TOPIC: DIFFERNCE BETWEEN RAAG AND THAAT, URVASHI SHARMA

  DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAAG AND THAAT

Ø    RAAG    

A group of minimum of 5 notes (swars) and maximum of 7 notes (swars) which is pleasing to hear is called raag. or raag is a series of 5 or more musical notes upon which a melody is constructed.

 

v    "Abhinava Raag Manjari' has defined Raag as follows:

 

'A combination of note (swar) and varna (note group) which entertains us, is called raag'.

 

Ø    Characteristics of Raags

 

In past, music exponents considered 10 characteristics of raag of which some of them still exist in modified form such as Grah (the starting point of composition), Nyas (emphasising note), hexatonic, pentatonic etc.

 

Ø    Characteristics in modern times the following are accepted:

 

1.A group of notes (swars) which is pleasing to listen, is called raag. The first characteristic of raag is that it must be pleasing.

 

2. Raag should consists of minimum 5 or maximum 7 notes (swars). No raag is possible having less than 5 notes (swars).

 

3.Every raag is a product of some Thaat. For example raag Bhopali is product of Kalyan Thaat and raag Bageshwari is produced from Kafi Thaat.

 

4."Shadaj" is base note (swar) therefore no raag is possible without it.

 

5. In every raag, at least M or P, should be there. Both of them together is never prohibited in any raag. If in some raag 'P' and natural (suddha) M is not there then it must contain sharp (teevra) M. In Bhopali raag, M is not there. In Malkosh P is absent. But there are no raags where both M and P are missing.

 

6. In every raag, ascendant (aaroha), descendant (avaroha), sonant (vadi), subsonant (samvadi), identifying notes (pakad), time etc. are essential.

 

7.It is a rule that in any raag both flat and natural note (swar) should not be used oneafter another. For example flat (komal) 'Rishab' & natural (suddha) R and flat (komal) G & natural (suddha) G should not appear together in any raag. It is permitted to use one in ascendant (aaroha) and other in decendant (avaroha) together. For example in Khamaj raag natural N is in ascendant and flat N is descendant.

 

Ø    Thaat:

Out of 12 notes (swars), 7 main notes (swars) in a group and sequence is called Thaat and from this raags are produced. Thaat are also called 'Mail'. stated that a group of seven notes which can produce raag is called 'Mail' or Thaat..

 

Characteristics of Thaat 1.In each 'Thaat' maximum and minimum 7 notes (swars) are required. This is because without 7 notes (swars) no Thaat is complete.

 

2. Apart from 7 notes (swars), all notes should be in natural sequence. For example 'S' should be followed by 'R' and 'R' by 'G' etc. It is possible that any Thaat may have any form of note (swar). Apart from natural (suddha) notes, modified (vikrit) notes can also be used. For example in 'Bhairava Thaat, flat R and D is used. While in Kalyan Thaat Sharp M (Teevra M) is used.

 

3. It is not essential that each Thaat must have both ascendant (Aaroha) and descendant notes (Avaroha), because in every Thaat there is no difference between ascendant (Aaroha) and descendant (Avaroha). Only by viewing ascendant (aaroha) or descendant (avaroha) we can determine Thaat.

 

4. Thaat is neither sung nor played therefore there is no need of vadi- samvadi, pakad (identifying notes), alaap, taan etc.

 

5.Thaat has natural power to produce raag but is never sung or played, therefore Thaat does not need melody.

 

Number of Thaats: In North Indian Music (Hindustani Sangeet) there are only 10 Thaats (Mail). From these all raags are produced. In the modern era Pt. Vishnu Narain Bhatkhandey has propounded and propogated Thaat system and said that Thaats are ten in number.

 

v     They are as following:

 

1. Bilaval Thaat: In this every note (swar) has to be natural (suddha).
 
2.Kalyan Thaat: Only M is sharp (teevra) other notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
3. Khamaj Thaat: N flat (komal) and other notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
4.Ashavari Thaat : G, D, N flat (komal) and remaining notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
5. Kafi Thaat: G, N flat (komal) remaining notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
6. Bhairavi Thaat : R, G, D, N flat (komal) and remaining notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
7. Bhairav Thaat: R, D flat (komal) and remaining notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
8. Marwa Thaat : R falt (komal), M sharp (teevra) and remaining notes (swars) are natural        (suddha).
 
