Instruction received from a teacher, in the fullest sense: correction of the hands, dictation of compositions, and the slower transfer of taste and judgment. In the traditional guru-shishya relationship it is measured in years and given incrementally — material is earned, not browsed.
The word carries weight in lineage talk: asking whose talim a player received locates their style more precisely than asking where they perform. Gharana identity survives exactly as far as talim does.