Aditala-HistoricalStudyOfStructure

8/19/2019 Aditala-HistoricalStudyOfStructure

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Ād i-tāla A Historical study of its Structure1

(N.Ramanathan)

Āditāla is the first among the tāla-s in the Dēśī tradition and has a history of more than 1200 years.

The name continues to exist although the tāla has undergone structural changes. This paper is an

attempt to understand the present form of Āditāla and the process underlying the change.

‘Ādi-tāla’ in the Texts

As stated in the beginning Ādi-tāla is seen as a part of the ‘Dēśī’ tradition of Kaśyapa and Mataṅga

as different from the ‘Mārga’ associated with Bharata and his Nāṭyaśāstra. Hence we do not find the

tāla being mentioned in texts like Nāṭyaśāstra and Dattilam. Bṛhaddēśī being the earliest available text

belonging to the Dēśī tradition, the mention of Ādi-tāla is found in it for the first time as a tāla figuring

in the prabandha Siṃhavikrānta (5,406). The description of the structure of Ādi-tāla is not found in this

text as the tāla chapter is missing in the available work. It is only in the later works that we have

description of the tāla.

Mānasōllāsa /Abhilaṣitārthacintāmaņī of Sōmēśvara (1131AD): This work speaks of the Ādi-tāla

as structured by one `laghu' (of one mātrā or single time-unit) duration and expressed through one

‘pāta’ (sounded beat of the hand). The author adds that the tāla is so called because all the tāla-s

spring from that. In other words it is the ‘Ādi’ (lit. the first) or the source. (MU. 4, (16), 853-855b).

The text speaks of an other version of the structure of the tāla. This has three druta -s (‘Druta’ is a

time unit of ½-mātrā duration) with the first druta having a ‘Kalpana’ or ‘Virāma’ attached to it. A

virāma when attached to a time-unit like druta and laghu extends its duration by half its value and in

this case the time duration of the first druta will be extended by half its duration. In other words, thetime-unit will increase from ½-mātrā to ½ of ½ =1/4, thus extending the duration of druta from ½ to ¾

mātrā. The tāla is represented thus - O' O O

While Ādi-tāla is the first tāla described by Mānasōllāsa, the second one is ‘Dvitīya -tāla’. This tāla

is made up of two Druta-s and one Laghu and is expressed through 3 pāta-s or sounded beats. It is

represented as -O O |. (MU 4,(16), 855c-856).

Mānasōllāsa also speaks of a tāla called ‘Tŗtīya’ which is made up of one Laghu and two Druta -s

and expressed through three pāta-s. - | O O. (MU 4, (16), 866-867).

We shall have occasion to refer to this later.

All the later texts speak on the same lines. Āditāla has the structure of one Laghu, with the

symbol ‘|’ - SR 5,261c; SSS 7,46b; SSur 1,443ab; BA 439b; SM 2,2,19d, RKau 4,149a; SNar 1,422d-

423a.

They also mention that there is an other name for the tāla and that is ‘Rāsa’. They also describe

‘Dvitīya-tāla’ as having the structure ‘O O |’.

Saṅgītōpaniṣadsārōddhāra of Sudhākalaśa (2,46cd) refers to this tāla also as ‘Mahātāla’ (great

tāla) and the author also gives drum syllables pertaining to this tāla.


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ta dhi thau draim

| | | |

Among the Tamizh works, Pañcamarapu of Arivanār (126) mentions Āditāla as one of the tāla-s

used in the Tāņḍava called ‘Ādi’. Thus we learn that there was also a dance variety called Ādi. Tāla-

camuttiram describes 108 tāla-s and Ādi is the sixth one (p.40). Besides giving the structure as one

laghu, one of the manuscripts also gives, in addition, its duration as one māttirai.

Modern Period:

We thus find that right from the earliest work available the structure of Ādi -tāla has been

consistently given as one Laghu. In the Caturdaņḍīprakāśikā of Veṅkaṭamakhī we find an interesting

piece of information. Among the eight Svara-alaṃkāra-s set to tāla-s described by the author, two are

of interest to us.

