Deepchandi tabla online: 14 beats, theka and free practice player
Deepchandi has 14 beats in sections of 3, 4, 3 and 4. You clap on beats 1, 4 and 11 and wave on beat 8. In most written thekas, beats 3, 7, 10 and 14 are silent pauses: you keep time with your hand while the theka rests.
Free, no sign-up. SurRoots opens on the Tabla panel with Deepchandi already chosen. Press play.
New to the words? A matra is one beat. A vibhag is a section of the cycle. Sam is the first beat, marked X. Khali is a beat you wave, marked 0; the other marks are claps (tali). The theka is the taal’s basic pattern of bols, the spoken names of tabla strokes.
Deepchandi at a glance
| Beats | 14 |
|---|---|
| Sections (vibhag) | 3+4+3+4 |
| Clap and wave | Claps on beats 1, 4 and 11; wave on beat 8 |
| Pattern | Clap, clap, wave, clap |
| Tempo | No published range found |
| Often heard in | Light-classical, thumri, folk and film music |
| Also spelled | Dipchandi, Chanchar, Chochar |
The Deepchandi theka, section by section
| Section | Beats | Mark | Bols |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 1 | 1 to 3 | X · sam · clap | Dha Dhin – |
| Section 2 | 4 to 7 | 2 · clap | Dha Dha Tin – |
| Section 3 | 8 to 10 | 0 · khali · wave | Ta Tin – |
| Section 4 | 11 to 14 | 3 · clap | Dha Dha Dhin – |
Bols are the spoken names of tabla strokes. Where a bol is spelled differently by different teachers, we say which spelling we print in the section below.
The silent beats
Deepchandi is the one taal here with built-in pauses. Gangolli notes that beats 3, 7, 10 and 14 are silent, shown with a dash in the theka. SwarGanga writes the same pauses as S. Each section ends on one: the dash after Dhin, after Tin, after Tin and after Dhin.
Hold the beat with your hand: clap or wave only where the cycle says so, and count the silent beats aloud so the section lengths stay 3, 4, 3, 4. SurRoots follows the sourced theka with beat 14 silent, and, as one reference recording does, adds a very soft stroke in the pauses (3, 7, 10 and 14), so you may hear a faint tap there.
How to count Deepchandi
1 2 3 | 4 5 6 7 | 8 9 10 | 11 12 13 14
Clap on 1 (sam, X), 4 (marked 2) and 11 (marked 3). Wave on 8 (0), where the bols turn to Ta Tin.
Beat 14 and the two versions
Sources agree the split is 3+4+3+4 and the clap and wave pattern. They differ on beat 14. SwarGanga and Gangolli leave it silent. Courtney’s theka plays Naa there, as Dhaa Dhaa Dhin Naa. This is not a typo: Courtney explains that there are two common versions of Deepchandi. One is used in film songs and light music. The other is used in semi-classical forms such as thumri and is generally considered the official version. SurRoots follows the silent-14 theka of SwarGanga and Gangolli, not Courtney’s Naa version.
The name is also spelled Dipchandi, and Courtney lists Chanchar and Chochar as other names. He says it roughly translates to “lamplight”.
Where you will hear Deepchandi
DigiTabla says Deepchandi is most common in light-classical, folk and Bollywood film music, and lists it among the other common taals after the six most popular ones. Courtney calls it moderately popular. If you sing thumri or other semi-classical forms, it is a taal you may meet.
How fast is Deepchandi played?
None of the references we checked gives a typical tempo range for Deepchandi, so we do not give one. Fourteen beats is a long cycle, so start slowly.
One Deepchandi cycle takes 10.5 seconds at SurRoots’ Slow preset (80 BPM), 7 seconds at Medium (120) and 5.8 seconds at Fast (145).
Practise Deepchandi with SurRoots
- Press Open Deepchandi in SurRoots. The taal menu is already set to Deepchandi (14).
- Pick a tempo (start with Slow) and press the round play button.
- Clap and wave along. Basic keeps a steady theka with no variations; Pro adds variations, fills and a tihai.
- Press the tabla’s stop button once to end on sam, the way a tabla player would.
Try this: set Slow (80 BPM) and clap only on beats 1, 4 and 11, waving on 8. Count the silent beats out loud until you can feel all 14 without the counter.
Questions about Deepchandi
What are the silent beats in Deepchandi?
Beats 3, 7, 10 and 14 in most written thekas: the last beat of each section. The theka rests, but you keep counting.
Is Deepchandi the same as Dipchandi or Chanchar?
Yes. Courtney lists Chanchar and Chochar as other names for Dipchandi, a 14-beat taal in sections of 3, 4, 3 and 4.
Where is Deepchandi used?
Mostly in light-classical, folk and film music. Courtney says one version is used in film songs and light music and another in semi-classical forms such as thumri.
The other six taals in SurRoots
- Teentaal: 16 beats, 4+4+4+4. The most common taal in north Indian classical music.
- Ektaal: 12 beats, six pairs, two waves. The taal of slow khayal.
- Jhaptaal: 10 beats, 2+3+2+3. A medium-tempo taal with uneven sections.
- Rupak: 7 beats, 3+2+2. The one taal that starts on a wave.
- Dadra: 6 beats, 3+3. The light-music taal of film songs, bhajans and ghazals.
- Keherwa: 8 beats, 4+4. The folk-and-film taal, spelled four ways.
Sources
Beats, sections, marks and bols checked against these pages on 6 November 2026. Where they disagree, we say so above rather than pick one quietly.