Ada Chautaal, online — the crooked fourteen

Matras

14 — the theka groups them 2 + 4 + 4 + 4

Taali

claps on 1, 3, 7 and 11

Khali

waves on 5 and 13

Tradition

Hindustani

Ada means crooked, tilted — and Ada Chautaal leans exactly as advertised. Fourteen matras whose claps land on 1, 3, 7 and 11, with the khali arriving on 5 and 13: a cycle that keeps turning its head when you expect it to walk straight on. Khyal singers reach for it when Ektaal's gravity wants an extra twist.

dhin tirakita | dhin na tu na | kat ta tirakita dhin | na dhin dhin na

A cycle this shaped rewards seeing as well as hearing. Sangat lights each bol as it sounds and draws the cycle on a ring, so the crooked geometry becomes something your eye can lean on while the ear learns it. The tabla is recorded strokes re-pitched to your Sa, steady from a counting-speed crawl to full drut.

Ada Chautaal is one of the ten free taals — a fairly generous thing to find outside a paywall.