hoysala

In 2006 we visited some towns in the southern part of Karnataka, near the city of Mysuru (Mysore). The pictures presented here show a sample of musical instruments mostly from the 12th century. We come across two types of drums, barrel shaped and hourglass shaped. The latter could well be the melodic drum we know today as the iddaka or eddaka. The flute we see—often in the hands of Kṛṣṇa—is a rather thick transverse flute. And then there are the vīṇā-s, typically stick zithers with or without frets. They [...]