Thaat

A thaat (ঠাট; also transliterated as that) is a mode in Hindustani music. Thaats always have seven different pitches (called swara) and are the basis for the organization and classification of ragas in North Indian classical music.

The modern thaat system was created by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in the early decades of the twentieth century.^[1][2] Bhatkhande modeled his system after the Carnatic concept of mela, created around 1640 A.D. by the musicologist Venkatamakhin. Bhatkhande visited many of the gharanas (schools) of North Indian classical music, conducting a detailed analysis of the Indian raga system. This research led him to create ten thaats, each of which contains those ragas that employ the same notes as the thaat. For example, the rag Bhimpalasi, which contains the notes S R g m P D n, is said to be in Kafi thaat (see below).^[3] The relatively small number of thaats (compared to the 72 melakartas of South Indian music) reflects Bhatkhande's compromise between accuracy and efficiency: The degree of fit between a raga and its thaat is balanced with the desire to keep the number of basic thaats small.^[4][5]

Each thaat contains a different combination of altered (vikrt) and natural (shuddha) notes. The flatting or sharping of pitches always occurs with reference to the interval pattern in Bilawal thaat. It is important to note that, as in the Western church modes, each thaat is a series of intervals, not a series of pitches. That is, one can arbitrarily designate any pitch as Sa (the tonic) and build the series from there.

In effect only heptatonic diatonic scales are called "thaat."^[6] Bhatkhande applied the term "thaat" only to scales that fulfill the following rules:

1. A thaat must have seven notes.
2. The notes must be in sequence: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni (whether shuddha or vikrt--both versions of a single note are not allowed).
3. A thaat, unlike a raga, does not have separate ascending and descending lines.
4. A thaat has no emotional quality (ragas, by definition, have).

For mnemonic purposes, each thaat is named after a prominent raga associated with it. There are ten generally accepted thaats:

1. Bilawal (=Ionian mode): S R G m P D N S'
2. Khamaj (=Mixolydian mode): S R G m P D n S'
3. Kafi (=Dorian mode): S R g m P D n S'
4. Asavari (=Aeolian mode): S R g m P d n S'
5. Bhairavi (=Phrygian mode): S r g m P d n S'
6. Bhairav: S r G m P d N S'
7. Kalyan (=Lydian mode): S R G M P D N S'
8. Marwa: S r G M P D N S'
9. Poorvi: S r G M P d N S'
10. Todi: S r g M P d N S'

[edit] Thaat and time of performance (Samay)

Ragas are normally ascribed to certain periods of the day and night. As early as the Sangita-Makaranda (a work written by Narada sometime between 7^th and 11^th century) one finds warnings to musicians against playing ragas at the incorrect time of day. Traditionally, disastrous consequences are to be expected.^[7]

Bhatkhande stated that the correct time to play a raga had a relation to its thaat (and to its vadi).

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1909-1932). Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati. Sangeet Karyalaya (1990 reprint). This is the four-volume work in which Bhatkhande, after thorough analysis, makes the case for the ten thaats. Originally written in Marathi, it has been widely translated.
2. ^ Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1974). A Short Historical Survey of the Music of Upper India. Indian Musicological Society. 
3. ^ Note that, while all thaats contain seven swaras, many ragas (of the audav and shadav type) contain fewer than seven, and some use more. A rag need not use every swara in a given thaat to be in that thaat; thaat assignment is made according to whatever notes the rag does contain (but see note 5).
4. ^ Ramesh Gangolli (1992-12-23). "Chatura Pandit : V.N.Bhatkhande". Retrieved on 2007-04-11.
5. ^ Ambiguities inevitably arise. For example, the rag Hindol, assigned to Kalyan thaat, uses the notes S G M D N, which are also found in Marwa thaat. Rag Jaijaivanti contains both shuddha nishad and komal nishad (and sometimes both versions of gandhar as well), which by definition corresponds to no thaat. Bhatkande resolved such cases "by an ad hoc consideration, appealing to musical performance practice" (see Ramesh Gangolli's article, cited in note 4 above).
6. ^ Jairazbhoy (1995)
7. ^ Kaufmann (1968)

[edit] Literature

Jairazbhoy, N.A. (1995), The Rags of North Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution, Bombay: Popular Prakashan .
Kaufmann, Walter (1968), The Ragas of North India, Calcutta, New Delhi, Bombay: Oxford and IBH Publishing Company .