“By the late 1800s, the tabla was becoming the principal percussive accompaniment for khyala for the sitar and sarod traditions. Yet the pakhovaj and the dholak completely disappeared from these genres only at the turn of the twentieth century. Since then, the tabla has reigned supreme and has steadily risen in social prestige, first because it has taken on a greater role in the modern instrumental ensemble, and second because increasing numbers of nonhereditary high-caste Hindu musicians have become eminent performers on it,” wrote James R Kippen in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Vol 5.

The resonance and percussive beats of the indispensable tabla may have started out as a three-drum set known as Tripushkar in the ancient world. The Natyashastra (BCE200-CE200) contains reference to tripushkar (or three blue lotuses), a percussive instrument that was inspired by the sound of raindrops falling on the velvety leaves of the lotus flowers. The ancient treatise on dance and music talks about three ways of playing the tripushkar: the Urdhwak, those that face the sky when the drum is placed straight on the flow, Aalingya that were worn around the neck, and Ankik which were played on the lap. Out of these three parts two remained and came to be known as the ‘jodi’ or pair. The tabla may have been the descendant of the Urdhwak and has evolved through various ages of history, its evolution reflecting the history of the subcontinent itself.

But tracing musical history is a complex matter, which becomes nearly impossible in the absence of written records. In their absence legends have given wings to imagination.

“According to a popular legend, the poet-musician Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) invented the tabla by cutting a. pakhavaj in half to form the two-piece instrument that has become the most popular and widespread symbol of North Indian percussion. Yet pictorial evidence for the tabla emerges only from about 1745 onward, and the structure of the drums seems to change frequently until the early 1800s, when something recognisable as the modern instrument appeared,” Kippen wrote.

Kippen added: “The Muraqqa’-i Dihli ‘Delhi Album’, a contemporary view of musical life, genres, musicians, and instruments at the court of Emperor Muhammad Shah written in 1738, makes no mention of the tabla. The oldest hereditary lineage of tabla players traces its ancestry to Sudhar Khan Dharhi of Delhi, who probably flourished in the middle third of the 1700s”.

Though Khusrau who wrote many books and songs as both a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya and a courtier of Allauddin Khilji, doesn’t anywhere say that he invented the tabla, in Ijaz-e-Khusravi, he does refer to the existence of an instrument called Tabl that was played in royal courts. This implies that the ancient tripushkar or congo may have evolved into a set of two hand drums that was being played by at least the 13th century.

War drums or Tabl-e-Jung

The much-loved pair of hand drums could well have also evolved from the kettle drums that were played during conquests, and have now survived in military bands. Persian accounts of war often mention the beating of naqqars or drums atop camels. Later, during emperor Akbar’s reign, musical instruments were used in a variety of functions, from marking various hours of the day to announcing royal visits and festivities.

Art critic and cultural historian Geet Sen wrote in Music in the Reign of Akbar, that the “Same instruments of royalty were carried into the battlefield, to sound the battle cry with the large kettle drums (naqqaras) strapped across the backs of camels, and with the flamboyant curved necks of the trumpets (surnas) glinting in the sun. When the imperial forces advanced, with the elephants, arrayed in battle armour, the sight and resonance of these huge drums were intended to inspire the ranks of the enemy with terror. The capture of enemy booty invariably included the prized capture of the insignias and war drums, which were brought and laid before the emperor or his representative. It is not surprising that the same use of martial music, employing the same drums and trumpets, appears in Persian paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries. These illustrations would serve to confirm the origins of these musical instruments, and indeed of this genre of music, as derived from beyond the borders of India.”

Though music has no boundaries whether it be religion or region, regressive battles have been fought over the last century to claim ownership of music and musical instruments on communal lines. The only tribute that we can pay to the recently deceased maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, would be to cherish that the Tabla is a pair or jodi, much like the jodi of Indo-Islamic culture, the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb that has produced and nourished Hindustani classical music.

While some have tried to see the set of differently sized and shaped drums in cave paintings, temple art and ancient texts, the modern version most likely evolved in the last three to four centuries in Mughal north India. But to believe that it didn’t exist before then in other forms would also be hitting a completely wrong note of history.

HistoriCity is a column by author Valay Singh that narrates the story of a city that is in the news, by going back to its documented history, mythology and archeological digs. The views expressed are personal.