Tala Dasha Pranas- Kala, Laya, Yati and Prastharam - Understanding Laya Part 8 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan talks about Kala, Laya, Yati and Prastharam ,related to the Tala Dasha Pranas.

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Here is a summary:


Kalai
Refers to the number of Aksharas within each kriye of the tala. If there is one Akshara for each kriye it is eka kalai or 1 kalai. If there are 2 aksharas in each kriye of the tala it is dvikalai or 2 kalai. If there are 4 Aksharas in each kriye of the tala it is catuskalaior 4 kalais. One kalai is also referred to as the time duration to utter 2 Laghvaksharas, which is relative and can vary from person to person. The concept of Nadai is not separately mentioned in the Tala Dasha Pranas but the fact that 3, 5 , 7 or 9 kalais can be used within each kriye of the talam alludes to the Nadai possibilities indirectly.

Laya

Kalapramanam refers to the manner in which flow of tala is maintained constant in conjunction with the song being rendered,  without fluctuating. (Equal intervals between events)  There are 3 kinds of Laya based on the speed of the composition:

1) Vilamba  (Cauka) - slow - includes 1st and 2nd speeds

2) Madhya Laya (Sama) – medium- includes 3rd and 4th speeds

3) Druta laya (Vega) – fast - includes 5th and 6th speeds

Yati 

Yati refers to the rhythmic patterns. There are 6 varieties:

  1. Sama Yati or Pipilika Yati (row of ants) - same pattern repeating itself

  2. Gopucham (cows tail) - decreasing pattern - 3, 2, 1 expressed as Tkt, Tk, T

  3. Srotovaham (river) - increasing pattern - 1, 2, 3 expressed as T, Tk, Tkt

  4. Mridangam - Combination of Gopucham and Srotovaham to give a pattern in the shape of a mridangam or small to big followed by big to small Eg. 3 , 2, 1, 1, 2, 3 expressed as Tkt, Tk, T, T, Tk, Tkt

  5. Damaru or Veda Madhyamam - Combination of  Srotovaham and Gopucham to give a pattern in the shape of a Damaru or big to small followed by small to big Eg. 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1  expressed as T, Tk, Tkt, Tkt, Tk, T

  6. Vishama - Random pattern

Prastharam

Prastharam refers to permutation, combination of expressing a rhythmic entity in different varieties.

Example 1: Emphasizing different syllables in Tkt

Tkt Tkt Tkt

Example 2: Expressing a pattern of 3 as

T, t or T t, or T,, 

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Tala Dasha Pranas- Jati and Graham - Understanding Laya Part 7 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan talks about Jati and Graham,related to the Tala Dasha Pranas.

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Here is a summary:

Jatis

There are five Jathis, ordered as Chaturashra(4), Tishra(3), Mishra (7) , Khanda(5) and Sankeernam. (9). The Jatis indicate the number of counts in the Laghu of a tala and does not apply to any other angas. A very simple example is given in the video to help one remember the sequence of the Jatis and how they were derived .

  1. Chaturashra is the original universal beat similar to a heartbeat.

  2.  If one is removed from that , it gives rise to Tishram (3).

  3. Tishram(3) and Chaturashram(4) combine to give rise to Mishram (Mishram means mix)  or 7.

  4. Mishram and Tishram  combine to form 10 which when split in half results in Khandam or 5.  (Khandam means split)

  5. Chaturashram and Khandam combine to give Sankeernam or 9. Sankeernam means combination and rightly so as all the Jatis are embedded in it.

Graham

Graham or Eduppu refers to the starting point of the song or composition with respect to the Tala. Samam refers to the start of the composition on the beat itself. Vishamam refers to the start of the song either before or after the beat and therefore are of two varieties, Anagatam and Ateetham. Anagatam refers to the start of the composition after the beat and Ateetham refers to the start of the composition before the beat.

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Suladi Sapta Talas, Chapus and Nadais - Understanding Laya Part 6 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan talks about the Suladi Sapta Talas, the origin of Chapu tala and difference between Chapu and Nadai.

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The Suladi Sapta Talas were a contribution of the Dasa movement including PurandaraDasa and others. The Suladi Sapta Talas (7 talas) in order  are : Dhruva Tala, Matya Tala, Rupaka Tala, Jhampa Tala, Triputa Tala, Ata Tala and Eka Tala.

