The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c11.29

c11.29

Instruments with double reeds appear to have been originally brought from India, and the double reed is found in the primitive oboes used there as well as in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt. There seems to be no trace of the single beating reed ever having been known in India, but the single free reed is found in the bagpipe of the country. Indeed, the bagpipe would itself seem to have an Eastern origin, and although its use in Southern India and the Deccan is chiefly confined to a drone-bass, yet in the Punjâb and Afghanistan pipes are sometimes found containing both drone and chanter. And I have heard them played with a dexterity that would do credit to a Highland piper.