tabala percussion instrument

[Guest guest]

In Tamil sangam and medieval literature, the drum names

are formed from either from a root that has to do with

"cooling" (of spirits, departed souls, etc.) or from

a root to do with "diminishing/quenching/killing".

 

Often times, the drums (muracu (> skt. muraja), paRai etc.,

The (ex)untouchable paRaiyan has become an english word, pariah)

are described as "cooling". For example, taNNumai, taNNamai,

taNNam, taNNakam etc. - all contain the prefix, taN- "cool"

(Cf. taN-nIr = cold water). "kuLir" (cold) itself

is a drum's name. kuLi (to bathe in "cold" water) can

be seen in drum names of sangam times: aakuLi, makuLi,

takuLi/takuNiccam etc. aa-kuLi might have cow leather

where as makuLi might be covered with buffalo skin which

is black. Usually, the leather covers of a drum are

called the eye of a pEy "spirit/demon" in tamil lit.

In sangam times, an important ritual is the smearing

of blood as the naivedhyam on the leather drum-covers

(There are many poems on this), the pulaiyan drummers

were called izicin2an2 "smearer" in sangam times. Not only

kuLir 'cold' meant a percussion instrument, the war drums

were called "kuLiRu muracu" (cool(ing) drums).

 

The other root of "diminishing/killing" is "paTuttal".

>From the verb, "paTu", drums were called "paTalai".

Interestingly, the native priests of Tamil religion

cooling and quenching spirits with animal sacrifices

were called am-taNan2 and am-paTTan2, and note the

same roots taN-'cool' and paTu 'reduce' are used

along with a prefix am- 'fine, pretty'.

 

Oxford Hindi-English dictionary (R. S. McGregor) lists

'tabal' as an Avadhi word (and does not say it's persian

or arabic). Tamil has the drum called "tapalai/tapilai".

Also, tavil/tavul = a kind of two-headed drum.

 

The "cooling" nature of the tamil word, tapalai/tavilai

is seen in the pot, usually of clay, that is used for storing

drinking water on a stand. The cool-water pots are

called tavalai/tapalai/tavilai. These come from the

verb, "taputtal". "Intervocalic *-p- > -v- is almost universal

in Dravidian. As an obstruent, -p-, is preserved only in very

few items, cf. Ta. tapu perish (DEDR 3068), certainly not a

borrowing (cf. Tolkappiyam 1022, 1025)" (p. 9, Zvelebil,

Drav. linguistics, an intro.)

 

Sangam tamil verb:

tapu-tal 01 1. to perish, come to an end; 2. to die;

tapu-ttal 02 to destroy

>From the word, "tapu":

taval 02 1. diminishing, decreasing; 2. failure; 3. fault; 4. death

 

An Urdu specialist told:

>In Platts's dictionary, t:ablah (spelled with the letter t:o'e> is

>described as a Persian word, but derived from an Arabic word for

>drum.

 

Considering that drum names in tamil are formed from roots

like paTuttal/taputtal 'diminishing/quenching', and tapalai/tavalai

is used for drums, is the Avadhi word 'tabala' have a

Dravidian connection?

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan

[Guest guest]

It is easy enough to find on the web that Al-Tabl is an Arabic drum

(e.g. http://www.aramusic.com/history.htm);

 

These leads to a hypothesis about Spanish; and surely enough,

tabal in Spanish means drum (http://www.diccionarios.com).

 

The origin of the word seems clear enough (with no implications

for the origin of the particular form of drum). If the tabla

originated in India, it could have been invented by an

Arabic-speaking Indian - Amir Khusro ??? -- , or else is an

example of how elite dominance caused the replacement of a word

(and presumably the original Dravidian/Indo-Aryan word is lost).

 

-Arun Gupta

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, naga_ganesan@h... wrote:

> In Tamil sangam and medieval literature, the drum names

> are formed from either from a root that has to do with

> "cooling" (of spirits, departed souls, etc.) or from

> a root to do with "diminishing/quenching/killing".

 

It is difficult to establish this, I am afraid.

The words are more easily shown to be from onomatopeia.

