5/2/2018 Thaat -

Thaat
According to Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936), one
of the most influential musicologists in the field of North
Indian classical music in the twentieth century. He tried to
classify Hindustani Raagas a full 270 years after
Venkatamakhin He toured important centers of Carnatic
music like Tanjavur, Madras and Mysore and studied the
Melakartha scheme of Venkatamakhin. It was clear that he
could not directly use the Mela system. Of the six
combinations given below, Hindustani does not allow the
bottom two combinations in either lower tetrachord or upper
tetrachord, since, Hindustani does not use both Gandharas
(komal ga and shudh Ga) without using even one variety of
Re or both Rishabs (komal re and shudh Re) without using
one variety of Ga etc. Using 4 combinations in each
tetrachord would have given 4x4x2=32 Melas (or Thats, to
use a Hindi word).

सा रे - - ग म प ध - - नी सा

सा - रे - ग म प - ध - नी सा

सा - रे गा - म प - ध नी - सा

सा रे - ग - म प ध - नी - सा

सा रे रे - - म प ध ध - - सा (not possible in Hindustani)

सा - - ग ग म प - - नी नी सा (not possible in
Hindustani)

But, Bhatkhande decided to not use this scheme, after

seriously considering it. One reason was that for some of the
scales, there were no existing Raagas. Instead of using all
the Melas for which Raagas existed, for ease of
memorization, Bhatkhande came up with a ten That
(meaning framework) system. These were like the Genera
and each Raaga classified under it was a species belonging
to the Genera (plural of Genus, as used in biology). Each of
the thats were named after the most famous Raaga using
that scale. Incidentally, six of the thats are ancient scales got
through Moorchana.

Thaat Scale Characteristics

Bilaval सा रे ग म प ध नी सां All shudh or natural notes

http://www.surgyan.com/thaat.htm 1/2
5/2/2018 Thaat -

Khamaj सा रे ग म प ध नी॒ सां नी note as komal

Kafi सा रे ग॒ म प ध नी॒ सां
Asavari सा रे ग॒ म प ध॒ नी॒ सां
Bhairavi सा रे ॒ ग॒ म प ध॒ नी॒ सां
Bhairav सा रे ॒ ग म प ध॒ नी सां
Poorvi सा रे ॒ ग मे प ध॒ नी सां
Todi सा रे ॒ ग॒ मे प ध॒ नी सां
Marwa सा रे ॒ ग मे प ध नी सां
Kalyan सा रे ग मे प ध नी सां
ग and नी notes as komal
ग, ध and नी notes as komal
रे , ग, ध and नी notes as komal
रे and ध notes as komal
रे and ध notes as komal and the म note as teevra
रे , ग and ध notes as komal and the म note as teevra
रे note as komal and the म note as teevra
म note as teevra only

There were several well known Raagas which do not fit any
of these scales, but were subjectively grouped under one of
the thats by Pt. Bhatkhande. For this reason, his
classification has not been universally accepted, though its
is the system that has been accepted most.

http://www.surgyan.com/thaat.htm 2/2