1. Jhōmpaṭa-tāla Alaṃkāra (3,84-86ab): It is set in Jhōmpaṭa tāla. Jhōmpaṭa tāla is formed by twodruta-s of two akṣara-s each and one laghu of four akṣara-s. Thus Jhōmpaṭa has in all 8 akṣara-s

and is of two mātrā-s. The Alaṃkāra is illustrated thus - sa ri, ga ma, pa dha ni sa : sa ni, dha pa,

ma ga ri sa.

In the edition of Tālacamuttiram, additional information from a different manuscript is furnished in

the appendix. Among the tāla-s described therein figures Cempaṭai (p.119) described in a similar

manner, ‘O O |’, with a duration of two māttirai-s.

Incidentally in the music of Kathakali theatre, ‘Cempaṭa’ (sounding similar to ‘jhōmpaṭa’) is thename of a tāla having 8 kriyā-s (7 nihśabda-kriyā and one saśabda) and having a value of 8 or

16 units (C V Sudheer - oral information).

The Saṅgītapārijāta (p.115) describes Āditāla as having the structure ‘O O |’ which is similar to

that of Jhōmpaṭa.

above descriptions seem to bring Āditāla closer to the Cempaṭa tāla.

We note two points in the above description.

a) The structure of the tāla is ‘O O |’. This is similar to the Dvitīya-tāla referred to earlier.

b) We come across two terms, ‘Akṣara’ and ‘Mātrā’. Mātrā had always been used as the basic

unit for time duration. Akṣara, seems to refer to the number of svara-s occurring within the

time-unit. That is, there are 2 akṣara-s in a Druta of Mātrā and 4 akṣara-s in a Laghu of 1

mātrā.

The tāla must have been expressed through three pāta-s or sounded actions.


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2 Ēka-tāla Alaṃkāra -: It is set in Ēka-tāla. Ēka-tāla is formed by one Druta. Veṅkaṭamakhī (3,108-

110) adds that in practice this tāla has not been found to be suitable and in its plac e Ādi-tāla has

been introduced.

Ādi-tāla is made up of one Laghu having four aksara-s.

Vēṅkaṭamakhī (3,114-116) provides a very important piece of information at the end, "The

Alaṃkāra-s seen in practice do not, in some instances, conform to the prescribed characteristics.

For the purpose of Rakti the Vaiņika-s have brought about changes in the tāla-s by shifting the

order of occurrence in the time units like Laghu and Druta through the operation of features like

Atīta, Anāgata graha etc."

This information is very pertinent because --

a) The Alaṃkāra - sa ri, ga ma, pa dha ni sa : sa ni, dha pa, ma ga ri sa.

is today sung not in a tāla with the structure ‘O O |’ but in one with the structure ‘| O O’. Hence it

could be possible that the Jhōmpaṭa-tāla underwent a change due to shifting the graha and

attained the structure ‘| O O’ similar to the ‘Tŗtīya-tāla’ mentioned in the Mānasōllāsa and cited

above. This structure is same as that of the Ādi-tāla in use today. But we do not know when thename change from Jhōmpaṭa to Ādi came about.

b) Today when the Alaṃkāra set to Ēka-tāla is performed the structure of the tāla is one Laghu. In

other words, it has changed from a structure of ‘one Druta’ to that of Ādi having four akṣara-s or

one Mātrā.

An interesting development of this is seen in the compositions tradition also. Muddusvāmi Dīkṣitar

has composed songs on seven of the ‘Nava-graha’-s (the deified form of Nine-planets) and the songs

are respectively set to the seven Sūlādi tāla-s. The seventh Sūlādi tāla should be normally in Ēka-tāla.

