la - in the Western do re mi system, the 6th note or swara, equivalent to da

laghu - a taaLa movement that involves a beat and then counts on the fingers starting from the little finger and moving inward (when the counts are more than five the counts go back to the little finger). They can be tisra (1 + 2), catusra (1 + 3), khaNDa (1 + 4), mishra (1 + 6), or sankeerna (1 + 8). Its symbol is | and it is equal to 1 maattirai

lakshaNa - an essential characteristic of a raaga. There are 13 such lakshaNas for every raaga (see triOdasa lakshaNa)

lasya - the female or feminine aspect of dance and music (usually associated with the goddess Paarvati). Its complement is taaNDava

lakshaNa geetam - a type of geetam which tells about the raaga in which it is sung, as opposed to samanya geetam. They are of the type janaka raaga lakshana geetam and janya raaga lakshana geetam

laya - the speed or tempo, another name for taaLa or rhythm. It has 3 forms, vilambita (slow), madhya (medium), and druta (fast) laya

lines - sometimes lines are placed over swaras or words to indicate that they should be performed faster. A single line doubles the speed of the swaras, and a double line quadruples the speed of the swaras. (see also vertical line)