Musical instruments of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

can be broadly classified according to the

Hornbostel–Sachs Hornbostel–Sachs or Sachs–Hornbostel is a system of musical instrument classification devised by Erich Moritz von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs, first published in the in 1914. An English translation was published in the '' Galpin Society Journ ...

system into four categories:

chordophone In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

s (string instruments),

aerophone An aerophone is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes (which are respectively chordophones and membranophones), and without the vibration of the instrume ...

s (wind instruments),

membranophone A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a acoustic membrane, vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument ...

s (drums) and

idiophone An idiophone is any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the vibration of the instrument itself, without the use of air flow (as with aerophones), strings (chordophones), membranes (membranophones) or electricity ( electrophone ...

s (non-drum percussion instruments).

Chordophones In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play som ...

Plucked strings

Bowed strings

• Chikara • Dhantara • Dilruba • Ektara violin • Esraj • Kamaicha • Kingri (string instrument) • Mayuri Vina or Taus • Onavillu • Behala (violin type) • Pena (musical instrument) • Pinaka vina • Pulluvan Veena - one stringed violin • Ravanahatha • Sarangi • Classical Sarangi • Sarinda • Tar Shehnai • Taus • Villu Paatu - arched bow instrument

Other string instruments

* Gethu or Jhallari – struck tanpura * Gubguba or Jamuku (khamak) * Pulluvan kutam *

Santoor The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut wood and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It ...

– Hammered dulcimer

Aerophones An aerophone is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes (which are respectively chordophones and membranophones), and without the vibration of the instrum ...

Single reed

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Pungi The pungi, also known as bīn or Murli, is a musical instrument that originates from the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a reservoir into which air is blown and then channelled into two reed pipe, reed pipes. It is played with ...

or Been

Double reed

Kuzhal The kuzhal is a traditional double reed wind instrument used in the south Indian state of Kerala. It is similar in construction to a ''nadaswaram, nagaswaram'' or a large ''shehnai'', and has a very shrill and penetrating tone. Kuzhal is primari ...

* Mukhavina *

Nadaswaram The ''nadaswaram'' is a double reed wind instrument from South India. It is used as a traditional classical instrument in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala and in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. This i ...

Shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a type of oboe from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end. It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court. The shehnai is sim ...

* Sundari * Tangmuri

Flute

* Alghoza – double flute *

Bansuri A bansuri is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian and Nepali Lok songs. A ''bansuri'' is traditionally made from a ...

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

(Carnatic flute) Pullanguzhal

Bagpipes

* Mashak * Titti * Sruti upanga

Free reed

Gogona The ''gogona'' is a jaw harp, a vibrating reed instrument that is used primarily in the traditional Bihu music in Assam, India. It is made of a piece of bamboo/ horn that has a bifurcation on one end. The solid end is gripped with the teeth an ...

Morsing The morsing (also mukharshanku, mourching, morching or morchang; Sanskrit: दंत वाद्यन्तरात्मसत्रस्य, Telugu: మోర్సింగ్, Kannada: ಮೋರ್ಸಿಂಗ್, Rajasthani: मोर ...

Free reed and bellows

* Shruti box *

Harmonium (hand-pumped) The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

Brass

* Bigul – see

Bugle The bugle is a simple signaling brass instrument with a wide conical bore. It normally has no valves or other pitch-altering devices, and is thus limited to its natural harmonic notes, and pitch is controlled entirely by varying the air a ...

* Ekkalam *

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Kombu (instrument) The Kombu (Tamil:கொம்பு, Malayalam: കൊമ്പ്) or Kompu also known as the Kombu Pattu is a wind instrument (a kind of Natural Horn) in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Usually played along with Panchavadyam, Pandi Melam, Panchari mela ...

* Ramsinga * Kahal * Nagfani * Turi * Tutari

Membranophones A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a acoustic membrane, vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument ...

Hand drums

Hand frame drums

Daf Daf (), also known as dâyere and riq, is an Iranian frame drum musical instrument, also used in popular and classical music in Persian-influenced South and Central Asia, such as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many ...

, duf, or dafli – medium or large frame drum without jingles, of Persian origin * Dubki, dimdi or dimri – small frame drum without jingles *

Kanjira The kanjira, khanjira, khanjiri or ganjira, a South Indian frame drum, is an instrument of the tambourine family. As a folk and bhajan instrument, it has been used in the Indian subcontinent for many centuries. The Kanjira's emergence in Sout ...

– small frame drum with one jingle * Kansi – small drum without jingles * Patayani thappu – medium frame drum played with hands

Stick and hand drums

Chenda The Chenda (, ) is a cylindrical percussion instrument originating in the state of Kerala and widely used in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka in India. In Tulu Nadu (Coastal Karnataka), it is known as ''chende''. The instrument is strongly associat ...

Davul The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums ...

* Dhak * Dhimay *

Dhol Dhol () can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in Indian subcontinent primarily includes northern areas such ...

