Konnakkol Manual
Konnakkol Manual:
AN ADVANCED COURSE IN SOLKAṬṬU
David P. Nelson
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS Middletown, Connecticut
Konnakkol Manual
Wesleyan University Press
Middletown CT 06459
© 2019 David P. Nelson
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Vicki Kuskowski
Typeset in Times New Roman by Passumpsic Publishing
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
available upon request
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8195-7878-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-8195-7879-2
5 4 3 2 1
Front cover illustration: T.R. Rajakumari in the role of the devadāsī dancer Devakumāri in the film Krishna Bhakthi (1949). Image from the private collection of S.V. Jayababu.
For Christian Scheuber
CONTENTS
| PREFACE | ix |
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | xi |
| PART 1 TEXT AND CONTEXT | 1 |
| 1 · Strategy and Structure | 3 |
| The Purpose of This Book | 3 |
| Strategies for Learning This Material | 4 |
| The Structure of This Book | 7 |
| Pronunciation | 7 |
| Glossary | 8 |
| 2 · What Is This Thing Called Tāḷa? | 9 |
| Nāṭyaśastra | 9 |
| Suladi Sapta Tāḷas | 10 |
| The Thirty-Five-Tāḷa Scheme | 10 |
| The “Capu” Tāḷas | 11 |
| Rūpaka Tāḷa as a Special Case | 12 |
| Tāḷas from Tiruppugaṟ, Sixteenth-Century Songs by Arunagirinadar | 12 |
| The Big Four Tāḷas | 12 |
| Glossary | 13 |
| 3 · Notation Conventions and Some Fundamental Concepts | 14 |
| Notation | 14 |
| Sarvalaghu and Kaṇakku: Two Fundamental Concepts | 15 |
| Glossary | 18 |
| 4 · Three Generations, Three Directions | 19 |
| The Palani Composition Revisited | 20 |
| Solkaṭṭu Manual Kōrvai from Chapter 8 | 24 |
| A Kōrvai in Three Naḍais | 28 |
| 5 · Exercises in Tiśra Naḍai and Khaṇḍa Naḍai | 30 |
|
Preparation for Advanced Material
|