The count a phrase groups in: tisra 3, chatusra 4, khanda 5, mishra 7, sankirna 9 to the matra. North Indian practice hangs the term on a composition rather than on a dial — a syllabus asks for a tisra-jati kaida or a chatusra-jati rela, and the paltas must hold that grouping throughout. Only tisra and chatusra appear widely in graded tabla repertoire; khanda and above are mostly examined as theory.
It is not a separate axis from layakari — it names the grouping a ratio already carries. Tigun is the tisra count at 3:1; aad is that same count at 3:2. Same grouping, different ratio. Kuad carries the khanda five, biad the mishra seven. Usage is loose: the word is applied to a whole tala's felt grouping as readily as to a phrase's.
Across the two traditions it is a false friend. Carnatic reserves it for the beat-count of a tala's laghu — the variable that generates the 35-tala scheme — and calls subdivision density gati, or nadai in Tamil. A Carnatic musician hearing the word thinks laghu length, not grouping; the North Indian sense maps to gati instead.