ABSTRACT
Tala prastara means the construction or creation of new talas. Shadanga Talas is the old tala system that was employed for many centuries before the prominent karnatic composer Purandaradasa elaborated and implemented the suladi tala system around the sixteenth century. Balamuralikrishna's main and more 'revolutionary' contribution was the invention of what he coined the mukhy system. What interested Balamuralikrishna about the shadanga talas was thus the multitude of talas that the original chart of shadanga talas and the application of the jati laghu and shoshadanga systems on this chart could generate. A very important characteristic was that there were two different ways of counting and calculating the number of beats in the tala: aksharakala and matra methods. Every kriya vary from region to region. The kala system was used for slow tempo pieces and, due to its construction, featured 'fractional' or incomplete beats. The matra system was used to play long cycles in faster tempi.