Dholi Dhol () can refer to any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. Its range of distribution in Indian subcontinent primarily includes northern areas such ...

Dollu The dollu is a double-headed drum native to Karnataka, India. It is classified as a membranophone. The heads are made of sheep or goat skin and the frame is made of honne or mango tree wood. The instrument is used mostly in theatrical dances w ...

Idakka The idakka (), also spelt edaykka/edakka, is an hourglass-shaped drum from Kerala in south India, very similar to the pan-Indian damaru. While the damaru is played by rattling knotted cords against the resonators, the idakka is played with a ...

Thavil A ''thavil'' (Tamil:தவில்) or ''tavil'' is a barrel-shaped percussion instrument from Tamil Nadu. It is also widely used in other South Indian states (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana) as well as in the North and East of ...

Udukai The udukku , udukai or udukkai (Tamil: உடுக்கை) is a member of the family of membranophone percussion instruments of India and Nepal used in folk music and prayers in Tamil Nadu. The drums are an ancient design of hourglass drums ...

Urumi (drum) The ''urumi'' (; also known as ''urumee'') is a double-headed hourglass drum from the state of Tamil Nadu, South India. Two skin heads are attached to a single hollow, often intricately carved wooden shell. The preferred wood is jackwood, alth ...

Stick drums

Chande The ''chande'' is a drum used in the traditional and classical music of South India and particularly in Yakshagana theatre art of Karnataka. It follows the Yakshagana Tala system. The rhythms are based on pre-classical music forms that Carnat ...

* Kachhi Dhol * Nagara – pair of kettledrums * Pambai – unit of two cylindrical drums * Parai thappu, halgi – frame drum played with two sticks *

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* Stick daff or stick duff – daff in a stand played with sticks * Tamak' * Tasha – type of

kettledrum Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

* Thavanadai, Davandai * Timki * Urumee

Idiophones

* Chimta – fire tong with brass jingles * Chengila – metal disc * Elathalam * Geger – brass vessel * Ghanti – Northern Indian bell *

Ghatam The ''ghaṭam'' (Sanskrit: घटm ''ghaṭ''; Kannada: ಘಟ ''ghaṭa''; Tamil: கடம் ''ghatam''; Telugu: ఘటం ''ghataṃ''; Malayalam: ഘടം ''ghataṃ'') is a percussion instrument used in various repertoires across the ...

and Matkam (Earthenware pot drum) *

Ghungroo A ghungroo (, ), also known as ghunghroo or ghunghru or ghungur (in Assamese and Bengali) or ghungura (in Odia) or Chilanka or Salangai or Gejje (in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada respectively), is one of many small metallic bells strung together ...

Khartal Khartal is an ancient instrument mainly used in devotional / folk songs. It has derived its name from Sanskrit words ‘kara’ meaning hand and ‘tala’ meaning clapping. This wooden clapper is a Ghana Vadya which has discs or plates that p ...

or Chiplya *

Manjira The ''taal'' or ''manjira'' (also spelled ''manjīrā'' or ''manjeera''), ''jalra'', ''karatala'', ''kartal'' or ''gini'' is a pair of clash cymbals, originating in the Indian subcontinent, which make high-pitched percussion sounds. In its ...

or jhanj or taal * Nut – clay pot *

Sankarjang Sankarjang (20°52’08“N; 84°59’19“E), Odisha, India is an archaeological site near Angul, a former cemetery and settlement with large, worked stones but no one knows what they were made for, although some people think they might have be ...

– lithophone *

Thali Thali (meaning "plate" or "tray") or Bhojanam (meaning "full meal") is a round Platter (dishware), platter used to serve food in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Thali is also used to refer to an Indian-style meal made up of a sel ...

– metal plate * Thattukazhi mannai * Yakshagana bells

Melodic

Jal tarang The ''jal tarang'' (Hindi: wikt:जलतरंग, जलतरंग) is a melodic percussion instrument that originates from the Indian subcontinent. It consists of a set of ceramic or metal bowls filled with water. The bowls are played by s ...

, ceramic bowls with water * Kanch tarang, a type of

glass harp A glass harp (also called musical glasses, singing glasses, angelic organ, verrillon or ghost fiddle) is a musical instrument made of upright wine glasses. It is played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses. Each ...

* Loh tarang (लोह तरंग), a set of tuned gongs * Kashtha tarang, a type of

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

Hand harmonium

Dwarkanath Ghose ( Dwarkin) modified the French pedal harmonium.

Electronic

Roland HandSonic The HandSonic HPD-20 musical instrument is a hand percussion pad introduced by the Roland Corporation. It was reviewed by digitalDrummer Magazine in 2013. It can be played on its own or used as an addition to a larger drum kit. The dynamic pads ar ...

* Electronic tanpura * Electronic (digital) tabla * Talameter * Musical instrument of Tamil nadu * List of Indian dance

References

{{Rāgas as per Performance Time *

Musical instruments A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Instruments Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...