There is no importance to the order in which the 7 talas are arranged. The 5 Jatis in each of these 7 talas give rise to total 35 talas which have been very useful for musical compositions. If Nadai variations (Tishra (3), Chaturashra (4), Khanda (5), Mishra (7), Sankeernam(9)) are taken into account for each of these 35 talas, total 175 talas can be derived. Along with Anga tala and Chanda talas developed by Arunagirinathar , the list of talas became exhaustive. In fact , many composers have composed pieces with the Tala as a starting point including Muthuswamy Dikshitar who composed the Vara Krithis in each of the 7 Sapta Talas.

However the number of talas used commonly today are only a small fraction of those that existed earlier. The most common tala is the Adi Tala. Other talas used are the Khanda Triputa, Mishra Jhampa, Mishra Triputa and Chapu Talas.The Chaturashra Jati Adi Tala that we use commonly today was earlier known as the Tudeeyaka Tala, and belonged to the 108 Tala system. Another Tala in the 108 system was the Turangaleela Tala which consisted of two dhrutams followed by a laghu. Although hundreds of Talas existed in the past, they became obsolete due to redundancy and gave way to better tala systems that are in vogue today. As the music became more complex and evolved, talas simplified and gave way to creative possibilities in other dimensions. The concept of Nadais is also a beautiful concept in Talas that gives rise to many creative possibilities.

Chapu Tala

Chapu Tala by default refers to the Mishra Chapu. The Chapu is also known as 'Saippu' Tala, meaning 'dependent'. In the Tishra Triputa tala, there are 3 shashabdha kriyes and 4 nishabdha kriyes. The Chapu tala can be defined as one in which the tala angas are not shown explicitly and instead , only the shasabdha kriyes are highlighted. The Kalapramanam or tempo is also raised slightly. So the Mishra Chapu is derived from the Tishra Triputa where the 3 shashabdha kriyes form the main beats.

The Khanda Chapu is falsely attributed to the Tishra Rupakam in some books. This is false because this would give rise to only two beats whereas Khanda Chapu has three audible beats. A better explanation would be that the Khanda Chapu was derived from the Chaturashra Jati Matya Tala which would give rise to the requisite three audible beats.

The Sankeerna Chapu is used rarely. There is an example in the video of how the Sankeerna Chapu may be rendered slightly differently from the traditional method.  Examples are given for other talas that can be rendered in Chapu format as well. The examples are given to inspire students to think differently and come up with creative ideas of their own.

The suggested method of rendering Mishra Chapu Tala with three  beats is also explained in the video. The difference between chapu and nadai is that chapu is rendered with branches whereas nadai refers to the number of subunits within each beat of the tala.

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Tala Dasha Pranas- Kriya and Angam - Understanding Laya Part 5 - Shri Chitravina Narasimha

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan talks about Kriya and Angam, as part of the discussion on the Tala Dasha Pranas.

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Here is a summary:

Kriya refers to the manner of action in which a tala anga is rendered. Eg. beating of palm, waving of hands or finger counting etc. The Shashabdha kriya refers to any tala execution which produces sound, like the beat at the beginning of the adi tala and at the beginning of each of the dhrutams. Th Nishabdha Kriye is a sound-less execution like the counting of fingers in Adi tala. So the Adi tala is said to have 3 Shashabdha kriyas and 5 Nishabdha kriyas. Although there are some other classifications which are provided below just for academic interest, the point mentioned above should suffice for all practical purposes.
In the Shashabdha kriya there are a few varieties:

  1. Dhruva - Snapping the fingers.

  2. Samya - Striking on the right-hand palm with the left hand.

  3. Tala - Striking on the left-hand palm with the right hand.

  4. Sannipata - Bringing the two hands in front of the face and clapping simultaneously.

In the Nishabdha kriya the varieties are:

  1. Avapa - Lifting up the hand and folding the fingers as in counting.

  2. Vikshepa - unfolding the fingers

  3. Nishkrama - moving the arm towards the right

  4. Pravesa  - Bringing the arm down, making an anti-clockwise movement.

Angam - This indicates the constituent parts of  a tala. The most commonly used are the 6 angas or shadangas including anudhrutam, dhrutam, laghu, guru, plutam and kakapadam. There are also 16 angas called shodasangas which were used in other older talas.
The Marga Talas which were part of the 108 talas used in ancient times only contained three angas, namely Laghu, Guru and Plutam. Later on, the angas  Dhrutam and Viramam came into usage followed by the Anudhrutam. The Kakapadam came much later. These 6 angas are collectively known as Shadangas. Combinations of these basic angas gave rise to complex angas resulting in 16 variations called the Shodashangas. To understand how these angas are rendered, please refer the video.

