7/21/2019 Classification of Talas

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CLASSIFICATION OF TALAS In olden days, Talas were classified as Marga and Desi. Ancient texts mention 5 Marga and 120Desi talas. There are references to other classifications like the 10 Talas, !which incidentallyincl"des the longest tala, #imhanandana of 12 Aksharas or co"nts mentioned earlier$, %2 Talas!&ased on the %2'melakartas$ and (a)asandhi !(ine$ Talas. These classifications are howe)eralmost o&solete today and are mainly confined to demonstrations.*owe)er, the #"ladi #a+ta !#e)en$ talas !referred to as "st #a+ta tala for the sake of

con)enience$ are the +rinci+al talas in )og"e today. They re+resent a con)enient and worka&leselection from o"t of the n"mero"s mentioned in )ario"s texts. The Sapta Talas 

1. Dhr")a tala- om+rises a lagh", a dr"tam followed &ytwo more lagh"s. It is re+resented &y the sym&ol ' l / l l2. Mathya tala- onsists of a lagh", a dr"tam followed &y another lagh". #ym&ol ' l / l

. oo+aka tala- onsists of a dr"tam followed &y a lagh". #ym&ol ' / l. 3ham+a tala- om+rises a lagh" followed &y an an"dr"tam and a dr"tam. #ym&ol ' l 4 /5. Tri+"ta tala- onsists of a lagh" followed &y two dr"tams. #ym&ol ' l / /. Ata tala- onsists of two lagh"s followed &y two dr"tams. #ym&ol ' l l / /%. 6ka tala- onsists of "st a lagh". #ym&ol ' l The 35-talas concept 7asically the 5'talas are an extension of the #a+ta talas. The only element that changes is the8agh". 9e already came across the fact that a lagh" has fi)e 3aatis !hat"rasra, Tisra, Misra,:handa and #ankeerna$. 7y incor+orating that, we get a total of 5 )arieties !% Talas ; 5 3aatis$.<or instance, consider Dhr")a tala with a hat"rasra lagh". A hat"rasra aati dhr")a talawo"ld ha)e a hat"rasra lagh" followed &y a dhr"tam and two more hat"rasra lagh"s !It

wo"ld &e re+resented as I 0 I I , the near the lagh" indicating a hat"rasra lagh"$. #o weget an external co"nt of 1 &eats in all !=2==$. (ow the same Dhr")a tala co"ld ha)e aTisra lagh", in which case, we render a Tisra lagh" instead of a hat"rasra lagh" and there&yget a total external co"nt of 11 &eats !=2==$ !This wo"ld &e re+resented as I 0 I I , the re+resenting the Tisra lagh"$. This is a++lied to all the other talas in a similar fashion. Theim+ortant thing to &e remem&ered is that it is always ad)isa&le to s+ecify the 3aati !ty+e$ of thelagh" to a)oid conf"sion. !efer 5'tala hart$ The 175-talas concept 7efore we go into the 1%5'talas, it is im+erati)e that we introd"ce another new conce+t called>?ati>. ?ati refers to a s+ecific &"t fixed time'inter)al &etween any two &eats within a tala. It canagain &e of fi)e ty+es- hat"rasra, Tisra, Misra, :handa and #ankeerna.

The im+ortant thing to remem&er here is that the common names for the ty+es of 3aati and ?atiare only indicators of the )al"es , , %, 5 and @. 9hereas 3aati refers to the external finger'

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co"nting, ?ati refers to the internal co"nt &etween &eats in the tala'cycle. 3aati gi)es a str"ct"reto the tala and ?ati determines the gait of the tala.oming to the 1%5 talas, its once again a sim+le extension of the % and 5'tala conce+ts. 8ets"se the same exam+le gi)en a&o)e, Dhr")a tala. (ow we already know that it can &e of fi)edifferent atis. #"++ose we s+ecify the 3aati as hat"rasra, lets see how the gati can affect it.9e know that the hat"rasra 3aati Dhr")a tala has an external co"nt of 1. *owe)er, whilerendering the tala, how are we to ens"re that the time'inter)al &etween each &eat is "niformBThis is where we introd"ce ?ati. (ow, we co"ld ha)e a fixed inter)al of , , %, 5 or @ co"nts

&etween each &eat. 8ets take the exam+le of hat"rasra 3aati dhr")a tala with an inter)al of "nits +er &eat, i.e. hat"rasra gati. The external co"nt of 1 is m"lti+lied &y !gati "nits$ and weget a total of 5 internal co"nts for the tala. The same wo"ld change to 2 in Tisra ?ati !1;$.In other words, each of the 5 talas can &e rendered in any of the 5 different gatis. Th"s the 5'talas &ecome 1%5 !5;5$.

Chanda tala These are a s+ecial set of talas "sed in a s+ecial )ariety of com+ositions called Tir"++"gaCh.The "ni"eness of this tala lies in the fact that it )aries according to the stress and rhyme'+atterns !called handa$ in the Tir"++"gaCh. POPULAR TALAS In a arnatic concert we commonly find fo"r talas ' Adi, oo+aka, Misra ha+" and :handaha+". The ratios in which the n"m&ers of com+ositions are set to these talas are also in thesame order. *owe)er in a concert all these talas ha)e to &e "sed to gi)e a rhythmic )ariety tothe concert. The other means of &ringing o"t a rhythmic )ariety wo"ld &e to "se songscom+osed in different tem+os or s+eeds. In other words, Adi tala has se)eral com+ositions,each in a different tem+o and gait. These co"ld &e effecti)ely "sed to &ring o"t contrast withinthe concert. Eariety can also &e &ro"ght o"t &y singing com+ositions with different starting+oints. <or exam+le, a com+osition can start at the )ery first &eat of the tala. /r it can start atthe next &eat or after a few co"nts within the &eats. The starting +oint is known as ed"++" orgraha.

#ome of the +rominent talas incl"de-

 Adi Tala- It has eight co"nts +er cycle. It is rendered with a&eat and three finger co"nts followed &y two identical sets of a &eat and a wa)e. !In technicalterms, this is nothing &"t hat"rasra ati Tri+"ta tala, i.e., hat"rasra lagh" and 2 dr"tams$oo+aka Tala- #ix co"nts &"t only "nits are rendered externally. !An an"dr"tam and a dr"tam$Misra ha+"- #e)en "nits. !Three &eats in the ratio of -2-2$:handa ha+"- <i)e "nits. !Three &eats in the ratio of 2-1-2$