The rawhide lacing material — the strap-work that binds head to shell.
Rawhide lacing — the material of the strap system that binds the pudi to the shell. In practice tasma and baddhi are used near-interchangeably; where distinguished, tasma names the lace or its material and baddhi the laced assembly doing the tensioning.
Good tasma is even in width and stretch; a weak section makes one segment of the head impossible to bring up to tension. Replacing a snapped lace is standard maker's work, and touring players carry spares for field repairs.
Further reading
Rebecca Stewart, The Tabla in Perspective (PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, 1974).
