Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001 www.kksongs.org

---

Seven Original Talams

Now that the basic foundations for Carnatic talams are set, these concepts can be put to use. In ancient musical treatises and scriptures, there are seven original talam structure that is supposed to increase with the length of the how many angams per completed cycle. Here is a table showing the seven original talas.

TALAM NAME	ANGAM STRUCTURE	SYMBOLS
Eka	1 laghu	|
Rupakam	1 drutam + 1 laghu	O |
Triputa	1 laghu + 2 drutams	| O O
Mathya	1 laghu + 1 anudrutam + 1 laghu	| O |
Jhampta	1 laghu + 1 anudrutam + 1 drutam	| U O
Ata	2 laghus + 2 drutams	| | O O
Dhruva	1 laghu + 1 drutam + 2 laghus	| O | |

From this table, many generalizations can be made. The first generalization is that some of the tala names resemble names of North Indian talams like Eka (ektal) and Rupakam (rupaka tala). With this generalization, it is important to mention that even though there are names that both the North and South Indian musical systems use, they are almost never the same thing. Another important generalization that can be made is that these talas seem to be defined by talam structure. However, with each talam having its specific structure, it is also nonspecific. There is no talam that does not have a laghu. It was examined in the “Foundations of Talams” page that the laghu was all dependent on what jati the talam is played. To add to the nonspecificity, remember that South Indian percussionists do not use thekas, or fixed rhythmic grooves, for each talam. They play the talam in manner that fits the general flow of the particular structure.