The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c11.287

c11.287

T HE curved brass horn in this plate is the S'ringa or S'ing, called in Southern India Kahalay or Kombu. It is frequently found with a metal rod connecting both ends. This horn is "used universally through India for signals, watch setting processions, and the like, both by Mahomedans and Hindus, though the performers for the most part are Hindus of low caste. In every village of Central or Southern India it is the business of one or more of the watchmen to blow the horn at sunset, and again at certain hours of the night, or when the watchmen go their stated rounds. In large cities every *mahulla* or ward has a horn-blower attached to its night-watchmen or police, and there is seldom a guard or detachment of native irregular troops without one. In all processions, temple services, and especially at marriages and other festive occasions, this horn is indispensable, and wailing blasts for the dead are played upon it at the funerals of Hindus of the lower classes and castes, or equally so at the cremation of Hindu princes.