| Rhythm, or taaLam
in Carnatic music consists of regular beats to which a composition is set. Usually, each
song has its own taaLam, which is carried from the first word of the song to the last.
Structure of Talam
Each and every talam has a structure, that is
governed by the rules pertaining to it. For example, if we take the most common tala -
Chatusra Jaathi Triputa Talam (Adi Talam), we can describe the process of the tala
thus :
1 beat of the palm of the hand on the thigh,
followed by counting three fingers, then beating the
palm and turning it over,
followed by counting three fingers, then beating the
palm and turning it over
If we count a number each for every beat, fingercount
or turn of the palm - the number comes to eight. So the tala has eight units. The
units are called Aksharams and the Adi talam has 8 aksharams.
The first part of the tala which consists of the
beating of the palm & counting is called Laghu. Here the number of units is 4 (Chatusram)
and the laghu is Chatusra laghu. The Jaathi of the laghu determines the jaathi of the
tala so the tala is Chatusrajaathi Adi Tala.
The next process of beat and turning the palm is
called Drtham. It is done twice, so the tala has 2 drthams. Thus Chatusra
Jaathi Triputa Talam(Adi) has one Chatusra Laghu and two drthams. The symbol for laghu
is 1 and the number written beneath it represents the jaathi and the symbol for drtham
is 0 and hence, this thalam will be represented thus
Thus, from the above, we understand that a tala has
laghu, drtham and these are called Angams (parts) of the tala. In some cases, there
may be half of drtham, i.e., just the beat of the palm without turning it and is
called Anudrtham |
Angams & Jaathis
There are seven basic thalas :
1. Dhruva talam
2. Matya Talam
3. Rupaka Talam
4. Jampa Talam
5. Triputa Talam
6. Ata Talam
7. Eka Talam
In a tala, the drtham has two units and anudrtham (if
it is part of a talam) has 1 unit and this is a constant. But the units of the laghu
vary according to the jaathi.
Jaathi
1. Thisra Jaathi
2. Chatusra Jaathi
3. Kanta Jaathi
4. Misra Jaathi
5. Sankeerna Jaathi |
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Aksharams
3
4
5
7
9 |
So, depending upon the jaathi, the units of the
laghu varies. And the jaathi of the talam is determined by the jaathi of the laghu.
Also, depending upon the jaathi of the laghu, the aksharams of the tala vary. For
instance, the Triputa talam has the following angams - one laghu and two drthams and
symbolically 1 0 0. Now, if the Triputa is Thisra Triputa, the laghu will have three
aksharams
and the thala will have three aksharams. If the
talam is Kanda Triputa, the laghu will have 5 aksharams and the tala will have 9
aksharams
Thus the 7 talams in combination with the 5 jaathis
gives 35 talas in Carnatic music. Among these, the Chatusra Jaathi Triputa (Adi),
Rupakam, Kanda Chapu, Misra Chapu are the most widely used talam. All the 7 talas in
one of the jaathi is taught in the preliminary exercise of "Alankaram". These talas
are called desi talas.
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Marga Talams
| Apart from the desi talas, there are other set of
talas called "Marga Talas". These talas, in addition to the angams in the desi talas -
laghu, drtham and anudrtham have other angams called Guru, Plutham, Kakapadam. The 108
talas and other groups of talas come under this group.
1 Guru - 1 beat and counting 7 fingers
1 Plutham - 1 beat, 1 krshyai & 1 sarpini
1 Kakapadam - 1 beat, 1 krshyai, 1 sarpini & 1 pathakam
1 krshyai - waving the hand towards left, it has 4
aksharams
1 sarpini - waving the hand towards right, it has 4
aksharams
1 pathakam - raising the hand vertically, has 4
aksharams
These talas are complicated and are found in very
few compositions. In fact, the music of Tamils in ancient times had complicated rythm
patterns like Chandha talam. Rythm was given importance. The Thiruppugazh is a classic
example of the variety and complex nature of tala pattern in Carnatic music.
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