Tabla Bols: The Stroke Vocabulary

A bol is the spoken syllable of a tabla stroke — the language players use to recite, teach and remember rhythm. Every bol resolves into two independent parts: what the dayan (treble drum) does and what the bayan (bass drum) does. The treble hand is either ringing (open rim strokes like Na and Ta), resonant (longer sustains like Tin and Tun) or damped (dry slaps like Ti and Te); the bass hand is either open (the gliding Ge family) or closed (the dry Ka family). Combined bols such as Dha and Dhin sound both drums at once, and fast clusters such as TiRaKiTa bundle several strokes into one syllable. This factorized model is exactly how the Playsoloist Tabla app listens to your playing — it verifies the treble and bass components of each stroke independently, and grades at the family level (ringing vs damped, open vs closed) rather than guessing fine distinctions a phone microphone cannot hear.

The two heads, from above. On the dayan (treble drum), ringing strokes such as Na and Ta sound at the kinar — the rim — while resonant strokes such as Tin and Tun sit toward the centre and the syahi’s edge; damped strokes land as dry, flat slaps. On the bayan (bass drum), the open Ge family lets the skin ring and glide in pitch; the closed Ka family stays dry. The syahi — the black tuning paste — is centred on the dayan and offset on the bayan.

Right hand — dayan

Bol	देवनागरी	Drum	The stroke
Na	ना	Dayan	Open ringing rim stroke on the dayan (treble drum); the ring sustains. One of the two skeleton strokes of nearly every theka.
Ta	ता	Dayan	Open ringing dayan stroke, the khali-side twin of Na; sustained treble ring with no bass component.
Tin	तिं	Dayan	Resonant dayan stroke at the centre/edge — a longer, rounder treble sustain than Na. The khali-side counterpart of Dhin.
Tun	तूँ	Dayan	Fully resonant open dayan stroke; the most sustained treble tone in the vocabulary. Marks the open centre of Ektaal and the dhrupad cycles.
Ti	ति	Dayan	Dry, flat dayan slap: attack with no sustain. The workhorse closed treble stroke of kayda themes.
Te	ते	Dayan	Dry damped dayan stroke, paired with Ti (as TeTe / TiTe) in fast kayda passages.
Tit	टिट	Dayan	Short damped dayan stroke found in pakhawaj-style phrases (Tevra, Gaja Jhampa cadences).
Re	रे	Dayan	Light damped dayan stroke used inside clusters; the second element of the Kre grace figure.
Ra	रा	Dayan	Damped dayan stroke; the second element of the TiRaKiTa roll.
Ki	कि	Dayan	Damped stroke, the third element of TiRaKiTa. This library's classifier models Ki on the treble side (damped dayan family).

Left hand — bayan

Bol	देवनागरी	Drum	The stroke
Ge	गे	Bayan	Open bayan (bass drum) stroke with the pitch-modulated glide that gives tabla its speaking bass. The bass half of Dha.
Ghe	घे	Bayan	Open bayan stroke in the Ge family; open, pitch-modulated bass glide.
Gha	घा	Bayan	Open bayan stroke in the Ge family, written Gha in some compositions; same open gliding bass.
Ka	क	Bayan	Closed, dry bayan slap: flat bass with no ring. The quiet upbeat stroke of Keharwa and Dhamar.
Kat	कत	Bayan	Closed dry bayan stroke, heavier than Ka; the Kat–Ta pair is the khali-side pivot of Ektaal and Ada Chautaal.
Ke	के	Bayan	Closed dry bayan stroke; replaces Ge on the khali side of kayda themes (Ta Ke against Dha Ge).

Both hands together

Bol	देवनागरी	Drum	The stroke
Dha	धा	Both	Na and Ge struck together: ringing treble over open bass. The fundamental combined bol — sam's favourite stroke.
Dhin	धिं	Both	Resonant treble with open bass sounding together; the filled, ringing counterpart of Tin and the backbone of most bhari (full) vibhags.
Din	दिं	Both	Resonant combined stroke (both drums) used in pakhawaj-flavoured thekas such as Tevra.
Dhet	धेट	Both	Damped treble over open bass: a clipped combined stroke.
Dhi	धी	Both	Resonant combined stroke; appears in vilambit elaborations and thumri-ang fills.

Ornament clusters

Bol	देवनागरी	Drum	The stroke
Tira	तिर	Dayan	The first half of the TiRaKiTa roll (Ti–Ra), written separately when the roll is spread across matras.
Kita	किट	Both	The second half of the TiRaKiTa roll (Ki–Ta), also used alone as a two-stroke pivot in the dhrupad cycles.
TiRaKiTa (ti–ra–ki–ta)	तिरकिट	Both	Four fast damped strokes (Ti–Ra–Ki–Ta) treated as one cluster; the standard connecting roll of thekas, kaydas and relas. The app grades the cluster as a group.
DhaGe (dha–ge)	धागे	Both	Two-stroke cluster: Dha then Ge — a combined stroke dropping onto open bass. The signature figure of the Ektaal theka.
TaKa (ta–ka)	ताक	Both	Two-stroke cluster: ringing Ta answered by closed Ka; the khali-side echo of DhaGe in fast relas.
Kre (ka–re)	क्रे	Both	A crushed grace cluster (Ka–Re) landing dry; decorates tukra and chakradar phrases.
KaTa (ka–ta)	कत	Both	Pakhawaj-lineage cluster: closed Ka into ringing Ta. Part of the Tit–KaTa–GaDi–GiNa cadence family.
GaDi (ge–dhi)	गदि	Both	Pakhawaj-lineage cluster: open Ge into resonant Dhi. Appears in the closing cadences of Tevra and Gaja Jhampa.
GiNa (ge–na)	गिन	Both	Pakhawaj-lineage cluster: open Ge into ringing Na. Completes the dhrupad cadence Tit KaTa GaDi GiNa.

Rest

Bol	देवनागरी	Drum	The stroke
–	–	Rest	A silent matra: the pulse is counted in full but no stroke is sounded. Rests are structural — rushing them is the most common theka fault.

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