A raga is a rather metaphysical concept to define. At one level, it could be called an emotion, a state of being, a set of feelings and thoughts that the singer conveys to you through his voice and skill in scaling notes. At a more academic level, it is a musical composition that functions within a structure and follows certain rules with relation to the kind of notes used in it. Ragas belong to certain classes or categories called thaats. A thaat is defined as that set of seven notes from which a raga can be made. There are ten thaats in all: Bilaval, Kalyan, Khamaj, Kafi, Bhairav, Bhairavi, Asavari, Marva, Poorvi and Todi.

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