Prescribed Talas and Composition Forms: Sargam, Lakshan Geet and Bandish
What this domain tests
This domain links prescribed talas to three composition forms: sargam, lakshan geet and bandish. You must recognize a form from its text and notate it in tala.
Core rules
- Sargam uses swara syllables as the text, e.g. Sa Re Ga Ma, and is set to a tala. It is useful for practice but is not a poetic bandish.
- Lakshan geet is a descriptive song: its lyrics state the raga's name, aroha/avaroha, vadi, samvadi or time. It teaches the raga's identity.
- Bandish is a composed khayal piece with sthayi and antara, poetic text and a fixed tala. Sthayi is the first section; antara is the second, usually in a higher register.
- In all three, sam must coincide with the first matra of the composition, and vibhag bars must match the tala.
Worked example
A line reads: Bhairav, komal Re and Dha, vadi Ma, sing in the morning. This is a lakshan geet, because it describes the raga. A line that is only S r G M P d P M G r S is sargam. A line with poetic words and a sthayi-antara split is a bandish. The reasoning is textual function, not tune.
Traps
Calling every song a bandish; reversing sthayi and antara; writing sargam without tala bars; setting a composition to a tala whose vibhag do not match; and letting sam fall on a random matra.