Thaat

It is an important and very useful classification of Raags of Indian Classical Music. This system was created by a well-known musicologist of that time Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in the early decades of the 20th century. Before that time, we only have a raag classification for South Indian music named ‘MELKARTA’ back in the Year 1640 by Guru Venkatamakhin. To create this huge collection of Raag Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande visited many Gurus from different gharanas and states. At the time of his research, He found out 32 Thaats but he only highlighted 10 from this list.

It is believed that several raags are based on these thaats. It is a concept to help us group similar type of Raags. Similar in the sense of the swaras and nature of the notes. As a Raag is basically a special sequence of musical notes or sawaras used in Indian Classical Music. There are 12 musical notes in Indian Classical Music. Which are categorized as:

From these 12 notes, masters used different groups as Avroh and Avroh using different combinations of musical notes to create Raags. And then, A special categorization on the basis of similar note groups as a Thaat. Now let us understand about the characterization of Raags as Thaat.

  • A Thaat has seven notes or swaras – no more or less
  • It should always form as aaroh (ascending order) of swaras: Sa(Shadaj), Re(Rikhab), Ga(Gandhar), Ma(Madhyam), Pa(Pancham), Dha(Dhaivat), Ni(Nishad).
  • We can’t sing a Thaat. We can only sing the Raags as they don’t have emotional moods like ragas.
  • Thaat can’t contain both Vikrit(Komal) or Shudh Sawaras of the same swara. In simple terms, both Shudh Re and Komal Re, Shudh Dha and Komal Dha, Shudh Ni, and Komal Ni can’t be used at the same time. But in a Raag we are allowed to use them as required.

10 Thaats and their info:

 

Sr. No. Name Janak Raag Swaras Distinctive Notes
1. Bilawal Bilawal Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

All Shudh Sawaras
2. Kalyan Kalyan Sa Re Ga Ma’ Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Teevra Ma
3. Khamaj Khamaj Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Komal Ni
4. Bhairav Bhairav Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Komal Re & Komal Dha
5. kafi kafi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Komal Ga & Komal Ni
6. Asavari Asavari Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Komal Ga, Komal Dha & Komal Ni
7. Bhairavi Bhariavi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa Komal Re, Komal Ga, Komal Dha & Komal Ni
8. Poorvi Poorvi Sa Re Ga Ma’ Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Teevra Ma, Komal Re & Komal Dha
9. Marva Marva Sa Re Ga Ma’ Pa Dha Ni Sa

 

Teevra Ma & Komal Re
10. Todi Miyan ki Todi Sa Re Ga Ma’ Pa Dha Ni Sa Teevra Ma, Komal Re komal Ga & Komal Dha

 

[Note: Janak Raag – In general Thaat names are fixed with a Raag which resembles the Swara Sequence of that thaat. For Example: Miyan Ki Todi is Janak Raag of Todi Thaat, Bhairav is the Janak Raag of Bhairav , etc.

Now let us understand and discuss about these Janak Raags with their charactersticks or discription.

Bilawal Raag:

THAAT                    - BILAWAL
JATI                       - SAMPOORNA - SAMPOORNA
VAADI                  - DHA
SAMVAADI          - GA
                                                       .
AAROH               - SA   RE  GA   MA   PA  DHA  NI  SA
 .
AVROH               - SA   RE  GA   MA   PA  DHA  NI  SA
TIME                    - 9-12 AM

Raags from Bilawal Thaat : Deshkar, Durga, Hansdhwani, Pahadi, Different Variations of Bilawal.

Kalyan Raag:

 

THAAT                  - KALYAN
JATI                      - SAMPOORNA – SAMPOORNA
VAADI              - GA
SAMVAADI      - NI
                     |                           .
AAROH            - SA RE GA MA PA DHA NI SA
  .                        |
AVROH           - SA NI DHA PA MA GA RE SA
TIME                - 7-10 PM

Raags from Khamaj Thaat :  Bhupali, Gara, Hindol, Kamod, Sorath, Yaman, Etc…

Bhairav Raag

Thaat                - Bhairav
Jati                     - Sampoorna - Sampoorna
Vaadi              - Dha
Samvaadi      - Re
                                                    .
Aaroh             - Sa   Re  Ga  Ma  Pa  Dha  Ni  Sa
  .
Avroh             - Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga  Re Sa
Time               - 4-7 AM

 

Raags from Bhairav Thaat : Gunkali, Kalingda, Jogiya, Prabhat, Ramkali, Shiv Bhairav, Etc…

 

Kafi Raag:

THAAT                 - KAFI
JATI                     - SAMPOORNA – SAMPOORNA
VAADI              - PA
SAMVAADI      - RE
                                            .
AAROH            - SA RE GA MA PA DHA  NI SA
 .
AVROH            - SA NI DHA PA MA GA RE SA
TIME                 - 1-3 PM

Raags from kafi Thaat : Bahar, Bageshree, Bhimpalasi, Dhanashree, Pilu, Sooha, Etc…

Asavari Raag:

THAAT                - ASAVARI
JATI                    - AUDAV – SAMPOORNA
VAADI               - DHA
SAMVAADI       - GA
                                 .
AAROH            - SA RE MA PA DHA SA
 .
AVROH            - SA NI DHA PA MA GA RE SA
TIME                 - 10 AM - 1 PM

Raags from Asavari Thaat : Adana, Darbari, Darbari, Kanda, Desi, Devgandhar, Jaunpuri, Etc…

 

Bhairavi Raag:

THAAT                  - BHAIRAVI
JATI                      - SAMPOORNA – SAMPOORNA
VAADI                 - MA
SAMVAADI         - SA
                                              .
AAROH             - SA RE  GA MA PA DHA  NI  SA
 .
AVROH             - SA NI DHA PA MA GA RE SA
TIME                  - MORNING

Raags from Bhairavi Thaat : Bilaskhani Todi, Malkaunsh, Kaunsi Kanada, Etc…

 

Poorvi Raag:

THAAT               - POORVI
JATI                   - SAMPORNA - SAMPOORNA
VAADI              - GA
SAMVAADI      - NI
.
                                                   |                        |                                           .
AAROH            - NI  SA  RE   GA   MA  PA   MA   DHA   NI   SA
 .
 .       .                                                       |
AVROH            - SA   RE   NI   DHA   PA   MA   PA   GA   MA   GA   RE   SA
TIME                 - SANDHI PRAKASH

Raags from Poorvi Thaat : Basant,Gauri, Paraj, Shree, Etc…

 

Marva Raag

THAAT               - MARVA
JATI                   - SHADAV - SHADAV
VAADI              - RE
SAMVAADI      - DHA
                   |                 .     .
AAROH            - NI RE  GA MA DHA NI   RE  SA
 .
  .                  |
AVROH            - RE NI DHA MA GA RE SA
TIME                 - 4-7 PM

Raags from Marva Thaat : Bhatiyar, Bibhas, Puriya, Sohini, Etc…

Miyan ki Todi Raag:

THAAT               - TODI
JATI                   - SAMPOORNA - SAMPOORNA
VAADI              - DHA
SAMVAADI      - GA
                      |                            .
AAROH            - SA RE  GA MA PA DHA  NI  SA
 .                         |
AVROH            - SA NI DHA PA MA GA RE SA
TIME                 - 10 AM – 1 PM

Raags from Todi Thaat : Gujri Todi, Madhuwanti, Multani, Etc…