SIMHANANDANA TALA

About the talam: Simhanandana is the longest talam in world music. It has 18 angas, 128 kriyas(or beats) and 512 aksharas. The talam, apart from commonly used angas Laghu and Drutha, also contains the rarely used angas Guru, Plutha and Kaakapaada.
On comaprision, 1 avartha of Simhanandana Tala is equivalent to 16 avarthas of Adi Tala. A lot has been discussed about this talam by musicians of yesteryears, who refer to it as a "Simha Swapnam". The angas of this talam are Guru-Guru-Laghu-Plutha-Laghu-Guru-Dhruta-Dhruta-Guru-Guru-Laghu-Plutha-Laghu-Plutha-Guru-Laghu-Laghu-Kakapada. This talam is the 37th of the Ashtottarashatha(108) talas. It can also be seen as a sequence of 6 talas of the 108 tala scheme. They are Chanchatputa,Rati, Darpana, Kokilapriya, Abhanga and Mudrika talas, taken in the same order.
A brief history from time: Simhanandana talam has been found quoted in association with well known musicians from past and present. The legendry musical battle between Sri Bobbili Keshavayya and Sri Syama Sastry(the eldest amongst the music trinity) is a well recorded one. It is said that Bobbili Keshavayya challenged Sri Syama Sastry by singing a Pallavi in the Simhanandana talam. In the recent history, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer(1844 - 1892) is known to have sung a pallavi in Simhanandana talam, Kalyani ragam. He later made the same into a tillana in Kalyani ragam. This tillana is also sung in Kanada ragam.
In his work 'Naa Kanda Kalaavidaru', Mysore Vasudevacharya records Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar singing a pallavi in Simhanandana talam at Gayana Samaja, Bangalore.The Simhanandana demonstration at Madras Music Academy by Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer is also well known. Another exponent of the Simhanandana tala wasPallavi Chandrappa.
In the present day, Vid. Suguna Purushottaman is known for giving concerts and presenting lec-dems in Simhanandana talam.
Very recently, Vinay Sharva, a young vocalist from Bangalore, also presented a ragam tanam pallavi concert in this talam which is also note worthy

Simhanandana and dance: The information below is taken from http://www.tlca.com/. It speaks about a Kuchupudi dance item called Simhanandini, performed to theSimhanandana tala.
"This is an ancient form of temple dance practiced several centuries (around 14th/15th century) ago by the temple dancers of Andhra Pradesh. In this type of dance the dancer must paint a picture by footwork. It is mentioned that on the Vijayadasami day a devadasi performed this dance in front of the chariot of Parashakti. The floor was covered with color powder and the dancer drew the picture painting of the Lion, which was the vehicle of the Goddess. Every one present then worshipped the goddess and the chariot was pulled forward by the bhaktas through the streets."
Sri C.R.Acharyalu, a noted Kuchupudi guru has choreographed the Simhanandini. Bangalore based Kuchupudi exponent Veena Murthy Vijay is known for her performance of this unique Simhanandini dance.