The Music of Hindostan c5.33

c5.33

“Seated cross-legged on the ground a young Brahman with wonderful eyes holds between his knees an object whose lack of finish contrasts strangely with the refinement of the rest. It is a rough earthenware jar containing pebbles, and its large opening fits closely to the convex of his bared chest. The volume of tone increases or diminishes according as he leaves the jar open or closes it by pressing it to his body. His extraordinarily agile fingers draw from it sounds now twittering, now booming, or again, when the pebbles rattle inside, hard and dry like pattering hail.