A lilting 16-beat cycle with rests woven into its theka — light-classical territory.
Sixteen matras, 4+4+4+4, khali on 9, with a theka whose written rests ("Dha - Dhi - Ka Dha...") create a distinctive limping lilt. The name is linked in tradition to Sitar Khan; the feel sits between Teentaal's squareness and Addha's swing.
It serves thumri-side repertoire and ghazal and film settings where a sixteen-beat frame needs charm rather than weight. The rests are the identity: filling them flattens the tala back into generic sixteen.
Further reading
Martin Clayton, Time in Indian Music: Rhythm, Metre, and Form in North Indian Rag Performance (Oxford University Press, 2000).
