Instruments

The first instrument of Sikh kirtan. A short-necked plucked lute with a deep wooden body covered in skin, producing a warm, earthy resonance. Bhai Mardana ji accompanied Guru Nanak Dev ji on the rabab across his udasis, giving Gurbani its first musical voice.

A large bowed string instrument carved from a single block of wood, with a deeply waisted body and goat-skin face. Its sound is grave and meditative — Guru Arjan Dev ji is said to have refined its form, and Guru Hargobind Sahib ji and Guru Tegh Bahadur ji are recorded as playing it.

Literally meaning 'peacock' in Persian, the taus is a large bowed instrument shaped like a peacock, designed by Guru Hargobind Sahib ji. Its long neck holds many sympathetic strings that give it a soft, glassy, sustained tone perfectly suited to slow, devotional raag exposition.

Meaning 'stealer of the heart,' the dilruba was created by Guru Gobind Singh ji as a lighter, more portable form of the taus — easier for the Khalsa to carry on horseback. It retains the bowed sweetness and sympathetic-string shimmer of the taus in a smaller body.

A short-necked bowed instrument with three main gut strings and dozens of sympathetic strings. Famously vocal in quality — said to be the closest instrument to the human voice — the sarangi is central to the Dhadhi tradition of singing vaars (heroic ballads) in Sikh history.

A folk cousin of the sarangi, with a distinctive open-cut body shape and a leather-covered lower bowl. Used in Dhadhi ensembles alongside the dhad to accompany vaars and stories from Sikh history.

A bowed string instrument closely related to the dilruba, with a fretted neck and sympathetic strings. Popular in Sikh kirtan revival efforts for its singing tone and ability to closely follow the vocal line.

A pair of asymmetrical hand drums — a wooden bass drum (dhamma) and a clay treble drum — developed for Sikh kirtan by splitting the older pakhawaj into two. Its deep, gajra-tuned strokes are the traditional rhythmic foundation of Gurmat Sangeet.

A small, hourglass-shaped hand drum played by squeezing its tension cords to bend the pitch. Carried by Dhadhi singers who recite vaars of Sikh valour, often paired with the sarangi.

An ancient two-headed barrel drum played horizontally with both hands. Predecessor of the jori and the tabla, it produces deep, resonant strokes and is closely tied to dhrupad-style singing of Gurbani.

A pair of small hand drums — a wooden dayan (treble) and a metal bayan (bass) — that evolved from the pakhawaj/jori. Today the tabla is the most common rhythmic accompaniment in kirtan, prized for its clarity and agility.

A large kettle-drum struck with two wooden beaters. Guru Hargobind Sahib ji established the Ranjit Nagara at Akal Takht as a sovereign drum of the Khalsa — its thunder still announces gatherings and Nihang processions today.

A hand-pumped reed keyboard that arrived in India in the colonial era and became the most widespread kirtan instrument of the modern era. Convenient and stable in pitch, though traditionalists prefer the older bowed and plucked instruments because they can express the microtonal slides (meend) of true raag.

A long S-curved brass war horn historically sounded in Khalsa armies and at Nihang gatherings. Its piercing call is ceremonial rather than melodic, marking arrivals, battle and prayer.

A long-necked plucked drone with four (or five) strings tuned to the tonic and fifth. It is not played melodically — its continuous shimmering drone establishes the sa of the raag and holds the singer in tune.