The Music of Hindostan c9.s1.8

c9.s1.8

*Thāṭ*, lit. ‘array’, is used in Hindostan for the setting of the frets of a string instrument (especially the *satār* or *surbahar*) for the purpose of playing in a given mode. But, as one setting will do for several modes, *Thāṭ*, which takes the name of one typical mode—e.g. *Bhairavī Thāṭ*, or *Kāfī Thāṭ*—has a classifying sense. The South Indian term for this classificatory sense is *Melakarta*, lit. ‘group maker’, because it groups together several *Rāgams*; though it does not seem to be applied to ‘setting’, and, indeed, I never met with a *Satār* in the south.