Notation and Prescribed Compositions
You must write notation in accepted signs and define the formal rules of each composition type.
Notation signs
- Sam: × (also read as 1); tali: numbered 2, 3 and so on; khali: 0; vibhag: vertical bar.
- Matra numbers sit above the bols; each vibhag line closes with a bar. The board's Hindi notation uses ×, 0 and numerals; Paluskar and Bhatkhande systems differ in detail, so state which you are using.
Composition rules
- Peshkar: opening piece in vilambit, thematic and improvised in spirit; developed through paltas.
- Kaida: a two-part theme, then paltas, then a tihai; strictly inside the taal, and every palta must keep the kaida's bol grammar.
- Palta: a variation that preserves structure while reordering or substituting bols.
- Tihai: a phrase played three times and resolved on sam; damdaar if it carries a grace or pause, bedamdaar if unbroken.
- Rela: fast, flowing, string-like patterns such as dha ga ta ga ta, usually in drut.
- Gat: a fixed Kathak-derived composition, played in barabar and dugun.
- Chakradar: a composition repeated three times with variation, resolving on sam.
- Tukda: short fixed piece ending on sam, usually in drut.
- Paran: pakhawaj-derived, heavy, at home in Chautal and Dhamar.
- Uthan: pakhawaj-style opening for solo, ending on sam.
Worked example
Build a five-matra tihai in Teental. Three repetitions need 3 × 5 = 15 matras. A 16-matra cycle therefore requires the tihai to begin on matra 2 so it finishes on matra 1 of the next avartan. Beginning on sam ends on matra 15, off sam. Show this arithmetic - examiners award the reasoning, not just the bols.
Traps that cost marks
- Resolving a tihai on a tali instead of sam.
- A palta that abandons the kaida's bol pattern.
- Calling a fixed tukda a peshkar, or writing a chakradar without its threefold repetition.