The Kīrtana ‘divākara tanujam’ on the Śanīśvara is however indicated as being set in Ādi -tāla bySubbarāma Dīkṣitar, a desendent of the composer and who has published these compositions. And

from the notation of the kīrtana given by Subbarāma Dīkṣitar in his ‘Saṅgīta-sampradāya-pradarśini’

(p.810) we see that the Ādi-tāla is not the one of 4 akṣara-s but the modern one of 8 akṣara-s.

However in one of the later publications, ‘Śrī Guruguha-gānāmŗtavarṣiņi’ (p.56) the tāla is mentioned

as ‘Ēka’ (4 units)!

Let us take the Ādi-tāla of today. The duration is of 8 time units called 8 akṣara-s. This 8 unit tāla is

said to be constituted of three aṅga-s or limbs. These are one ‘laghu’ and two ‘druta’-s. ‘Laghu’ is an

aṅga of the duration of 4 units while a Druta is of 2 units.

| O O

4 2 2

Today the manifestation of the tāla is done through the rendering of saśabda kriyā -s and

nihśabda kriyā-s. But unlike as in ancient times, the Laghu and Druta are treated today as not

single indivisible time spans but as discrete time-units of the duration of 4 and 2 units respectively.


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Thus the structure of the tāla along with the kriyās is as shown below. [ sk=saśabda kriyā;

nk=nihśabda kriyā]

| O O

4 2 2

sk nk nk nk sk nk s k nk

Dēśādi tāla

It must also be mentioned here that a tāla form close to the Ādi-tāla form mentioned earlier,

namely, that of one laghu of 4 units or one mātrā was in use till 60 years ago. This was known as

Dēśādi-tāla. It had a structure of 4 time units with 3 saśabda and 1 nihsabda kriyā-s expressing it.

l l l l

sk sk sk nk

The Dēśādi and the present Ādi tāla-s are not totally unrelated. The number of saśabda kriyā-s

are the same. The duration of Ādi is 8 while that of Dēśādi is 4. The increased duration of 4 units is

expressed through 4 nihśabda kriyā-s. The relationship is similar to that existing between the

Ēkakala-caccatpuṭa tāla and the Dvikala one. (See Appendix.)

Incidentally, the prefix ‘Dēśī’ in the name ‘Dēśādi’ is suggestive of the tāla having come from the

Northern part of the country, as understood in the context of ‘Dēśya-rāga’. We find that the Dēśādi-

tāla resembles the ‘Tīna-tāla’ of the tāla system of Hindustāni music.

Tīna-tāla

Tīna-tāla has three aspects of to it instead of the usual two of time-units and Kriyā. It has 4 kriyā-s

and 16 mātrā-s manifested by 16 syllables representing the strokes of the Tabalā drum.

Mātrā 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Kriyā sk sk

Bōla dhā dhin dhin dhā dhā dhin dhin dhā

Mātrā 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Kriyā nk sk

Bōla dhā tin tin tā tā dhin dhin dhā

Since it is based on the 16 syllables, the tāla is said to be of 16 mātrā-s. But if we consider the

division based on kriyā-s then the tāla would be of 4 mātrā-s.

Conclusion:


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Āditāla in the earliest description has the structure, one Laghu. It is however puzzling how a tāla

could have projected a form with just one aṅga or time-unit. In the system prevailing then, the ‘laghu’

would have had just one ‘saśabda-kriyā’ to manifest it. When the same kriyā is executed again and

again it would be difficult to comprehend the structure of the tāla.

From the period of Saṅgītōpaniṣadsārōddhāra (14C-AD) where we begin to see four syllables

manifesting the single laghu it becomes clear that Āditāla had come to express itself in terms of four

sub-units. This is confirmed by Caturdaņḍīprakāśikā (17C-AD), although the text does not clarify if

there were four kriyā-s manifesting the tāla.

When four kriyā-s constitute the Āditāla, it must also be understood that all the four kriyā-s cannot

be saśabda ones. If they are so, then again, the form of the tāla will not be perceptible since aurally it

will not be clear where a cycle of the tāla starts and where it ends. That is why, whether is Tīna-tāla or

Dēśādi-tāla, among the four kriyā-s one is nihśabda.

