Nadai/Gati-Changing Time Signatures

Published in

KavyaVriksha

7 min readSep 19, 2019

In the Suladi Sapta Talas in Carnatic Music, we saw the 7 major talas 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]

The default time signature for these suladi talas is 4/4 which is called chatusra nadai or chatusra gati. Nadai which means walking in Tamil and Gati which means movement in Sanskrit refer to the musical gait.

The Pancha (5) Nadais, (their rhythmic syllables) and (total number of beats) are

Tisra Nadai (Tha Ki ta) (3)
Chatusra Nadai (Tha ka dhi mi) (4)
Khanda Nadai (Tha ka tha ki ta) (2 + 3)
Misra Nadai (Tha ki ta Tha ka dhi mi) (3 + 4) or (4 + 3)
Sankeerna Nadai (Tha ka dhi mi tha ka tha ki ta) (4+ 5) or (5+4)

The majority of kritis or songs in the Suladi Sapta Talas are in the default Chatusra Nadai. Varying nadais or gatis are mainly leveraged in Pallavis (as part of Ragam Tanam Pallavi).

Practicing the Pancha Nadais(five nadais) with svaras

Sensing change in Gait

Before we delve into more theory, let us start by listening to this beautiful song iDadu padam, in Adi tala, starting in its anupallavi line. Then, at the start of the first line of the charanam, tiruvaDi shilambugaL galIr galIrena, we can clearly hear the change in gait in the song and also in its brilliant percussion accompaniment, and then we can also recognize it going back to regular chatusram(4) at the end with idadu padam.

As Figure 1 indicates, in the first line,

tiruvaDi shilambugaL galIr galIrena tirumuDi iLamadiyoLi paLIr paLIrena, the first half is in Tisra Nadai (3 sub-units per beat) while the second half is in regular chatusra nadai (4 sub-units per beat)

**Figure 1 — First Charanam line where first half in Tisra Nadai while second half is Chatusra Nadai[5]**

The composer has more surprises for us !The next line which also includes rhythmic syllables dhimi taka tarikiTa tOm ena tirumaal maddaLam adhira follows a different pattern with both halves in Tisra Nadai.(see figure 2)

**Figure 2— Both halves in Tisra Nadai [5]**

and then it reverts back to regular chatusra nadai with idadu padam.

We can thus hear firsthand how this change in gait, the Nadai dimension, adds luster to a composition and makes it even more memorable.

Historical Music Texts Perspective

Gati can be traced back to the Natya Sastra (one of the oldest Historic Indian Music Texts around fifth century), authored by Bharata. In Natya Sastra, Natya refers to a type of drama that also includes music and dance. In Gati in Theory and Practice, Sujatha,V says “These gaits explained by Bharata in the Nāṭyaśāstra can be brought under five broad classifications.

1. Gaits according to theater.

2. Gaits for types of characters.

3. Gaits relevant to sentiments.

4. Gaits pertaining to circumstances.

5. Gaits of animals and birds.

These gaits can be performed accordingly by the actors when they move around on stage portraying different characters. In present day parlance, the term gati is mostly connected with tāla or rhythmic factors.”[6]

Pandit Birju Maharaj makes this come alive in this segment

7 beats, 3 different Gatis or time signatures that depict the gait of a cow, jumps of a nimble deer and powerful treads of a lion or tiger

And as indicated earlier, Nadai means walking in Tamil and Nadai or Gati are used interchangeably to indicate the musical time signature.

Practicing Varnams in Multiple Nadais

In this online tutorial, Suguna Purushothaman who was a great laya exponent explains the basic concept of Nadais and illustrates how to sing Varnams in different nadais.

a rare varnam Viribhoni in raga Kedaragowla is first sung in Jhampa Tala (10 beats, in default Chatusra Nadai/Gati which has 4 sub-beats, so a total of 10*4 = 40 sub-beats in first speed) and then sung in Adi Khanda Nadai/Gati(8 beats * 5 sub-beats, also totaling 40 sub-beats)
Saveri Varnam in Adi tala chatusra gati, first speed and then in Tisra Nadai/Gati, followed by second speed of Chatusram; we notice that when singing in Tisram, the original line ends in between and so a portion of the swaras are repeated till end of the tala avartanam(cycle) is reached.

