The heart of all Indian rhythm is the theka- the sparse rhythm displayed in an infinite variety of forms. This book presents the versions of thekas of Karnatic percussion- mridanga, ghata, kanjira and morsing in five standard macro-counts (talas) and five standard micro-counts (nadai/gati/matra varna) in their canonical formats. Both the macro-counts and micro-counts are based on the five preferred numbers- chaturashra (quadruple), trishra (triplet), khanda (quintet), mishra (septet) and sankeerna (nonet), which give widespread coverage to most rhythm formations. This book has attempted to cover the basic rhythms of the super-space of Karnatic percussion in its totality and contains 146 basic rhythms.

In the initial portion, Chapter 1 gives an introduction to the world of Karnatic rhythm. Chapter 2 covers the tala terminologies and nomenclatures. Chapter 3 gives the development of rhythmic patterns from raw sounds.

In the core portion, Chapter 4 presents Chaturashra matra jati set to chaturashra nadai/gati, Chapters 5,6,7 and 8 describe the Trishra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna matra jatis, all set to chaturashra nadai/gati.

The meters of non-preferred number though a rarity cannot be ignored. Chapters 9 and 10 address the non-preferred number meters, viz. 11,13,17,19, 23 and 29 beats.

Coming to the non-chaturashra micro-counts, which play a major role in the second half of the tani avartana, Chapter 11 covers Chaturashra matra jati, set to the four non-quadruple micro-counts- Trishra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna nadais. Chapter 12 addresses the Trishra matra jati and Khanda matra jati set to the four non-quadruple micro-counts- Trishra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna nadais. Chapter 13 presents the Mishra matra jati set to the four non-quadruple micro-counts- Trishra, Khanda, Mishra and Sankeerna nadais . Chapter 14 describes the Sankeerna matra jati- set to the four non-quadruple micro-counts- Trishra nadai, Khanda nadai, Mishra nadai and Sankeerna nadai.

The significant aspect is that these thekas were probably variants as deployed by the Thanjavur-Palghat school of Karnatic percussion during last 150 years or so - the terminal period of the 19th century CE and early 20th century. The present-day practitioners may find these a bit out of fashion or rough to execute because these belong to the mike-less era of Indian music when stressed beats had to be reinforced by the bass head.

The book contains a glossary of important terms used in the artform.