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Tala means cyclic rhythms of beats. According to some authors, it is derived from ‘ta’ (referring to siva’s tandava aspect) and ‘la’ (referring to pallavi lasya). The union of these two or of the right and left hands produce tala.

The smallest unit measured in tala is one akshara kala.

There are mainly three angas of Tala:

  1. Anudrutam: It has one akshara kala. Represented by a clap only. Its symbol is U.
  2. Dhrutam: It has two akshara kalas. Represented by a clap and a wave. Its symbol is 0.
  3. Laghu: It is represented by a clap and a few counts on the fingers beginning with the little finger. Its symbol is 1.

The laghu varies according to the jaatis of tala, namely, chatusra (4 beats), tisra (3 beats), Misram (7 beats), khandam (5 beats) and sangeernam (9 beats).

The seven basic Talams are as follows:

  1. Triputa – 100
  2. Dhruva – 1011
  3. Matya – 101
  4. Rupaka – 01
  5. Jhampa – 1U0
  6. Eka – 1
  7. Ada – 1100

Each of these talams can be further divided into 5 types by changing the jaatis of the laghu. Hence , this format creates 35 Different talams. These are shown as follows in the form of a table:

S.No. Talam Jaati Number of beats
1 Triputa Chatusra 8
2 Triputa Tisra 7
3 Triputa Misra 11
4 Triputa Khanda 9
5 Triputa Sangeerna 13
6 Matya Chatusra 10
7 Matya Tisra 8
8 Matya Misra 16
9 Matya Khanda 12
10 Matya Sangeerna 20
11 Dhruva Chatusra 14
12 Dhruva Tisra 11
13 Dhruva Misra 23
14 Dhruva Khanda 17
15 Dhruva Sangeerna 29
16 Rupak Chatusra 6
17 Rupak Tisra 5
18 Rupak Misra 9
19 Rupak Khanda 7
20 Rupak Sangeerna 11
21 Jumpa Chatusra 7
22 Jumpa Tisra 6
23 Jumpa Misra 10
24 Jumpa Khanda 8
25 Jumpa Sangeerna 12
26 Eka Chatusra 4
27 Eka Tisra 3
28 Eka Misra 7
29 Eka Khanda 5
30 Eka Sangeerna 9
31 Ada Chatusra 12
32 Ada Tisra 10
33 Ada Misra 18
34 Ada Khanda 14
35 Ada Sangeerna 22

This explains in detail the Karnatic Tala System.

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