- Bilawal
- Kafi
- Bhairav
- Bhairavi
- Todi
- Kalyan
- Khamaaj
- Marva
- Purvi
- Asavari
Vishnu ji visited many gharanas and after a lot of study and research, he came up with these 10 thaats wherein each thaat is named after the prominent raga of that thaat. Each thaat is different from the other as the swara and their type (shudhh, komal or tivra) used in each one is different form the other. The classification of the raagas is done as per the swaras used in that thaat. Each thaat contains seven notes which is a combination of Shudhh, komal or the tivra swara but it is not mandatory that each raga under that that uses all the notes in that thaat.
The swaras used in each thaat is given below-
- Bilawal (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni)
- Kafi (Sa Re ga Ma Pa Dha ni)
- Bhairav (Sa re Ga Ma Pa dha Ni)
- Bhairavi (Sa re ga Ma Pa dha ni)
- Todi (Sa re ga MA Pa dha Ni)
- Kalyan (Sa Re Ga MA Pa Dha Ni)
- Khamaaj (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha ni)
- Marva (Sa re Ga MA Pa Dha Ni)
- Purvi (Sa re Ga MA Pa dha Ni)
- Asavari (Sa Re ga Ma Pa dha ni)
Some characteristic of thaat are-
- It is mandatory for each thaat to have 7 swaras
- A thaat cannot be sung or played on an instrument as it does not have any melody in itself, only raagas can be produced from different thaats.
- The 7 swaras used in the thaat are to be in the proper chronological order i.e. this order has to be strictly followed Sa re Re ga Ga Ma MA Pa dha Dha ni and Ni by each thaat.
- It is not mandatory for each thaat to have an Aaroh, Avroh and a Pakad as each thaat has 7 swaras and they are in a chronological order.
To summarize we can say that thaats are derived from an octave and raagas are derived the thaats. The concept of thaats, now I guess is clear to each and every reader.
Some readers wanted to know more about raagas, so, from now I am going to give a brief description about the characteristics and features of a particular raaga at the end of each article.
Raaga Bhimpalasi-
Aaroh– Sa ni Sa ga Ma Pa ni Sa
Avroh– Sa ni Dha Pa Ma Pa ga, Ma ga Re Sa
Pakad– ni Sa Ma, ga Ma ga Pa, Ma Pa ga, Ma ga Re Sa
Thaat– Kaafi
Vadi Swara- Ma
Samvadi Swara– Sa
Jaati- Audhav-Sampoorn i.e. 5 notes in Aaroh and & notes in Avroh
Time of Singing- Late Afternoon or Din ka teesra prahar
Before going further-
Vadi Swara- is the most important swara of a particular Raaga which is sung again and again in the bandish of that raaga
Samvadi Swara- is the 2nd most important swara of the raaga.
Anuvadi Swaras- are all those swaras which are sung in a raaga apart from the Vadi and the Samvadi swaras.
According to the Hindu tradition a day is divided into 8 prahars (Unit of time) of 3 hour long interval i.e. 4am-7am and so on. The 1st prahar of the day starts at sunrise. So this raaga is sung in the 3rd prahar of the afternoon i.e. approximately between 4pm and 7pm.
This raga has the powers to reduce tension and short temper of the listeners.
Links to some important recordings are given below.
Ja Ja re apne Mandirva by Pt. Jasraj Ji- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f2LGUzlmNA
Raag Bhimpalasi by Pt. D.V. Paluskar Ji- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxm-ddXkBvw
Raag Bhimpalasi on Sarod by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Sahib- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzCBWLnlxwk
Once again while ending this article I would like to thank each and every one of you for your love and support. Do tell me if you want to me to write in a particular topic. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends and also, give a feed back in the comments box below.
Thank You
Shubham Mittal :-)