What is a thaat?
There is a scale in Hindustani music which is called a thaat. The thaat is not the same as the Western musical scale, as it is not used as a tool for composition but rather as a basis for the classification of ragas. Not all ragas have to follow a strict compliance with a thaat; for example, a raga said to belong to one thaat may not allow all the thaat’s notes and may require the heptatonic scale. The traditional raga is a form of classical music in North India that consists of ten basic elements or frameworks. The thaats are Bilawal, Kalyan, Khamaj, Bhairav, Poorvi, Marwa, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, and Todi. Many traditional ragas are composed using these ten thaats.
