Parts of tALams

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 04 Sep 2006, 10:25

There can be six angams in a tALam. viz, lagu, drutham, anudrutham, plitham, kAkapAdam and dAru.

While we know what lagu drutham and anudrutham are. less is known about the other three. one is to believe that plitham has two 'veechu's after a beat and kAkapAdam has three 'veechu's after a beat and dAru is suppose to be a motion like grinding.

Could somebody throw more light on each of these elements, their structure etc.

maamoondi · Post by **maamoondi** » 04 Sep 2006, 10:36

Srkris,

Perhaps my first contribution in person.

Dear Sri rbharath,

Apart from the first three talas, there are other sets of talas called "Marga Talas". These talas, in addition to the 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 very complicated in nature 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.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 04 Sep 2006, 10:42

i have seen people using these parts while singing tiruppugazh. the classical example is the husEni tiruppugazh set to what is called 'vishama tALam' which has two kaNDa cApus followed by one kAkapAdam.

and also, i assume that it is 4 aksharams per beat in catusra naDai.

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 04 Sep 2006, 10:44

u define guru to be a beat and counting 7 fingers, in which case, how is it different from a misra sankIrNa jAti laghu???

maamoondi · Post by **maamoondi** » 04 Sep 2006, 11:09

rbharath wrote:and also, i assume that it is 4 aksharams per beat in catusra naDai.

A small confusion has perhaps crept in - one aksharam is equal to one beat. one aksharam is made up of four maatrais in chatusra jaadi. One kakapadam will have 13 aksharams or 52 maatrais.

maamoondi · Post by **maamoondi** » 04 Sep 2006, 11:13

rbharath wrote:u define guru to be a beat and counting 7 fingers, in which case, how is it different from a misra sankIrNa jAti laghu???

Now what is this misra sankIrna jaadi laghu? Is it misram or sankirnam? and a Guru will have eight aksharams i.e one beat and counting of seven fingers i.e. eight aksharams. In chatusra jaadi this will have 32 maatrais. In Kanda jaadi it will have 40 maatrais, in misra jaadi it will have 56 maatrais and in sankirna jaadi it will have 63 maatrais - but all through out it will have only eight aksharams (beats).

kaapi · Post by **kaapi** » 04 Sep 2006, 19:49

I have heard that the guru consists of a beat and moving the closed fist in a circular motion in a horizontal plane above the knee for a total duration equal to 8 aksharAs. Is this correct ?

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 04 Sep 2006, 20:37

I do not have my reference books to hand, but there is one book on my shelf, Mridangam by Shreejayanthi Gopal.

This book agrees with my vague memory from class that those obscure angas, Guru, Plutha, and Kakapadam are 8, 12 and 16 (not 13) akshara

He describes the kriyas for Guru as being a clap, 3 finger counts, then moving the fist around in a circle (i remember it as with a knocking motion for each beat)

kakapadam.... crow's foot, from that moevement of the fingers

Simhanandana talam, a cycle of 128 beats, uses all of these angas. A few years ago the senior class at the London Bharatya Vidia Bhavan Mridangam summer school played a thani in this talam. It was composed by the visiting teacher, Mayavaram G. Somasundaram. --- I was not a member of that group, but it was interesting to watch, and fascinating to see how Somu-sir and my guruji juggled such a large number into thiermanams, mohara, and korvais...

rbharath · Post by **rbharath** » 04 Sep 2006, 21:40

misra sankIrNa lagu is 8 beats. misra sankIrNa is between misra and sankIrNam. similarly divya sankIrNa has 6 beats in the laghu.

also, i think kAkapAdam should have 16 and 13 aksharams.

i have also heard that guru consists of a beat and a circular motion on the horizontal plane only.

Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer apparently has sung pallavis in tALams which had these angams even in 8 and 16 kaLai.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 05 Sep 2006, 04:09

I agree with Nick. Yes kAkapAda has 16 akSharas. It is made of 4 parts each of 4 akShara length- sarpiNi, kRShNa, patAka & patita. The kAkapAda is totally niSSabda(without beats/sound).
sarpiNi is taking right hand(fist?) to the left . kRShNa is taking the hand back to the right. Then taking it upwards #(for 4 akSharakAlas) is patAka and bringing it finally back down to rest(O what a relief:) is patita.

Prof|| V. Ramarathnam and Dr.V.S.Sampathkumaracharya mentions that this anga is considered inauspicious.

