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Module 5: Tala fundamentals · Lesson 3

The seven talas and five jatis

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Seven recipes

The standard scheme of talas starts with seven basic patterns, the Suladi Sapta Talas (“the seven talas”). Each is a formula of angas:

TalaFormulaIn words
Dhruva tala I O I Ilaghu, drutam, laghu, laghu
Matya tala I O Ilaghu, drutam, laghu
Rupaka tala O Idrutam, laghu
Jhampa tala I U Olaghu, anudrutam, drutam
Triputa tala I O Olaghu, drutam, drutam
Ata tala I I O Olaghu, laghu, drutam, drutam
Eka tala Ilaghu

Five jatis

The drutam always has 2 beats and the anudrutam has 1. Only the laghu can change, and its length is the Jati . There are five jatis:

JatiBeats in a laghu
Tisra 3
Chatusra 4
Khanda 5
Misra 7
Sankirna 9

Seven times five is thirty-five

Each of the seven talas can be set in each of the five jatis, so there are 7 × 5 = 35 talas. Each tala’s total number of beats is the sum of its angas. Here are all 35 totals:

Talatisrachatusrakhandamisrasankirna
Dhruva1114172329
Matya810121620
Rupaka567911
Jhampa6781012
Triputa7891113
Ata1012141822
Eka34579

For instance, Dhruva with a three-beat jati is I3 O I3 I3, which is 3 + 2 + 3 + 3 = 11 beats. The totals are not typed in by hand on this site: a program derives each one from the formula and checks it against the table above.

Names you will hear

Each tala is named by its jati and its base tala. Some names are shorter in everyday use:

  • Adi tala is the chatusra-jati Triputa (I4 O O), 8 beats. This is the default tala.
  • Rupakam is the chatusra-jati Rupaka (O I4), 6 beats.
  • Misra Jhampa is the misra-jati Jhampa, 10 beats.
  • Khanda Eka is the khanda-jati Eka, 5 beats.
  • Tisra Triputa is the tisra-jati Triputa, 7 beats.

When the jati is not named, the four-beat (chatusra) jati is assumed. That is why “Triputa” alone usually means Adi tala.

References for this page

Type at least two letters. Try a raga name, a tala, or a word like "gamaka".