The general South Asian term for cymbals, and sometimes also for other types of concussion idiophone. The word derives from the Sanskrit tāla, meaning basically ‘palm of the hand’, ‘clap’, ‘metre’, and so (in Sachs’s evolution) denotes naturally the principal type of instrument used to maintain metre in traditional, religious and art musics. The North Indian form of the word is generally tāl; the South Indian is tālam.
There are two principal types: cup-cymbals, generally small and without a rim, and rim-cymbals, with a central depression. Following Kothari (who calls them ‘metal clappers’), rim-cymbals may be divided into two sub-types, medium-sized and large.
The cup-cymbals are generally small, about 5 cm to 10 cm in diameter, 1·5 cm to 2 cm deep and 2 mm to 3 mm thick. They are clashed mainly on the edges and their tone is bright and shimmering. They include the manjīrā of the North, the eastern mandīrā and the southern tālam. This type is common in Hindu devotional music and in dance and dramatic performances.
The South Indian tālam are clashed together on the edges, or struck, the edge of one against the inside of the other. Different types are used for marking time, or sometimes for performing jati (rhythmic formulae). The tālam and kulittālam (with larger rims), made of bronze, are used in devotional song-meetings, dance music and some popular theatres; the nattuva tālam, one of bronze and one of steel, accompany bharata-nātyam and folk-dances; the brahmatāla, or brhattāla, are larger and are used in temple music. The tālam which accompany the nāgasvaram have the flat shape of the jālra but are thicker.
In the North-West, especially Gujarat, there is a tradition of virtuoso cymbal-playing in which one manjīrā is secured in the left hand, and the other, hanging from it by a string, is swung to strike it in many rhythms.
Medium-size rim-cymbals are roughly 8 cm to 15 cm in diameter and 3 mm to 5 mm thick, with a definite flat rim by which they can be clashed face to face. They include the tāl of the North (Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh), the kartāl of the East (Bengal and Orissa), the kasiā jorī of Gujarat, the cakvā of Maharashtra (with wooden handles), the jālra and ilatālam of the South (Tamil Nadu and Kerala), the Sri Lankan tālampota and the sengkheng of Manipur. These also are found in devotional and dramatic music. A modern tradition of tāl playing is found in Rajasthan, where, in terā-tālī (‘thirteen pairs of tāl’), a woman ties several tāl to her legs and other parts of her body and plays them by striking with a pair held in the hands.
Large rim-cymbals are about 15 cm to 35 cm in diameter and have prominent flat rims; the central depression can be quite small. The name jhānjh is commonly used in the northern and eastern regions of India, variants including jhāni (Santhāl), jhānj and jhān-jhān (Uraon). This type includes the brhattāla (brahmatāla) of the South, the kasala and kasale of Orissa and Karnataka respectively (the latter are asymmetrical), the tālalu of Andhra and the very large bartāl of Assam. These are often held vibrating together, edge on edge, in long-held notes.
The tāl of Maharashtra are made of heavy bronze. They are held one in each hand and struck normally edge to edge; the centre is deeply hollowed. Tāl are used for accompanying devotional songs by the Vārkarī community.
C. Sachs: Die Musikinstrumente Indiens und Indonesiens (Berlin and Leipzig, 1914, 2/1923)
A.A. Bake: ‘The Music of India’, NOHM, i (1957), 195–227
K.S. Kothari: Indian Folk Musical Instruments (New Delhi, 1968)
B.C. Deva: Musical Instruments of India (Calcutta, 1978)
ALASTAIR DICK, PRIBISLAV PITOËFF/R