ABSTRACT
Jathi bhedam is a concept whereby accents embracing groups of matras of different length succeed one another. In order to construct a jathi bhedam sequence, more accent possibilities are available than in gati bhedam. A sequence of jathi bhedam in karnatic music is almost as important as the motivic material could be in be-bop or much nineteenth-century classical composition. If the original sequence of 2 cycles of tala 7 is performed in, for instance khanda, the result will be that the 56 matras in chatusra of the original sequence become 11 beats plus 1 matra in khanda. Consequently, 2 beats and 4 matras are missing' in order to resolve the whole sequence onto tala sam. Mukthays are one of the longest, most varied and most fascinating subjects in karnatic music and short mukthays are just their simplest form. In order to decide the length of the short mukthay, one must subtract 90 matras from 112 matras, which gives 22 matras.
