Merukhand is an improvisational style in Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

 involving permutations of a fixed set of swara

Swara

The seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...

s or notes (meru, axis or skeleton) broken up in various ways (khand, fragment).

Merukhand techniques were developed within the Bhendibazar gharana and popularized by masters like Ustad Aman Ali Khan. In the mid-1950s, they were adopted by the eclectic Ustad Amir Khan

Ustad Amir Khan

Ustad Amir Khan was a well-known Indian classical vocalist. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Hindustani classical music, and the founder of the Indore Gharana.-Early life and background:...

 in his own badhat (progression). His disciple Thomas Ross says of this permutational style that

improvisational forays treating merely three or four notes may occupy twenty minutes or more..

Merukhand is now a part of the improvisational strategy within the Indore gharana

Indore Gharana

Indore gharana is one of the vocal gharanas of Indian classical music. It was founded by Ustad Amir Khan, who studied the styles of Abdul Wahid Khan, Aman Ali Khan, Rajab Ali Khan and Abdul Karim Khan and amalgamated the essence of the styles of these four maestros with his own intellectual...

founded by Amir Khan