The anga with 13 akSharas is plutavirAma. This is part of 16/ShODaSAngas of tALa and not 6/ShaDangas.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 05 Sep 2006, 04:16

The correct names of the ShaDangas of tALa are - anudruta, druta, laghu, guru, pluta, kAkapAda

anudrutO drutaScaiva laghurguru plutastathA |
kAkapAdam tathA prOktam tALAngamiti ShaDvidham ||

These angas are also called mArga kriyes of the tALa. kriye is in turn one of the daSaprANas(10) of the tALa.

These angas occur in the aShTOttara tALas. In the suLAdi sapta tALa, SrI purandaradAsa reduced the angas to 3- laghu, druta and anudruta.

drshrikaanth · Post by **drshrikaanth** » 05 Sep 2006, 04:24

guru is of 8 akSharas and is reckoned thus- first a ghAta/beat with right hand on the left hand and then count 3 fingers(like a laghu) and then drop the right hand down in 4 akSharakAlas.

pluta is of 12 akSharas and is reckoned as follows- Again ghATa of right hand over left hand followed by 3 finger counts; this followed by rotating/tortuous movement of the right hand for 4 akSharkAlas and drop the right hand down spanning 4 akSharas

laghu, druta and anudruta need not be explained.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 07 Sep 2006, 22:59

FYI: In carnatica's VCD release of Smt. Suguna Purshottaman's rendition of an RTP in simhananda tala, she puts guru with a beat followed by a closed fist in circular motion (anti-clockwise in a plane parallel to floor) - exactly as what kaapi described earlier.

Arun

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 09 Oct 2006, 12:27

Dear Sri Maamoondi, Please note that Kakapadam does not consist of a beat at all It is a fully soudless Anga to be rendered with Sarpini, Krishya, Pataka and Patita. amsharma.

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 09 Oct 2006, 12:40

Dear Sri Maamoondi, Telling that Kakapadam of Chaturashra-jaati will have 13 aksharams or 52 maatras is not correct. Please note that Kakapadam, being a fully soundless Anga, consists of the duration of 4 Laghus. In Trisra-jaati its value is (3 x 4) 12 units, in Chaturashra-jaati (4 x 4) 16 units, in Khanda-jaati (5 x 4) 20 units, in Mishra-jaati (7 x 4 ) 28 units and in Sankeerna-jaati (9 x 4) 36 units. amsharma.

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 09 Oct 2006, 13:14

Dear Dr.Shrikaanth, Please not that the varied value of Pluta-virama is 10 units in Trisra-jaati, 13 units in Chaturashra-jaati,
16 units in Khanda-jaati, 22 units in Mishra-jaati and 28 units in Sankeerna-jaati. So, in respect of Chaturashra-jaati only this 'Pluta-virama' consists of 13 units and becomes part of 'Shodashangas'. But, in respect of Trisra-jaati this becomes part of Dwadashangas, for Khanda-jaati - Vimashatyangas, for Mishra-jaati - Ashtavimshatyangas and for Sankeerna-jaati - Shadthrimshadangas. Like that , changing the names of the prastara every time is not correct at all. But, in the absence of the required knowledge, all the authors of the music-books wrote the matter contradictively.
This pertains to the Samyuktanga-prastara of Talaprastara. Right from Sangita Ratnakara of 13th century, the Prastara, the 10th element of tala has been dealt with in 15 books only. But, most unfortunately, none of the authors of these books has ever defined this element clearly. Had, even one of them, at the least, defined this element without any contradiction I would not have struggled for 40 years of my precious life to dig this element out. This is also for kind information of all musicians.
amsharma.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 19 Oct 2006, 21:35

ok!!! let me get this straight. correct me if i'm wrong, because this is really confusing when no one puts a finalised bit up.

1 Guru - 1 beat and counting 7 fingers
1 Plutham - 1 beat, 1 krshyai & 1 sarpini
1 Kakapadam - 1 krshyai, 1 sarpini, 1 pathakam & 1 patita

1 krshyai - waving the hand towards left, it has 4 beats
1 sarpini - waving the hand towards right, it has 4 beats
1 pathakam - raising the hand vertically, has 4 beats
1 patita - dropping hand vertially, has 4 beats

a laghu consists of a clap followed by a number of finger counts.

a drutham consists of a clap and a wave.

an anadrutham consists of a clap.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand the "ghAta/beat with right hand on the left hand". So it can make sense to me, can this be described as putting Adi talam on your left hand (out of laziness) - but just putting the anudhrutham bit???

