Chapu Talas — the allure of odd numbers

Published in

KavyaVriksha

7 min readNov 29, 2019

In the Suladi Sapta Talas in Carnatic Music, we saw the 7 major talas in Carnatic music and their underlying angas(components), namely :

laghu(beat and counting with fingers) denoted by letter l with varying time units ; The Jāti of a tala is determined by its laghu. The five Jātis , namely varieties of laghu are Tisra(3), Chatusra(4), Khanda(5), Mishra(7) and Sankeerna(9). “ [2]
anudrutam(beat) denoted by U = 1 Time unit
drutam(beat and then a wave) denoted by 0 = 2 Time Units

And S R Janakiraman explained that the historic 108 talas all had only chatusra laghu (l4) while “ it is only in the suladi sapta talas that the laghu has variable duration in accordance with its Jāti.”[1]

Now, let us look at the Chapu Talas which are considered to have originated from folk music and they are

Khanda Chapu Tala (5 beats)
Mishra Chapu Tala (7 beats) and
the rarer Sankeerna Chapu Tala (9 beats)

Mannarkoil Balaji starts his lecdem on Mishra Chapu tala with these verses of Tunga munivar(sage) :

This verse underscores the dedication and practice that is needed to master the complexities of rhythm, understand its intricacies and precisely align with it.

This delightful video, on the other hand, reminds us of the joy of rhythm !

Child enjoying and internalizing the crescendo of rhythm during a SPIC MACAY Event

So, undaunted, let us dive right in.

Origin and Nomenclature of Chapu/Capu Talas

S R Janakiraman says “The three, five and seven time reckoning could be traced in the Tevara hymns” while Tiruchi Sankaran says “the existence of Chapu tala since the time of the folk traditions and probably the word Saarbu, came to be known as Chapu.” [JMA 1997, pdf page 36]

Chapu talamalika , a composition of Tiruchi Sankaran that traverses tisram(3), khandam(5), misram(7) and sankeernam(9)

Mannarkoil Balaji explains that ‘Saarndadu(connected with something) came from folk music, so connected with the folk tune.

Misra means mixing and in the context of Misra Chapu, it means mixing the meters of fundamental Tisram + Chatusram, so 3+ 4 or 4+ 3 ; (Note : In the context of Hindustani ragas, when Mishra is added to the name of the raga, it means the inclusion of foreign notes or phrasing)
Sankeernam also refers to the same concept of joining, so 4+5 or 5+4
Bulgarian folk music also has parallels to these chapu talas with odd number of beats 5,7,9 and even more 11, 13 etc. [5]

Misra Chapu

Percussion

Tani avarthanam in Misra Chapu
Misra Chapu
Misra Misra Chapu (3+4+4+3)
Lecdem on Diverse dimensions of Mishram

Misra Chapu on Veena

Entire Concert with songs in Misra Chapu

The songs set to Misra Chapu span a range of genres from folk music to kritis (compositions) to the mighty Svarajathi and here are some examples :

Amba Kamakshi Svarajathi in Raga Bhairavi composed by Syama Sastri
Aruṇagirināthar’s first composition Muttaittaru pattittirunagai[9]
Evarura in raga Mohanam composed by Tyagaraja
Krishna nee begane baro in Raga Yamuna Kalyani composed by Vyasaraya
Smara Janaka in Raga Behag composed by Svati Titunaal
Samikki Sari Evvare in raga Kedaragowla composed by Papanasam Sivan
Thillana in raga Revati composed by Lalgudi Jayaraman

Syama Sastri and Misra Chapu

It was perhaps a favorite of Syama Sastri who has composed many great masterpieces in Misra Chapu,

Triloka Mata in Raga Paras and many more as detailed in list of compositions of Syama Sastri

and also in Viloma Chapu (the inverse, 4+3 tha ka dhi mi tha ki ta)

Jyotsna Krishnamurti shares additional insights : “ Śyāmā Śāstri has composed 17 songs in miśra cāpu tāla. From an overview of these compositions, it is seen that he has dealt with 7 in different ways.
Misra Chapu : 3 + 4 (3+2+2) — Ex: Marivere, Kāmākṣi Baṅgāru, Ninne nammi etc.
Viloma Chapu : 4 + 3 (2+2+3) — Ex: Ninnuvina This approach of perceiving the cāpu tāla in reverse, or as 4+3 probably existed in the Śyāmā Śāstri tradition as can be gleaned by the notations in the Family notebook of Śyāmā Śāstri.
All the compositions in cāpu tāla have been presented in a notational structure of 4+3, irrespective of whether the kīrtana is composed in krama miśra cāpu or vilōma cāpu. The vilōma structure of cāpu tāla has been handled in two different ways:
2 + 2 + 3 — Ninnuvina
2 + 3 + 2 — Talli ninnu neranammi, Mīnalōcana” [9]

