dhanashree).

• Hanumatodi (or Todi; Carnatic): The 8th Melakarta. Corresponds to the Hindustani Bhairavi Thaat (note: Carnatic Todi ≠ Hindustani Todi).

Correct answer to the question itself: (d) Dheera Shankarabharanam (identical all-natural note scale to Bilawal). The others use altered notes and map to different thaats.

Where these appear (static sources to recent news)

• NCERT / educational materials: Concepts of Hindustani vs. Carnatic systems, thaats/Melakartas, and basic ragas (including Bilawal and Shankarabharanam equivalents) appear in Class 11 Sangeet textbooks and related music education resources under the CBSE/NCERT curriculum. Direct verbatim MCQ-style matches for this exact question are not typical of core NCERT prose, but the note-structure equivalences are standard school/college-level music theory. General discussions of major ragas occur in cultural chapters of social science or arts materials.

• Government websites / official cultural sources: Foundational Melakarta and thaat systems (including these named ragas) are documented in materials from the Ministry of Culture, Sangeet Natak Akademi, and related portals. They treat Shankarabharanam/Bilawal as the primary “natural” reference scale. No single “origin” page invents the equivalence—it is classical theory codified over centuries (e.g., references tracing to treatises and later systematizations by figures such as Venkatamakhin for Melakartas and Bhatkhande for thaats).

• The Hindu: Explicit mentions of the Shankarabharanam–Bilawal equivalence. A notable 2013 Friday Review article (“Catchy and classical”) states that Shankarabharanam (29th melakarta, also Dhirashankarabharanam) is the C major scale and “is known as Bilawal Thaat in Hindustani music.” Other pieces discuss comparative Carnatic–Hindustani styles and specific raga mappings.

• Indian Express / New Indian Express: Strong recent and static coverage linking the raga to the national anthem.

  • A 2023 opinion piece notes that Jana Gana Mana is based on the Carnatic raga Shankarabharanam, “which corresponds to Raag Bilawal in Hindustani music.”

  • A January 2026 “Faithline” column (Republic Day-timed) repeats that Shankarabharanam corresponds to the Bilawal thaat (and Western C major), describes its healing associations, and recounts legends. UPSC-oriented analyses of the 2026 Prelims question explicitly cite this as a contemporary newspaper source.