I had to re read this a second time. I was thinkin “Jaysus that was a bit harsh on him” .Yes I’m on the same stuff as Mitch
Well with his sarod tuned up for C as the tonic he had to be able to play these C scales readily at call (starting from the perfect 4th or augmented 4th below the tonic and up to at least the third octave’s 4th)
CDEFGABC
CDEbFGABbC
CDbEbFGAbBbC
CDEF#GABC
CDEFGABbC
CDEbFGAbBbC
CDbEF#GAbBC
CDbEbF#GAbBC
CDbEF#GABC
CDBEFGAbBC
BUT not only that he had to be able to play the same scale with microtonal variance. For isntance the C nat. min scale
as in C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
is different according to the raags.
For instance the Raag Jaunpuri has the minor 3rd a tad sharper than Raag Darbari where the minor 3rd is pretty flat. You cannot do this on a keyed instrument but you can on fretless and voice. You can do a little with a Boehm flute by embouchure technique but that is difficult at speed.
this is why pianos and accordions and harmoniums are described as equal tempered. They are constantly angry because they are justly deprived.