The ancient barrel drum of dhrupad — tabla's ancestor in repertoire and language.
The horizontal barrel drum of North India — one shell, two heads, played with full hands — and the tabla's most important ancestor. Its repertoire (parans and open-language compositions) and its bol vocabulary flowed directly into tabla, especially through the Punjab and Purab schools.
It remains the drum of dhrupad and of temple and court traditions; its right head carries a syahi like the dayan's, while its left is dressed with fresh wheat dough before playing for bass weight. Hearing pakhawaj played well explains at a stroke why tabla's paran repertoire sounds the way it does.
Further reading
Aban E. Mistry, Pakhawaj and Tabla: History, Schools and Traditions (Popular Prakashan, 2002).
Rebecca Stewart, The Tabla in Perspective (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1974).