The earlier Ēka-tāla on which the form of Āditāla had been superimposed (as mentioned by

Vēṅkaṭamakhī), is in present times rendered with four kriyā-s. Among these four only the first one is

saśabda-kriyā and the remaining three , nihśabda.The present day Āditāla of 8 units seems only an enlargement of the 4 unit Dēśādi tāla as pointed

out earlier. In its enlarged form Ādi is again related to the Jhōmpaṭa tāla mentioned by Vēṅkaṭamakhī.

It is not however clear when the 8 unit form came to be called Ādi. Ādi is not one of the Sūlādi tāla-s

although it has come to be adopted in the scheme of 35 tāla-s.

Appendix

Ēkakala, Dvikala and Catuṣkala forms of Caccatpuṭa

It was mentioned that Ādi-tāla has come down only in the Dēśī tradition. in the other tradition, thatis, in the Mārga the the tāla-s are classified into two groups, Caturaśra and Tryaśra. Caturaśra

consists of tāla-s that have a total duration value of 4 units, 8, 16 etc. in the other group, Tryaśra, the

tāla-s of the value 6, 12, 24 etc. are included.

The first tāla listed is ‘Caccatpuṭa’ and it belongs to the Caturaśra variety. Its structure is two guru-

s, one laghu and one pluta.

S S I Ś

The tāla-s in the Mārga tradition have three forms of existence, namely, the Ēkakala, Dvikala and

Catuṣkala. The above structure of Caccatpuṭa represents the Ēkakala form. The other states are -

Dvikala S S S S S S S S

and

Catuṣkala S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S


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The duration of tāla-s in Dvikala and Catuṣkala forms are mentioned in terms of a unit called ‘Kalā’.

A ‘kalā’ is equal to one ‘guru’. Thus Caccatupuṭa in Dvikala form is of the duration of 8 kalā-s and in

Catuṣkala form of 16 kalā-s. (SR 5,18-37)

In the Ēkakala form, the tāla-s are described in terms of the laghu-guru arrangement only. In

Dvikala and Catuṣkala forms the different kinds of time units like laghu and guru are not there and all

units are uniformly guru-s. But for the purposes of quantitative representation, a laghu is taken as one

mātrā and the Caccatpuṭa tāla would be one of 8 mātrā-s. The internal structure would be --

S S I Ś

2 2 1 3

Now in the case of Ēkakala form the internal structure in terms of ‘laghu-guru-pluta’ is what gives

the `svarūpa' to the tāla. In the case of Dvikala form, eventhough the duration is stated as 8 kalā-s

and the tāla is depicted as consisting of 8 guru-s, the actual structure is discernible only when the tālais executed through the actions of the hands, which are called kriyā-s.

Kriyā-s are of two kinds, the ones that are accompanied with the production of sound, called

saśabda-kriyā and those that are not accompanied by sound, called nihśabda kriyā-s. It is the kriyā-

s that actually manifest or express the imperceptible time units. In the case of Ēkakala state of a tāla

normally the saśabda kriyā-s alone are used.

Ēkakala Caccatpuṭa

Time units S S I Ś

Kriyā-s sk sk sk sk

In the case of Dvikala state the number of sounded actions remain the same, i.e., four, while the

other time units are expressed through non-sounding actions.

Dvikala Caccatpuṭa

Time units S S S S S S S S

Kriyā nk sk nk sk sk nk nk s k

Again in Catuṣkala form too the Saśabda kriyā-s remain 4 manifesting 4 units and the remaining

12 units are expressed through Niḥśabda kriyā-s.

Catuṣkala Caccatpuṭa

Time S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S


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units

Kriyā nk nk nk sk nk nk nk s k nk sk nk nk nk nk nk sk

If we observe the positions of only the saśada kriyā-s (sk) in the Dvikala and Catuṣkala forms, we

find that the structure of the Ēkakala form is maintained and only the duration between the Saśabda-

kriyā-s are enlarged proportionally. Thus the structure of ‘2 2 1 3’ is preserved.

