Repertoire, Abhinaya and Composition: Bandish, Tukda, Gat and Padam
What this domain tests
Item recognition and composition sense: can you define a tukda, paran, amad, gat-bhav or padam, place items in a sensible performance order, and design a short abhinaya piece with a clear structure?
Core rules
- A standard Kathak sequence: vandana or salami, thaat, amad, tode and tukde, paran, kavitta, gat-nikas and gat-bhav, ladi, tihai, tatkar, then a bhajan or thumri, closing on sam.
- Tukda: short pure-nritta composition on tabla bols, ending on sam. Paran: nritta composition on pakhawaj bols, usually closing with a tihai. Amad: the entry piece, ending on sam. Gat-nikas: stylised walk. Gat-bhav: the same walk charged with narrative.
- Abhinaya has four means: angika (body), vachika (speech and song), aharya (costume and make-up) and sattvika (inner emotional states).
- A bandish is a set composition carrying words and bols; a padam is a lyrical abhinaya piece (ashtapadi, thumri or bhajan in Kathak practice) in which sanchari bhava is expanded.
Worked example
Design a four-minute gat-bhav on Radha awaiting Krishna. Fix the sthayi bhava as shringara in its vipralambha (separation) aspect; the vibhava as a moonlit Yamuna bank; anubhavas as adjusting the garland and turning an ear toward a distant flute; sanchari as imitating a friend's teasing, then a startle at footsteps; close on a still pose on sam. Reasoning: the examiner marks a single clear bhava line, not a heap of unrelated mimed actions.
Traps
Treating a tukda as an expressive item; letting a nritta composition finish off sam; swapping gat-nikas and gat-bhav; listing the four abhinayas but then using sattvika as a synonym for angika; describing a padam as pure nritta.