Misra Chapu and Triputa Talas

Mannarkoil Balaji illustrates how Misra Chapu can be found in the Suladi Talas

In regular first speed, one cycle of Tisra Jathi Triputa (l3 0 0) equivalent to two cycles of Misra Chapu
And if you put Tisra Jathi Triputa Tala faster, and skip the nisabda kriyas (the silent counting of three fingers in the laghu and the waves in each of the two drutams), the net result will be misra chapu!

Lec Dem Misra Chapu Tala by Mannarkoil Balaji

N Ramanathan elaborates further : “Chapu tala has only two kriyas(action units) manifesting a 3+4 structure. On the other hand Tripuṭa has a 3+2+2 structure manifested by 3 kriyas, namely the laghu(beat and count 2 fingers), and two drutams(beat and wave). And the distinct names also account for the different kalapramana(tempo) even if they have a total of 7 counts.” [8]

This rare concert of T Brinda and T Mukta includes multiple Kshetraya Padams in Misra Chapu and Triputa Talas

Paripovanara in ragam Bilahari, Tala Triputa
Moratopu in raga Sahana, Tala Triputa
Kuvalayakshiro in raga Gowlipantu, tala Misra Chapu
Mosamaye in raga Ahiri, tala Misra Chapu
Neyyamuna in raga Ghanta, tala Triputa
Adiyaka in raga Kambhoji, tala Triputa
Ososi in raga Mukhari, tala Misra Chapu

Jyotsna Krishnamurti says “Kshetragna, has composed many padams in tiśra jāti tripuṭa tāla and miśra cāpu. These padams have a unique structure, wherein the eḍuppu(starting point)in some cases is after 1 ½ akṣaras(time units) after the tala commences. Some of his padams composed in tiśra tripuṭa are rendered in miśra cāpu today.”[9]

Khanda Chapu

Examples of some Songs in khanda chapu :

Bhavayami Gopala balam in raga Yamuna Kalyani, lyrics Annamacharya and tuned by Kadayanallur Venkataraman
Ika Thalalenura in raga Hemavati
Om namo Narayana in raga Karnaranjani lyrics Ambujam Krishna
Shri Maha Ganapate in raga Abhogi composed by N S Ramachandran
Marivere in raga Lathangi composed by Patnam Subramania Iyer
Bhogindra Sayeenam in raga Kuntalavarali composed by Svati Tirunaal
Amba Paradevate in raga Rudrapriya composed by Krishnaswamy Ayya

Sankeerna Chapu

This is much rarer than the other chapu talas.

Percussion

Konnakol(Verbal Recitation of the Rhythm)
Mridangam and ensemble
Ghatam and ensemble

Dance Teermanam

Ragam Tanam Pallavi

Thillana

Mind Melding !

Misra Chapu Tisra nadai korvai
Misra Chapu/ Sankeerna Chapu
Misra Chapu/Khanda Chapu
Konnakol- super impose 7 over 5 and 5 over 7

Dikshitar Songs and their Talas as prescribed in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini

The Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini authored by Subbarama Dikshitar, the grand-nephew of Muthuswami Dikshitar is an incredibly important musical treatise and also the authoritative reference to compositions of Dikshitar.

In the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, we see that Dikshitar compositions are set to various Suladi Talas such as Triputa or Jhampa, and not to Misra or Khanda Chapu. In this lecdem, T S Sathyavathi explains why these dikshitar compositions must be sung only in the talas prescribed in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini and should not be changed to chapu talas because in most cases it will not align properly and even if it appears to do so, it can alter the intended kalapramanam(tempo).

N Ramanathan gives many examples in Perception of Tala in Karnataka Music of how multiple talas with same number of beats can have so many facets to consider. He also shares this interesting inverse example that ‘Subbarama Dīkṣitar gives a note at the end of his Sañcārī in Kambhoji rāga, set to Saṅkeerna-jāti Ēka tala, stating “This Sankeerna-jāti Ēka tāla has to be rendered, in the mode of ‘Śāpu’ [Chapu], with the division five and four, without executing the actions of the fingers.” This perhaps is a cue for us to deduce that Chapu mode had only the main saśabda-kriyas(action units that make a noise, the beats).’[8]