The 10 thaats of Hindustani music next to the Western modes
In the classical music of North India, Hindustani music, ragas are grouped into 10 parent scales called thaats, following Bhatkhande's system. This page puts each thaat next to the Western scale with the same notes, so a guitarist or a pianist can see which scale each raga starts from.
Pick the tonic (Sa) and a thaat, or the other way round, a Western scale, and you get the same notes in sargam and with their Western names, on the guitar neck and on the piano. The notes play when you click them.
The tool opens right here in your browser when the page finishes loading.
The 10 thaats and their Western mode
Six thaats match a mode of the major scale; the other four have no equivalent among the diatonic modes. The formulas count the degrees from the tonic:
- Bilawal: Ionian, the major scale.
- Kalyan: Lydian, the major scale with an augmented fourth. Raga Yaman belongs to this thaat.
- Khamaj: Mixolydian, the major scale with a minor seventh.
- Kafi: Dorian, the minor scale with a major sixth.
- Asavari: Aeolian, the natural minor.
- Bhairavi: Phrygian, the minor scale with a minor second.
- Bhairav: 1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 7, the double harmonic major scale.
- Poorvi: 1 ♭2 3 ♯4 5 ♭6 7, sometimes called double harmonic Lydian.
- Marwa: 1 ♭2 3 ♯4 5 6 7, a Lydian scale with a minor second.
- Todi: 1 ♭2 ♭3 ♯4 5 ♭6 7, with no standard Western name.
Sargam: Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha and Ni
Sargam names degrees, not fixed notes: Sa is whatever tonic you choose, C, D or any other. The degrees Re, Ga, Dha and Ni can be natural (shuddha) or a half step lower (komal), and the degree Ma can be natural or a half step higher (tivra).
The legend on the page gives the Western interval of each swara. In the tables, komal notes are written in lowercase (r, g, d and n) and Ma tivra as m.
Sa and Pa never change and each thaat has a single Ma, natural or tivra. That is why no thaat matches Locrian, which has a diminished fifth.
From thaat to scale, on the guitar neck and the piano
“Start from a thaat” starts from one of the 10 thaats and tells you which Western scale has its notes; “Start from a Western scale” goes the other way, from one of the 9 Western scales that have a thaat. In the table, “Open in the converter” loads any row into the converter.
The neck goes from the open strings to the 12th fret and the piano has 2 octaves; the notes on the neck play with a plucked-string sound and the piano notes with a piano sound. For the 12 individual ragas, with their traditional time of day and their ascent and descent (aroha and avaroha), go to the ragas tab of guitar modes.
Frequently asked questions
What is a thaat?
A parent scale of 7 notes used to classify the ragas of North India. In Bhatkhande's system, the one this page uses, there are 10.
What is the difference between a raga and a thaat?
A thaat is just a set of notes. A raga uses those notes with its own rules: how it goes up and down, which notes it leans on, its typical phrases and the time of day it is played. That is why several ragas share a thaat. This page compares scales; it does not teach you how to play a raga.
Which thaat is like the major scale?
Bilawal: it has the same notes as the major scale, the Ionian mode.
Which mode is raga Yaman?
Yaman belongs to the Kalyan thaat, which has the notes of the Lydian mode: the major scale with an augmented fourth.
Why is there no Locrian thaat?
Because in the thaats Sa and Pa are fixed: there is always a tonic and a perfect fifth, and a single Ma. Locrian has a diminished fifth, so it does not fit the system.
Is Bhairav the same as the Phrygian dominant scale?
No. Bhairav has the notes of the double harmonic major scale (1 ♭2 3 4 5 ♭6 7); Phrygian dominant has a minor seventh.
Are Carnatic ragas included?
No: only the Hindustani system of 10 thaats. The ragas of South India, organized in the melakarta system, are not on this page.