KHANJERI. TAM TAM.
TAMBOURINES and tabors of all kinds are found throughout India,
but are rarely used by professional musicians. The largest instru-
ment of this kind is called Duff, or Duffde, and is an octagon
frame of wood about 6 inches deep and 3 feet in diameter, covered upon
one side with skin strained by means of a network of thin leather thongs.
The Khanjeri, or common tambourine, shown in the plate, consists of a piece
of vellum or skin stretched upon a wooden hoop, 8 or g inches in diameter and
about 3 or 4 inches deep, bored out of the solid. In the hoop are placed three
or four slits containing pieces of metal strung together, which clash when the
instrument is shaken. The lower edge of the hoop is sometimes bound with
silver, chased with mythological devices, and the hoop itself is often carved in the
same way.
The small kettledrum drawn in the plate is the common Tam tam used by
beggars and the like, and which is to be found at all street corners throughout
India. A tam tam of rather Hatter shape, called Dinni, is common in Mysore,
and is generally carried by religious mendicants of Saivite sects. In shape it
much resembles the modern Egyptian tabl-shami.