 

> Often times, the drums (muracu (> skt. muraja), paRai etc.,

> The (ex)untouchable paRaiyan has become an english word, pariah)

> are described as "cooling". For example, taNNumai, taNNamai,

> taNNam, taNNakam etc. - all contain the prefix, taN- "cool"

> (Cf. taN-nIr = cold water). "kuLir" (cold) itself

 

The taN- in taNNumai is onomatopoeic.

taZ-, taN-/TaN/DaN and toN- are onom. roots.

taZaGku = to roar.

 

otl tazagku-tal tazagku-tal to sound, roar, resound

 

Indeed DEDR entries #2944, #2945 and #3494 are worth noting here.

 

#2944:

Ta. TaNN-en2al = onom. signifying the sound of a bell

....

#2945:

Ka. DaNDaN sound of the drum called DavaNe. Tu. DaNDaNu sound of

a large drum.? Cf. taNNumai a kind of drum.

 

#3494

Ta. toNa toNa = to vex with ceaseless talk.

....

 

Moreover there is the drum classification "toNTakam"

which occurs frequently in classical Tamil as a drum employed in

kuRiJci terrains.

otl toNTakam toNTakam 1. a small drum used in kur6in1ci tracts; 2.

drum beaten while capturing the enemy's cows

The Tamil Lexicon suggests onomatopoeia as its etymology.

 

It is bolstered by the fact of occurrence of the onom. toN toN in a

beautiful verse in post-classical didactic work nAlaTiyAr:

Qnal3x5x1 \BT kaNam koNTu cuRRattAr kallen2Ru alaRa \et

Qnal3x5x2 \BT piNam koNTu kATTu uyppArk kaNTum maNam koNTu INTu \et

Qnal3x5x3 \BT uNTu uNTu uNTu en2n2um uNarvin2An2 cARRumE \et

Qnal3x5x4 \BT ToN ToN ToN en2n2um paRai \et

 

See line #4 above:

Refering to the sound of drums beating in a funeral, iy says

"toN toN toN en2n2um paRai" meaning

"toN toN toN thus sounds the drum".

 

[Cologne database has misspelt the t as T.

T does not occur word initial. The second and third may

be excused as sandhi change but not the first T.]

 

> is a drum's name. kuLi (to bathe in "cold" water) can

> be seen in drum names of sangam times: aakuLi, makuLi,

> takuLi/takuNiccam etc. aa-kuLi might have cow leather

> where as makuLi might be covered with buffalo skin which

> is black.

 

Without disputing whether it is okay to analyze those words

in that manner, let us note that we again have simpler etymologies

with more concrete relationship to the drum concept:

 

*kuL- also is a sound related root.

kuLir is a kettle drum.

DEDR #1831:

kuLaRu = to stammer, yell, howl,

kuLiRu =to sound, rattle.

kuLir = kettle drum.

 

Like with taZ- and taN- we have retroflex liquids and

nasals alteranting here too as can be seen

with DEDR # 1685.

kuNu kuNu = to whine.

 

>..

> The other root of "diminishing/killing" is "paTuttal".

> From the verb, "paTu", drums were called "paTalai".

 

!

again onom is ignored...

 

DEDR # 3841.

paTa paTa = to rattle

 

See OTL entries citing even bells referred to as paTalai

paTalai

 

otl paTalai paTalai 01.. 3. broad-headed drum; ...

 

otl paTalai paTalai 02.. 2. string of small tinkling bells for a

horse; ...

 

....

 

For tavil, tabala etc. again onomatopoeia at work.

 

> Oxford Hindi-English dictionary (R. S. McGregor) lists

> 'tabal' as an Avadhi word (and does not say it's persian

> or arabic). Tamil has the drum called "tapalai/tapilai".

> Also, tavil/tavul = a kind of two-headed drum.

>

> The "cooling" nature of the tamil word, tapalai/tavilai

> is seen in the pot, usually of clay, that is used for storing

> drinking water on a stand. The cool-water pots are

> called tavalai/tapalai/tavilai. These come from the

> verb, "taputtal". "Intervocalic *-p- > -v- is almost universal

> in Dravidian. As an obstruent, -p-, is preserved only in very

> few items, cf. Ta. tapu perish (DEDR 3068), certainly not a

> borrowing (cf. Tolkappiyam 1022, 1025)" (p. 9, Zvelebil,

> Drav. linguistics, an intro.)

