The Natya Shastra divides instruments into four families: tat (strings), sushir (wind), avanaddha (skin drums) and ghan (solid percussion). Strings include the sitar, sarod, veena, santoor, sarangi and the drone tanpura; winds the bansuri, shehnai and nadaswaram; drums the tabla (a pair of a small right-hand drum and a larger bass drum), pakhawaj, mridangam and thavil; solid percussion the ghatam (clay pot), manjira and jal tarang.
Key facts
- Four classes: chordophones (strings), aerophones (wind), membranophones (skin drums) and idiophones (solid percussion), matching tat, sushir, avanaddha and ghan.
- Strings: sitar, sarod, santoor, veena, rudra veena, sarangi, tanpura; winds: shehnai, bansuri, nadaswaram, pungi.
- Drums: tabla, pakhawaj, mridangam, dhol, dholak; idiophones: ghatam, khartal, manjira, jal tarang.
Why exams ask about it
Which maestro plays which instrument, which drum accompanies which genre, and the names of the two tabla drums are asked.