Kala
The expansion of a tala count in a stated counting convention.
Here Kala describes count expansion. One-fold Kala gives each hand count one unit of duration; two-fold Kala extends it to twice that duration at the same underlying pulse.
Example
For Adi tala in chatusra Gati, one-fold Kala gives 8 × 4 = 32 small pulses. Two-fold Kala gives 8 × 4 × 2 = 64. The order of hand gestures stays the same.
Kalai is the Tamil term often used for this distinction. Kāla can also refer to time or speed in other contexts; distinguish count expansion from laya and the number of notes sung per beat.