"Tattva" is a song by the British psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 band Kula Shaker

Kula Shaker

Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by outspoken frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK Singles...

, released as the band's debut single. It was first released in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on 1 January 1996 as "Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)", then reissued on 24 June as a re-recording from their debut album K with a different sleeve and tracklisting. The re-recording reached #4 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. and #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks

Modern rock

Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...

 chart in the United States..

Meaning

The chorus of the song is: Tattva, acintya bheda abheda Tattva. In Hindu philosophy tattva

Tattva

Tattva is a Sanskrit word meaning 'thatness', 'principle', 'reality' or 'truth'. According to various Indian schools of philosophy, a tattva is an element or aspect of reality conceived as an aspect of deity. Although the number of tattvas varies depending on the philosophical school, together they...

is a Sanskrit word meaning 'thatness', 'principle', 'essence', 'reality' or 'truth'. Likewise, acintya

Acintya

Acintya, also Atintya , also Tunggal is the supreme god of Hinduism as practiced in Indonesia , and most of all in the island of Bali, equivalent to the concept of Brahman...

can mean 'the inconceivable', 'the unthinkable', or 'he who cannot be imagined', bheda translates as 'difference', and abheda translates as 'one-ness'. For this song, acintya

Acintya

Acintya, also Atintya , also Tunggal is the supreme god of Hinduism as practiced in Indonesia , and most of all in the island of Bali, equivalent to the concept of Brahman...

might best be thought of in terms of apophatic theology, also known as 'divine darkness', a Christian notion whereby God is so far beyond our conceptions that we can only speak of what God is not. Not that the word acintya

Acintya

Acintya, also Atintya , also Tunggal is the supreme god of Hinduism as practiced in Indonesia , and most of all in the island of Bali, equivalent to the concept of Brahman...

would necessarily correspond to our Western idea of God, but the same kind of ineffable mystery is implied here. As such, one possible translation of the chorus would be: "Truth, Mystery, difference oneness Truth."

Releases

The "Lucky 13 Mix" was issued on 7"

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 and Compact Disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, both formats including "Hollow Man (Part II)" as the B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

. The 7" edition was limited to 1000 copies. This version of the single reached #86 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

The second edition was released on the same formats but with an additional CD. The 7" comprised "Tattva" plus a different mix titled "Tattva On St. George's Day" as well as the principle B-side "Dance In Your Shadow". The first CD featured "Moonshine" and the "Lucky 13 Mix" as its exclusive tracks, and the second disc contained "Red Balloon (Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....

's Eyes)". An Australian maxi single

Maxi single

A maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...

 was released in 1996 which contained most of the tracks from these latter releases.

Both CDs (KULA CD3 and KULA CD3K) were housed in card picture sleeves. The second CD had a printed spine and also contained an inner sleeve, much like a vinyl LP. The first edition of "Tattva" came in a standard slimline jewel case.

Music video

Two music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s for "Tattva" were produced: one for Europe and a second made for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

CD1 (KULA CD3)

1. "Tattva"
2. "Dance In Your Shadow"
3. "Moonshine"
4. "Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)"

CD2 (KULA CD3K)

1. "Tattva On St. George's Day"
2. "Dance In Your Shadow"
3. "Red Balloon (Vishnu's Eyes)"

Australian CD

1. "Tattva"
2. "Tattva On St George's Day"
3. "Dance In Your Shadow"
4. "Moonshine"
5. "Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)"