References

Texts

Bharatarnava of

Nandikesvara

ed. by K.Vasudeva Sastri, pub. in Saraswathi Mahal Library

Series, Tanjore, 1957/89.

BA

Bŗhaddēśī of

Mataṅgamuni

ed. Prem Lata Sharma assisted by Anil Behari Beohar,

Kalamula Sastra Series, Indira Gandhi National Centre For

The Arts and Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi.

Vol.II Kalamulasastra Series no.10, 1994

BrD

Caturdaņḍī -

prakāśikā of

Vēṅkaţamakhī

ed. Trn. & Comm. by R.Sathyanarayana, Kalamula Sastra

Series, Indira Gandhi National Centre For The Arts and

Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi.

Vol.I Kalamulasastra Series no.24 2002

CDP

Mānasōllāsa of

Sōmēśvara

vol.III, ed. by G.K. Shrigondekar, pub. in Gaekwad's Oriental

Series by Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1961.

MU

Pañcamarapu of

Arivanār

ed. by Deyvasikhamani Gaundar, Coimbatore, 1975 PM

Rasakaumudī of

Śrīkaņṭha

ed. by A.N. J ani, pub. in Gaekwad's Oriental Series by

Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1963.

RKau

Saṅgītamakaranda

of Nārada

ed. M.R.Telang, Gaekwad Oriental Series - XVI, Baroda,

1920.

SM

Saṅgītanārāyaņa of

Gajapati

Nārāyaņadēva

ed. Srivanambara Acarya, Kalicarana Pattanayaka &

Kedaranatha Mahapatra, pub. by Orissa Sangeet Natak

Akademi, 1966.

SNar

Saṅgītapārijāta of

Ahōbala

pub. by R S Gondhalekara, Pune. 1898. SPar

Sangitaratnakara of

Sarngadeva

with the commentaries Kalanidhi of Kallinatha and Sudhakara

of Simhabhupala, ed. by Pandit S. Subrahmanya Sastri, pub.

in the Adyar Library Series by Adyar Library, Madras --

vol.III 1951, revised by S.Sarada, 1986.

SR

Sangitasamayasara

of Parsvadeva

ed. by T.Ganapati Sastri, pub. in Trivandrum Sanskrit Series,

Trivandrum, 1925.

SSS

Saṅgītasūryōdaya ed. Kamtaprasada Tripathi, Indira Kala Saṅgīta SSur


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of Lakşminārāyaņa Visvavidyalaya, Khairagarh, 1986

Saṅgītōpaniṣatsārō

ddhāra of

Sudhākalaśa

ed. & Trn. by Allyn Miner, Kalamula Sastra Series 23, Indira

Gandhi National Centre For The Arts and Motilal

Banarsidass, New Delhi 1998

SUS

Tāla-camuttiram of

unknown

authorship

ed. K.Vāsudēva Śāstrī, Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal, Tanjore,

1955/1998.

TCam

Other Books

Subbarāma Dikşitar Saṅgīta-sampradāya-pradarśinī of Subbarāma Dīkşitar, Pt. 1 & 2,

Vidya Vilasini Press, Ettayapuram, 1904

Vēdānta Bhāgavatar

and

A.Anantakŗṣņayyar

Śrī Guruguha-gānāmŗta-varṣiņi, pt.2,- Srī navagraha kīrtanaṅgaļ - pub.

Authors, Madras, 1937.

1 This article, under the title 'The Significance of Aditala in Music Tradition', was presented as a Paper on

30-01-1993, at the International Seminar on Mayonic Science and Technology organised by Vastu Vedic

Research Foundation, Madras at Indira Gandhi Auditorium, Madras 600113, from 28-01-1993 to 31-01-1993.

It was later published under title 'Adi-Tala: A Historical study of its Structure', in the J ournal, Samakalika

Sangeetham, Kozhikode, No.3, October 2007, pp.128-137.

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Aditala-HistoricalStudyOfStructure