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 20 Oct 2006, 03:14

Dear member, Vocalist,
All these things come under the combination of 3rd & 4th elements, Kriya and Anga-pranas respectively of the Taladashapranas. If you go through that you can yourself finalise the respective version. However, I shall try to give a finalized bit of information.
Guru - Duration of 2 Laghus, Dhruvaka, a beat followed by finger counting based upon the Jaati & Patita, bringing down the hand like a flag again followed by finger counting based upon Jaati.
(the Jaati may be of either 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/12/16-units, Trisra, Chaturashra, Khanda, Divya-sankeerna, Mishra, Mishra-sankeerna, Sankeerna, Deshya-Sankeerna, Mishra-deshya-sankeerna,
Deshya-shuddha-sankeerna respectively)
Pluta - Duration of 3 Laghus, Dhruvaka, a beat followed by finger counting based upon the Jaati, Sarpini, moving the hand towards left like a flag with the palm facing downwards followed by
finger counting based upon the Jaati and Krishna (not Krishya), moving the above hand towards right followed by finger counting based upon Jaati as mentioned above.
Kakapada - (a totally soundless Anga) Duration of 4 Laghus, Sarpini, moving the hand towards left like a flag with the palm facing downwards followed by finger counting based upon Jaati, Krishna, moving the above hand towards right followed by finger counting based upon Jaati, Pataka, raising the hand upwards like a flag followed by finger counting based upon Jaati and Patita, bring down the above hand like a flag followed by finger counting based upon Jaati as mentioned above.
Sarpini, Krishna, Pataka & Patita should always be followed by finger counting based upon the required Jaati.
Laghu - Dhruvaka, a beat followed by finger counting based upon Jaati.
Druta - Dhruvaka, a beat and Visarjita, waving the hand outwards turning the palm upwards.
Anudrata - Dhruvaka, a beat.
Ghaata literally means a beat wherever you put. Rendering of a beat in the left-hand palm with the right-hand palm is called Tala in Shastra.
If you want to know the full details please go through reliable books.
Wishing you all the best, amsharma.

Vocalist · Post by **Vocalist** » 20 Oct 2006, 14:01

There are parts to your post that are very clear to me (good), and there are parts that are not so clear. I will look at it again tomorrow, in case it all becomes clear to me then. If not, I shall post my queries. Thanks so much for your help msakella!!

mazhai · Post by **mazhai** » 04 Dec 2009, 17:46

the pluta, sarpini and kakapadam parts are pretty clear, but can someone tell me what laghu-virama, laghu-dhruta-virama and pluta-virama mean? they apparently have 5, 7 and 13 aksharakalas respectively... there are also sub varieties like dhruta-virama, pluta-dhruta-virama etc..
pls elaborate!
Varsha

msakella · Post by **msakella** » 04 Dec 2009, 20:48

Varsha: There are two kinds of Talaangas and they are as follows.

1.Independent-angas of 6 Nos.: Anudruta, Druta, Laghu, guru, Pluta & Kakapada. Among them while the Anudruta and Druta always carry 1 and 2-units respectively without any deviation, the remaining 4 Angas carrying 1, 2, 3 & 4 Laghus respectively differ in carrying units basing upon their Jaatis, Trisra, Chaturashra, Khanda, Mishra & sankeerna-jaatis of 3, 4, 5, 7 & 9 units-respectively.

2.Combinative-angas: Along with the above independent-angas combinations of one or more Angas, like Druta-virama (2+1=3), Laghu-virama basing upon the variation of Jaati carries (3+1=4-units) or (4+1=5-units) or (5+1=6-units) or (7+1=8-units) or (9+1=10-units) respectively, Laghu-druta basing upon the variation of Jaati carries (3+2=5-units) or (4+2=6-units) or (5+2=7-units) or (7+2=9-uniots) or (9+2=11-units) respectively. While Virama being the synonym of Anudruta always carries 1-unit, the Druta always carries 2-units. The same should be applied to all other Angas also in the same manner.

Among the above while the independent-angas only are used in Panchanga and Shadanga-prastaras, along with these independent-angas all these combinative-angas are also used in Samyuktanga-prastara. If you are interested you can visit the first sticky thread ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“TalaprastaraÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ of this main thread. amsharma