| Name | Image | Description | Video |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mridangam |  | The mridangam is a percussion instrument from South India. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. The mridangam is a double-sided drum whose body is usually made using a hollowed piece of jackfruit wood about an inch thick. The two mouths or apertures of the drum are covered with a goat skin leather and laced to each other with leather straps around the circumference of drum. These straps are put into a state of high tension to stretch out the circular membranes on either side of the hull, allowing them to resonate when struck. These two membranes are dissimilar in width to allow for the production of both bass and treble sounds from the same drum. | |
| Nadaswaram |  | Nadaswaram, also called Nagaswaram or Nadhaswaram, is one of the most popular classical instruments of south India and the world's loudest non-brass acoustic instrument. It is a wind instrument similar to the North Indian shehnai but larger, with a hardwood body and a large flaring bell made of wood or metal. In India the nadaswaram is considered to be very auspicious, and it is the key instrument which is played in almost all Hindu marriages and temples in South India. The instrument is usually played in pairs, and accompanied by a pair of drums called thavil. | |
| Noah Bells |  | "Noah Bells" is the common name given to a distinct type of bell hand-manufactured in India by ancient and inherited traditions. Some monasteries in India are credited with manufacturing Noah Bells for hundreds of years. These bells are popular among collectors because of their intricate resonances and also because of the mystique that surrounds them. Old Indian belief holds that Noah Bells scare away devils and evil spirits. | |
| Pepa |  | The pepa is a flute-like musical instrument that is used in traditional music in Assam, India. It is usually with a very short stem made from small diameter bamboo/cane/reed with the end away from the mouth capped with the horn of a buffalo. Bihu denotes a set of three different largely secular festivals of Assam. The pepa is played during the festivals. It is an integral part of the culture of Assam. | |
| Pungi |  | A pungi or been is the musical instrument played by the snake charmers. It consists of two bamboo tubes with length of one to two feet each. One tube is for the melody and the other is for the drone. The tubes are attached to a dried hollow gourd or coconut which has two reeds in it. | |
| Ravanastron |  | Ravanastron or ravanhatha is an Indian stringed instrument played with a bow, used by wandering pilgrims, particularly in Gujarat and Rajasthan. A Hindu tradition affirms that the musical bow was invented before 3000 BC by Ravanon, king of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and that the instrument for which he invented it was named after him Ravanastron. Judging from precedent, it is probable that the ravanastron of the present day has changed little, if at all, for many centuries. | |
| Rudra Vina |  | The Rudra Veena (also spelled rudra vina, and also called been or bin) is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is an ancient instrument, and is rarely played in the present day. The rudra veena declined in popularity partly due to the decline of Dhrupad and the emergence of fast paced Khayal in the Indian Durbars. Rudra Veena has a long tubular body with length ranging between 54 to 62 inches made of wood or bamboo. Two large-sized, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. | |
| Santoor |  | The santoor is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy strings. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab) are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. A typical santoor has two sets of bridges, providing a range of three octaves. The santoor is derived from the Persian santur, and related to similar instruments in Iraq, Pakistan, India, Armenia, Turkey, and other parts of Asia. It is related to the shata-tantri veena of earlier times. The Kashmiri santoor is more rectangular and can have more strings than the original Persian counterpart, which generally has 72 strings. The santoor as used in Kashmiri classical music is played with a pair of curved mallets made of walnut wood and the resultant melodies are similar to the music of the harp, harpsichord or piano. | |
| Sarangi |  | The Sarangi is a bowed string instrument of India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is an important bowed string instrument of India's Hindustani classical music tradition. Of all Indian instruments, it is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice – able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamakas (shakes) and meend (sliding movements). Three of the strings are bowed with a heavy horsehair bow and "stopped" not with the finger-tips but with the nails, cuticles and surrounding flesh. | |
| Saraswati Veena |  | The Saraswati veena (also spelled Saraswati vina) is an Indian plucked string instrument. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati (see image), who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument. It is one of the three other major types of veena popular today. The others include vichitra veena and rudra veena. Out of these the rudra and vichitra veenas are used in Hindustani music, while the Saraswati veena is used in the Carnatic music of South India. | |
