Introduction to South Indian Rhythm - Definitions
Basic vocabulary
Taalam (also Taala/Taal): rhythmic cycles (similar to time signatures). Example Adi
Taalam. Most common Taalams are Adi, Rupakam, Misra chapu and Kanda Chapu
(definitions below).
Avarthanam: one cycle of the Taalam (similar to a bar/measure).
Akshara: equal to a beat. One Avarthanam (or bar) in Adi Taalam usually consists of 8
Aksharas or 8 beats.
Maathra: a sub-division of Akshara. An Akshara usually contains 4 Maathras.
Anga: structural components of Taalams. Examples = Laghu, Dhrutam & Anudhrutam.
Adi Taalam consists of 1 laghu and 2 dhrutams.
Laghu: The action of clapping with the right palm down followed by counting fingers.
The number of fingers would depend on the type of Laghu involved. Adi Taalam for
example has a Chatusra Laghu (one clap + 3 fingers = 4 beats)
Dhrutam: The action of clapping twice - first palm down then palm up = 2 beats
Anudhrutam: The action of just one clap with the palm down = 1 beat
Jaathi (not to be confused with Jati - short vowel). The numerical definition of the
Laghu. There are 5 kinds of Jaathis – Tisra (3), Chatusra (4), Kanda (5), Misra (7) and
sangeerna (9). For example Tisra Jaathi Laghu would have 3 beats and therefore include
one clap + 2 fingers
Tisra: means 3
Chatusra: means 4
Kanda: means 5
Misra: means 7
Sangeerna: means 9
Adi Taalam: the most common Taalam in the Carnatic system with 8 beats (sometimes
16 with double count). Each cycle (Avarthanam) consists of 1 chatusra laghu (4 beats =
one clap with palm down + 3 fingers) and 2 Dhrutams ( palm down, palm up, palm down,
palm up). This would be similar to a 8/4 time signature.
Rupaka Talam: 3 beats (palm down, palm down then palm up). Similar to 3/4 time
signature.
Chapu Taalams: Chapu taalams came into the Carnatic tradition from folk music and
contain odd number of beats. Two of these taalams (misra chapu & kanda chapu) have
become ingrained in the classical tradition.
Misra Chapu: This is a Chapu taalam with 7 beats, also sometimes referred to simply as
the Chapu thaalam given it’s the most common Chapu. Each Avarthana contains four
actions - clap with palm up (1 beat), palm up (2 beats) palm down (2 beats) and palm
down (2 beats).
Kanda Chapu: This is a Chapu taalam with 5 beats. There are 3 actions to each cycle -
clap with palm down (2 beats), palm down (1 beats) and palm down (2 beats).
Gati or Nadai: Means pace. There are 5 kinds of Gati’s that are prevalent in Carnatic
rhythm – tisra gati, chatusra gati, kanda gati, misra gati and sangeerna gati.
Chatusra Gati (4 sub-divisions): In this Gati, each beat will contain 4 sub-divisions or 4
note value. An Adi thaalam in this Gati can be written 8/4.
Tisra Gati (3): Each beat contains 3 note value equivalent to a time signature 24/8, with
notes being grouped in to 3.
Kanda Gati (5): Each beat contains 5 note value similar to 40/8 with notes being grouped
in to 5.
Misra Gati (7): seven beats in each Aksharam.
Sangeerna Gati (9): nine beats per Aksharam.
Basic Notes/phrases
Single Note: Ta (Tha) Di (Dhi) Tm (thom) Nm (Num)
Two note phrases: TaKa DiMi JeNu TaRi KiDa
Three note phrases: TaKiDa, TaDiMi, JeNuTa, TaRiTa, diMiTa
Four note Phrases: TaKaDiMi, TaKaJeNu, TaRiKiDa, KiDaTaKa TaLa;Ku
Five note phrases: TaDiKiNmTm , TaKaTaKiDa
Basic Notation
|| denotes end of the cycle (similar to end of each measure)
| often denotes the end of half cycle (as in Adi Thaalam) but sometimes marks the
accents, particularly in odd beat thaalam
Lower case notation: For example ‘ta’ indicates one sub-division in each beat, or one
note value. For example in Adi Thaalam if you assumed 8 quarter notes in each measure,
lower case ‘ta’ would equal 1/16.
Upper case notation: Ta would equal 2 sub-divisions or 1/8 in the above example.
, denotes one sub-division (for example ta, would equal 2 note value whereas Ta, would
equal 3.
; denotes two sub-divisions or two note value. So Ta; would then equal four.
Example 1: if you say Ta on each beat in one cycle Adi Thaalam, you can write it this
way:
Ta; Ta; Ta; Ta; | Ta; Ta; Ta; Ta; ||
The entire note value above = 32. This comes from 8 beats x 4 sub-divisions in each
beat = 32. In other words if you assumed you played 1/16 notes you would end up
playing 32 notes to fill the cycle.
Example 2: if you say takadimi for each beat in Adi Thaalam, you would end up saying
8 takadimi’s in one cycle which can be written as follows:
takadimi takadimi takadimi takadimi | takadimi takadimi takadimi takadimi ||
note all these have to be in lower case since the duration of each note is only one note
value.