This type of assiduous practice is mandatory to be able to master the challenge of singing in different nadais with precision and also paves the way to be able to sing intricate pallavis later.

Listening to different Nadais/Gatis

Varnam in different nadai

Viribhoni Varnam that is usually sung in Ata tala chatusra nadai (14x4) is being sung in Adi tala misra nadai (8x7), both totaling 56 subunits; and here is K V Narayanaswamy’s account of his astonishment when it happened as he was singing with his guru Ariyakudi in an All India radio concert

Thillana with changes in nadai

Chandrakauns Thillana composed by T V Gopalakrishnan, ‘Tisra nadai Adi tala with a beautiful shift to Chatusra nadai in the charanam lyrics’

Songs (Changing gait : Chatusram(4) to Tisram(3) and back)

guha saravana bhava (Tisra Nadai in the last line of the AnuPallavi amarar ulagam akhila uyirum valara arul kripaalavaala) composed by Papanasam Sivan; the song is sung starting at the Anupallavi Guha Saravana and then goes to Pallavi iha param;
Yake nirdaya (Tisra Nadai at the start of charanam ajamillanu annane vibheeshananu tammane), lyrics by Purandaradasa

Entire song is in Adi Tala, Tisra(3) Nadai/Gati

Dolayam, lyrics Annamacharya, tuned by Kadayanallur Venkatraman
“English Note” composed by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar
Gam Ganapate composed by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar in rupaka talam (3 beats), being sung in Adi Tisra Nadai
Chinnanchiru Kiliye lyrics by Bhrathiyaar
Entani Vinnavintura composed by Pallavi Sesha iyer

Entire song is in Adi Tala, Khanda(5) Nadai/Gati

Narayana Hari

Ragam Tanam Pallavis (set in multiple nadai/gatis)

Pallavi Darbar (a playlist that features Pallavis in different talas and nadais/gatis, by multiple artists)

Nadai Mindbenders!

Tani Avartanam by Tanjore Upendran

Arjun Narayanan deconstructs the multiple nadais that are occurring in this thani in his blog:”Upendran starts the thani with tisra(3) gathi and then skillfully blends into sankirnam(9), playing the keezh kalam (lower speed, 4.5 per beat) for several minutes. This is an example of tavil kannaku (calculation). He concludes the sankirnam section with the standard adi thalam mohara. Then, he uses 9’s to convert to khandam (3+3+3+1)! This is especially interesting. After the khandam section is concluded, he goes back to chatusram (4 per beat), and then back to tisram, and he plays the standard adi thalam mohara in tisram followed by one of his signature korvais.”

2 different talas in 2 different nadais simultaneously !

Sriranjani Darbha sings Entani Vinnavintura and puts the Adi Tala Tisra Nadai (8 *3) in her right hand and Rupaka Chatusra Nadai (6*4) in her left hand

The concept of Chatusra Tisram

Chatusram (Tha ka dhi mi) (4)
Tisram (Tha Ki ta) (3)
Now, to fit 4 syllables Tha Ka Dhi Mi in Tisra Nadai, each rhythmic syllable needs to occupy 1.5 sub-beats and that yields Chatusram Tisram !
Here is the explanation of Chatusra Tisram by Kunnakudi M Balamuralikrishna followed by Arun Prakash pointing out, 1 is to one and a half i.e instead of each rhythmic syllable tha ka dhi mi taking 1 sub-beat each in chatusram, they will take 1.5 sub-beats each in chatusra tisram. The math 1.5 * 2 = 3 is simple but performing chatusra tisram with precision is indeed very complex !
A more detailed explanation of Chatusra Tisram by Erickavu N Sunil