9. Purvi Thaat : R, D flat (komal), M natural (suddha), M sharp (teevra) and remaining notes (swars) are natural (suddha).
 
10. Todi Thaat: R, G, D flat (komal), M sharp (teevra) and remaining notes (swars) are natural    (suddha).

Ø  Comparision between Thaat and Raag

 

1.Thaat is created from octave and raag is from Thaat. Hence Thaat is consider as father of raag.

 

2. Thaat always has 7 notes (swars) i.e. it is heptatonic. But it is not essential in case of raag. There are 9 kinds of raag.

 

3. Thaat is not sung where as raag can be sung and played.

 

4.Raag has to be pleasing to listen as it is sung and played but it is not essential for Thaat to be pleasing to ear because it is never sung.

 

5.In Thaat it is not essential to have both aaroha and avaroha. Where as in raag it is essential to have both. In Thaat aaroha and avaroha is similar but in raag it may be or may not be.

 

6. In Thaat one does not need sonant-subsonant (vadi-samvadi), time, identifying notes (pakad), nyas etc. where as it is essential for raag, because raags are sung and played.

 

7. In Thaat all the seven notes (swars) should be in a sequence. Where as it is not necessary for raags. In Thaat it has to follow the sequence of S, R, GMPD N. But in raag one is not bound by any such rule. It may follow or it may not follow.

8. Thaats have been named after their famous raags, from which they have originated. However, raags have been named independently.  

                         ‘Janak Thaat' and Janya Raag:

 Janak means father therefore Thaats from which raags have been produced are called Janak Thaat. As we have stated before that every raag is produced out of some Thaat, therefore, every Thaat is called Janak (parent) Thaat. Every raag is produced from some particular Thaat therefore, every raag is called Janya raag. Therefore, every Thaat is Janak Thaat and every raag is Janya raag.

 Ascendant-Descendant

(Aaroha-Avaroha): We have observed that in music one does not stick to one note (swar) for a long time, one keeps the pitch sometimes low and sometimes high. In music we call this phenomena ascendant (aaroha) and decendant (avaroha). Ascending sequence of notes (swars) is called ascendant (aaroha) and the descending is called descendant (avaroha).

 

In some raags rise and fall of notes (swars) are not uniform. For example in Raag Kedar.

 

Aaroha - SM, MP, DP, ND.

 

In this D, P and N, D are in descending order but it remains in ascendant (aaroha). We can therefore define that "As per prevalent use of raag, when it goes up it is called ascendant (aaroha) and when it comes down it is called descendant (avaroha)". Or we can say in ascendant (aaroha) "The pitch increases as we go up from Shadaj to the Tar Shadaj possibly in a crooked (vakra) manner, whereas in the descendant (avaroha) the notes descend in a pitch from the upper tonic (tar shadaj) down to the lower tonic, possibly in a crooked (vakra) manner.

 

v    Aashraya Raag:

Prior to Thaat system, Raag - Ragini system was there. Some compositions were called Raags and other were known as Ragini. Raag-Ragini system was not scientific so experts introduced Thaat system. They divided all raags into ten Thaats. After dividing all raags into ten Thaats there was problem regarding nomenclature of Thaat. So experts decided that famous raag of each Thaat should be given name of that Thaat. These raags were named as "Aashraya Raag". Hence, "Aashraya Raags are those raags whose name were given to Thaat". For example: SRG MPDN Thaat represents a famous raag Kafi, hence it is called Kafi Thaat.

 

Similarly nomenclature of all the raags have been done. Since the number of Thaats is ten, hence Aashraya Raag is also ten in number. Todi, Marwa, Kalyan, Bilawal, Poorvi, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairav, Bhairvi are Thaats as well as Raags.

 

One should always remember that all the ten Thaats are different from their Aashraya Raags. Aashraya Raags are also known as Thaat - Vachak raags. The credit of "Classification of Raags" goes to Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande.

 

v    REFERNCE:

·      07/03/2023

·       116, VIKAS NAGAR, KANPUR, UP

·      98,99,100,101

·      DIFFERNCE BETWEEN RAAG AND THAAT

·       INTRODUCTION OF RAAGS (PART 1)

·       PT. SATISH CHANDRA