Tabla

The tabla  is a membranophonepercussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent, consisting of a pair of drums, used in traditional, classical, popular and folk music.[1] It has been a particularly important instrument in Hindustani classical music since the 18th century, and remains in use in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.[2] The name tablalikely comes from tabl, the Persian and Arabic word for drum.[3] However, the ultimate origin of the musical instrument is contested by scholars, some tracing it to West Asia, others tracing it to the evolution of indigenous musical instruments of the Indian subcontinent.[4]
The tabla consists of two single headed, barrel shaped small drums of slightly different size and shapes: daya also called dahinameaning right, and baya also called bahinameaning left.[2][5] The daya tabla is played by the musician's right hand (dominant hand), and is about 15 centimetres (~6 in) in diameter and 25 centimetres (~10 in) high. The baya tabla is a bit bigger and deep kettledrum shaped, about 20 centimetres (~8 in) in diameter and 25 centimetres (~10 in) in height. Each is made of hollowed out wood or clay or brass, the daya drum laced with hoops, thongs and wooden dowels on its sides. The dowels and hoops are used to tighten the tension of the membrane. The daya is tuned to the ground note of the raga called Sa (tonicin Western music).[2][6] The baya construction and tuning is about a fifth to an octave below that of the daya drum. The musician uses his hand's heel pressure to change the pitch and tone colour of each drum during a performance.[2][6]


The playing technique is complex and involves extensive use of the fingers and palms in various configurations to create a wide variety of different sounds and rhythms, reflected in mnemonic syllables (bol). In the Hindustani style tabla is played in two ways: band bol and khula bol. In the sense of classical music it is termed "tali" and "khali". It is one of the main qawali instrument used by Sufi musicians of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.[7] The tabla is also an important instrument in the bhakti devotional traditions of Hinduism and Sikhism, such as during bhajan and kirtan singing.[8][9]

Origins
The history of tabla is unclear, and there are multiple theories regarding its origins.[4][10]There are two groups of theories, one that traces its origins to Muslim and Moghul invaders of the Indian subcontinent, the other traces it to indigenous origins.[4] However carvings in Bhaje caves provide a concrete evidence of Indian origins of Tabla.[11][12]

Turk-Arab origins

The first theory, very common during the colonial period scholarship, is based on the etymological links of the word tabla to Arabic word tabl which means "drum". Beyond the root of the word, this proposal points to the abundant documentary evidence that the Muslim armies, as they invaded the Indian subcontinent, had hundreds of soldiers on camels and horses carrying paired drums. They would beat these drums to scare the residents, the non-Muslim armies, their elephants and chariots, that they intended to attack. Babur, the Turk founder of the Mughal Empire, is known to have used these paired drums carrying battalions in their military campaigns. However, this theory has had the flaw that the war drums did not look or sound anything like tabla, they were large paired drums and were called naqqara (noise, chaos makers).[4]
The second version of the Arab theory is that Amir Khusraw, a musician patronized by Sultan Alauddin Khalji invented the tabla when he cut an Awaj drum, which used to be hourglass shaped. This is, however, unlikely, as no painting or sculpture or document dated to his period supports it with evidence. If tablahad arrived, or had been invented under Arabic influence from the root word tabl, it would be in the list of musical instruments that were written down by Muslim historians, but such evidence is also absent. For