  1. Anudhrutam - 1 beat

  2. Dhrutam - 2 beats

  3. Dhrutaviramam  - 3 beats

  4. Laghu - 4 beats

  5. Laghuviramam - 5 beats

  6. Laghudhrutam - 6 beats

  7. Laghudhrutaviramam - 7 beats

  8. Guru - 8 beats

  9. Guruviramam - 9 beats

  10. Gurudhrutam - 10 beats

  11. Gurudhrutaviramam - 11 beats

  12. Plutam - 12 beats

  13. Plutaviramam - 13 beats

  14. Plutadhrutam - 14 beats

  15. Plutadhrutaviramam - 15 beats

  16. Kakapadam - 16 beats

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Tala Dasha Pranas- Kalam and Margam - Understanding Laya Part 4 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan explains the tala dasha pranas. This section starts with an introduction to the first two pranas namely, kalam and margam.

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Here is a summary:

Tala Dasha Pranas describe the various important facets of tala. Tala fundamentally refers to the mode of keeping rhythm for a musical compositions in Carnatic Music with hand gestures.

The Dasha Pranas are:

  1. Kaalam - This was created initially to give an idea of the duration  for each of the tala angas in absolute time. It is only of academic interest now and time durations are no longer absolute but only relative.

  2. Margam - This gives an idea of the rhythmical construction of a musical composition and helps to put tala correctly with the correct number of swaras or syllables per Akshara of tala. Please note that his does not indicate the tempo. The tempo is relative. One may sing 4 notes per Akshara faster than another person but they may be rendering the same margam.

  3. Kriye - This refers to the manner of action in which a tala anga is rendered. Eg. beating of palm, waving of hands or finger counting etc.

  4. Angam - This indicates the constituent parts of  a tala. The most commonly used are the 6 angas or shadangas including anudhrutam, dhrutam, laghu, guru, plutam and kakapadam. There are also 16 angas called shodasangas which were used in other older talas.

  5. Jaathi - The five varieties of tala constitute the jaathis. The Jaathi essentially refers to the number of counts in the laghu. A laghu is a beat followed by finger counts. A laghu can be chaturashra, tishra, mishra, khanda or sankeernam. When this permutation is applied to the 7  sapta talas one may derive totally 35 different talas based on jaathi variation called the suladi sapta talas.

  6. Graham - The commencement of the tala in music is known as graham or the take-off point. The music can start on the beat (samam), after the beat (anagatam) or before the beat. (ateetam). The term vishama graha refers to the start of the music either after of before the beat.

  7. Kalai - Refers to the number of Aksharas within each kriye of the tala. If there is one akshara for each kriye it is eka kalai or 1 kalai. If there are 2 aksharas in each kriye of the tala it is dvikalai or 2 kalai. If there are 4 Aksharas in each kriye of the tala it is catuskalaior 4 kalais.

  8.  Laya - The flow of tala in conjunction with song, without fluctuating is laya or kalapramanam. It is important to maintain the kalapramanam or tempo constant when rendering a musical composition. There are 3 kinds: 1) Vilamba (slow) 2) Madhya Laya - medium and 3) druta laya - fast.

  9. Yati -  The arrangement of angas of various durations give rise to various rhythmic patterns called yatis. The yatis are classified as 1) Sama Yati 2) Gopuccha Yati 3) Srotovaha Yati 4) Damaru Yati and 5) Mridanaga Yati and 6) Visama Yati

  10. Prasthara - This is only used for academic interest and is not used much now. The term prasthara refers to permutation. Prastara of a tala refers to the process of splitting up the angas of a tala into its possible constituent angas and presenting them in all possible varieties in a tablular form.

Kaalam

The time taken by a sharp needle to pierce through one petal, when 100 such petals are stacked together is  called a Kshana. The various time units in relation to each other are shown below. This table was intended to give absolute time durations during ancient times when precise time measurements were not available. For practical purposes, it can be used today to obtain an idea of relative duration of tala angas.

The following table indicates the time duration equivalents.

8 Kshanas - 1 Lava

8 Lavas - 1 Kashta

8 Kashtas - 1 Nimisha

8 Nimishas -1 Tudi

1 Tudi is the duration of 1 Anudhrutam.

2 Anudhrutams - 1 Dhrutam

2 Dhrutams - 1 Laghu

3 Laghus - 1 Plutam

4 Laghus - 1 Kakapadam

Important note about Aksharas and Matras

The term matra is used incorrectly by many as denoting the subunits within an Akshara. The term 'matra' was initially used to indicate the duration of 4 laghvaksharas or duration of 1 laghu. Instead of using the term 'matras' for the subdivisions in an Akshara it would be better to say subunits or 'ul' Aksharam. Eg, In Chaturashra Jati Adi tala, there are 8 x 4 = 32 subunits or 'Ul Aksharams'.