| Sarinda |  | A sarinda is a stringed Indian folk musical instrument similar to lutes or fiddles. It is played with a bow and has three strings. It is played while sitting on the ground in a vertical orientation. The tribes of India, e.g. Tripuris, find use of sarinda in their traditional music and dance. | |
| Sarod |  | The sarod or sarode is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in Hindustani (north Indian) classical music. The sarod is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound (contrast with the sweet, extremely rich texture of the sitar). It is a fretless instrument like almost all other Indian instruments, since Indian music depends extensively (in some cases almost entirely) on continuous slides between notes, known as meend (glissando). | |
| Shehnai |  | The shehnai is an aerophonic instrument which is thought to bring good luck, and as a result, is widely used in North India for marriages and processions. This tube-like instrument gradually widens towards the lower end. It usually has between six and nine holes. It employs two sets of double reeds, making it a quadruple reed woodwind. By controlling the breath, various tunes can be played on it. | |
| Sitar |  | The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonating chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance. Predominantly used in Hindustani classical, sitar has been ubiquitous in Hindustani classical music since the Middle Ages. This instrument is used throughout the Indian subcontinent. | |
| Surbahar |  | The Surbahar (also known as bass sitar) is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India. It is related to the better-known sitar but has a lower tone. It is usually pitched 2 octaves below the standard sitar but as Indian classical music has no concept of absolute pitch, this may vary. The surbahar is over 130 cm (51 inches) long, uses a dried pumpkin as a resonator, and has a neck made of teak with very long frets that allow a glissando of six notes on the same fret by the method of pulling. | |
| Tabla |  | The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in the classical, popular and religious music of the Indian subcontinent and in Hindustani classical music. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres. The term tabla is derived from an Arabic word which means "drum." | |
| Thavil |  | The thavil is a barrel shaped percussion instrument from South India. It is used in folk music and Carnatic music, often accompanying the nadaswaram. The thavil consists of a cylindrical shell hollowed out of a solid block of wood. Layers of animal skin (water buffalo on the right, goat on the left) are stretched across the two sides of the shell using hemp hoops attached to the shell. The right face of the instrument has a larger diameter than the left side, and the right drum head is stretched very tightly, while the left drum head is kept loose to allow pitch bending. | |
| Timila |  | Timila is an hour-glass drum from Kerala, South India. It is made from polished jackwood. The drumheads made of calf hide are held together by leather braces which are also twined round the waist of the drum. This mechanism helps in adjusting the tension and controlling the sound. A Panchavadyam performance is begun with Timila Pattu and ends with the Timila Idachal thus making Timila a very important component of Panchavadyam. | |
| Tumbi |  | The tumbi is a traditional North Indian instrument from the Punjab region. The high pitched, single string plucking instrument is associated with folk music of Punjab and presently very popular in Western Bhangra Music. The instrument is made of a wooden stick mounted with a Toomba or wooden resonator covered with skin. A metallic string is passed on a resonator over a bridge and tied to the key at the end of the stick. The string is struck with the continuous flick and retraction of the forefinger. | |
| Udukai |  | The udukai is a hour-glass shaped, small drum with a thong attached to the narrow waist. It is used in folk music and prayers in South India. | |
| Veena |  | Veena is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family. Veena is a string instrument with two gourd resonators connected by a central shaft, possibly of bamboo, and held diagonally from lap to shoulder. | |
| Venu |  | The venu is a keyless bamboo transverse flute used in the Carnatic music of South India. Although it is often called Carnatic flute or simply flute in English, venu is the instrument's ancient Sanskrit name. The flute has a blowing hole near one end, and eight closely placed finger holes. The fingers of both hands are used to close and open the holes. The instrument comes in various sizes. The venu is associated with the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it. The image shows Krishna (holding a venu) with Radha (right). | |
| Vichitra Veena |  | The vichitra veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic gottuvadhyam (chitra vina). It has no frets and is played with a slide. The Vichitra Veena is the modern form of ancient Ektantri Veena. It is made of a broad, fretless, horizontal arm or crossbar (dand) around three feet long and six inches wide, with two large resonating gourds (tumba), which are inlaid with ivory and attached underneath at either end. The narrow ends of the instrument are fashioned into peacock heads, the national bird of India. |
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