The long-necked drone lute whose open strings cycle the tonic and fifth continuously beneath a performance. It states no melody and no rhythm; it defines pitch itself — the sa to which the dayan is tuned before a note of music happens.
For tabla players the tanpura is the tuning reference and the atmosphere: solo recitals sit inside its halo, and practicing tuning against a drone trains the ear faster than any device readout. Tabla Focus's Tanpura feature serves that role.