 

> Sangam tamil verb:

> tapu-tal 01 1. to perish, come to an end; 2. to die;

> tapu-ttal 02 to destroy

> From the word, "tapu":

> taval 02 1. diminishing, decreasing; 2. failure; 3. fault; 4. death

 

See again DEDR 3069.

where....

Ka. daba.r in, daba.l in to make sound of body falling in a heap

oto ground...

dap dop in = to make repeated noises of falling or beating.

....

This root is attested there in North Drav. also such as in

Go,. Kuwi.

 

....

> Considering that drum names in tamil are formed from roots

> like paTuttal/taputtal 'diminishing/quenching', and tapalai/tavalai

> is used for drums, is the Avadhi word 'tabala' have a

> Dravidian connection?

 

Occam's razor. Cooling, killing and shamanism may for now

be treated as somewhat far fetched given the much simpler onomatopoeic

etymologies for every one of the drum taxons.

 

Regards

P.Chandrasekaran.

[Guest guest]

A friend sent the following :

 

Apropos of the tabla, B. Chaitanya Deva writes in his

"Musical Instruments of India" (Munshiram Manoharlal

Publishers Pvt Ltd, 2nd ed 1987):

 

"Nobody seems to know the correct history of the

tabla. There have been discussion as to whether

it is an indidenous instrument or an import from

the Arabic and Persian areas. While it is not easy

to resolve this difference in opinion, we have

sufficient evidence to show that the tabla might

have had local and pre-Islamic origin. Sculptures

of pairs of vertically placed drums appears very

early (sixt-seventh centuries AD) and the application

of paste to the drum faces is a very old practice.

 

Conical drums as such are not new to this land.

Tribal ones - big and small - have already been described.

But of immediate interest is a cup-shaped drum, kept

on the lap and beaten with hands (not sticks), shown

in the dancing scene of the Pawaya panel (third

century AD).

 

Even as early as Natyashastra the art of applying the

load was known. Bharata recommends that the mud should

be free of gravel, sand, grass and husk...

 

....Again, it may be noted that out of the four tablas

that Sachs lists, there is not one with a remote

resemblance to the Indian tabla. Though Amir Khusro,

that repository of all Muslim innovations, is credited

with the invention of tabla, even Abul Fazl, Akbar's

historian, neither mentions nor describes the instrument.

And very probably, the early representations of the

instrument, as it is now prevalent, come from about the

eighteenth century. What, in all likelihood, happened

was that small conical drums of ancient India underwent

modifications and became the modern tabla. As for the name,

the mid-west Asian people who migrated to India might

have given their own generic term, tabl, to the

local drums..."

 

-Arun Gupta

[Guest guest]

Jogesh Panda wrote:

>Considering the legend that Amir Khusro invented the

>tabla by splitting the pakhawaj, and keeping in mind

>that Platt derives it from Farsi and/or Arabic, the

>Turkish [linguistic] connection is worth looking into.

>The Turkish word for drum is <davul>, and <duvulcu> in

>that language is a drummer. The Hindi word for a tablA

>player is <tabalcI>.

 

Arun Gupta wrote:

>If the tabla originated in India, it could have been

>invented by an Arabic-speaking Indian - Amir Khusro ???

>-- , or else is an example of how elite dominance caused

> the replacement of a word (and presumably the original

>Dravidian/Indo-Aryan word is lost).

 

Possibly, Amir Khusro did not invent tabala drum. There

are precursors to today's tabala drum in Indian sculpture.

 

http://www.tabla.com/tablahs1.html#archeology

<<

Another popular notion is that Amir Khursuro invented the tabla

by splitting the Pakawaj into two drums. This is highly disputed.

Abul Fazil, the court recorder neither mentions nor describes

the tabla, leaving doubt that Amir Khursuro invented the tabla,

contrary to a previously popular notion.

>>

 

-cI is tabalcI is Persian. The Drav. ending is also used

'tabala' (drum) and tabalaya can be compared with

valai 'net' and valaiyan 'fisherman' in tamil,

and pulai 'pollution, meat, blood' and pulaiyan in

malayalam and tamil meaning harijan.

tabala, tabalaya, compare with kannada poleya (=tamil pulaiyan).

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan