Pallavi

In Indian classical music pallavi is the thematic line of a song. It is usually one cycle long and repeated twice or thrice in order to give the percussionist the idea of the chosen taalam. Sometimes it is repeated a few more times using different phrases of the Rāgam to which the song is set.

The life of the song, the word "pallavi" consists of a wide range of items that are considered as a single item:
*pa is derived from "padam" which means word or phrase;
*lla comes from "layam" which means poetry or rhythm;
*vi is from "vinyasam" which means imagination

In Carnatic music, "pallavi" also forms a part of a special type of rendition called "Rāgam Thānam Pallavi". "Rāgam" in this context is the initial ālāpana of chosen "rāgam" (elaboration and exploration of its scale). "Thānam" is elaboration of the rāgam using percussion syllables. "Pallavi", a single line of one "tālam" cycle duration, is chosen for further elaboration of the rāgam in different speeds, octaves, rāgam phrases, etc.