Margam

The Shanmargams are:

  1. Atichitram -  One note per unit - (Used in geethams)

  2. Ardha Chitram or Chitratamam - Two notes per unit ( Kritis in Deshadi and Madyadi Talas)

  3. Chitrataram - 4 notes per unit (Eg Vilambakala krithis)

  4. Chitram - 8 notes per unit

  5. Vartikam - 16 notes per unit

  6. Dakshinam - 32 notes per unit

The last three margams are used mostly in pallavis and other rhythmic compositions. This does not indicate the tempo but the number of subunits in each unit of tala.

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Marga Talas - Understanding Laya Part 3 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan gives an explanation of the ancient marga talas which consisted of only 3 angas, laghu, guru and plutam.

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Here is a summary:

Marga Talas were the precursor to talas that exist today. They included only 3 angas, namely  Laghu , Guru and Plutam. Although we use many more angas today, like the shadanga, shodashanga and samyuktangam , only 3 were used in those times. Laghu by default means a count of 4. Guru is a count of 8 and Plutam is a count of 12. They included the 5 talas Chachatpuṭam ,Chāchapuṭam , Shaṭpitāputrikam , Sampadvēṣhṭakam and Udghatam . These were used in the Prabhandams which were ancient religious Hindu texts.

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The guru explains that the name of the tala has been expressed as a rhythmic pattern to help us remember the angas contained in that tala. As we saw earlier in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, a short syllable 'A' represents a Laghu, a longer syllable 'Aa' represents a Guru and the combination results in a Plutam.
For Example in Chachatpuṭam, it can be said as Cha. cha. pu tam.. which is 1 Guru + 1 Guru + 1 Laghu + 1 Plutam which results in 8 + 8 + 4 + 12 = 32 Aksharas.
The same idea is applied to all the other talams as well.
To render a laghu, one has to start with an audible beat (shashabdha kriye) followed by 3 counts of the fingers which are silent. (Nishabdha kriye)
To render a guru, one has to start with an audible beat (shashabdha kriye) followed by 7 beats which are shown as movement of the closed fist from left to right in clockwise fashion. (Nishabdha kriye)
A plutam consists of 3 parts, a kaadai, hrishya and sarpini where each part represents 4 beats adding up to 12 in total. A kaadai is one audible beat followed by an upward palm for 3 inaudible beats. The Hrishya is rendered as the palm facing inward to the left for 4 inaudible beats(Nishabdha kriye) and sarpini is palm facing outwards to the right for another 4 inaudible beats.(Nishabdha kriye)

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Importance of Laya in Music - Understanding Laya Part 2 - Shri Chitravina Narasimhan

According to the ancient musical texts, Laya or rhythm is as equally important as melodic aspects in music.

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Please complete Part 1 before viewing this lesson. Laya has been given a very high stature in music, equal to melodic aspects. Some scholars have been quoted from the ancient texts as having stated that attaining good proficiency in Laya may even offer one the highest state of liberation from worldly bonds, and consequently lead to attainment of 'moksha'. Guru Shri Chitravina Narasimhan states that students should not feel intimidated with aspects of learning Laya and that it is possible for everyone to enjoy the beauty of this important aspect of music. 

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Origins of Laya Patterns - Understanding Laya Part 1 - Shri Chitravina N Narasimhan

Shri Chitravina Narasimhan gives an introduction to the origin of laya patterns in Carnatic Music.

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Laya patterns in music can be traced to ancient literature. The short syllable 'A' denotes laghu, the longer syllable 'Aa', guru and the combination of laghu and guru denotes plutam. Laghu represents a unit of 1, guru represents 2 and plutam results in the combination thereby representing 3. Shri Narasimhan explains that various combinations of these fundamental units of laghu, guru and plutam resulted in akshara ganams and matra ganams. Examples are given in the video. It is clear from the explanation that matra ganam comprises only the short duration syllable laghu. Various examples of akshara and matra ganams have been illustrated in this video to draw a parallel to the laya patterns that exist in common usage today. It is indeed fascinating to learn that the laya patterns in music originated from literature. 

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