--- url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla' title: 'Tabla: paired hand drums of Hindustani music' author: name: Anonymous updated: '2026-11-05T23:55:01+00:00' type: website summary: 'The tabla is a pair of hand drums, the treble dayan and the bass bayan, and the main rhythm accompaniment of Hindustani music. A spoken bol names each stroke.' tags: - 'Hindustani Classical' - Ghatam image: 'https://kalasudha.com/themes/custom/music_agency/assets/icon/logo.svg' published: true og: site_name: KalaSudha 'image:url': 'https://kalasudha.com/themes/custom/music_agency/assets/icon/logo.svg' 'image:secure_url': 'https://kalasudha.com/themes/custom/music_agency/assets/icon/logo.svg' 'image:type': image/svg+xml 'image:alt': KalaSudha --- Specific Discipline # Tabla तबला Hindustani classical music's leading drum: a tuned pair played with the fingers Pair of hand drums Spoken bols Courses 4 The tabla is a pair of hand drums, the treble dayan and the bass bayan, and the main rhythmic accompaniment of Hindustani classical music, learnt through spoken bols. [ Explore Courses ](/en-pk/courses?discipline=90) [ Show interest ](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla/show-interest) [Sign in to follow](/en-pk/user/login?flag_anon=follow_term-90&destination=/en-pk/markdownify/taxonomy/term/90) [ Share ](/en-pk/share/term/90) ## Know the instrument Explore its sound, construction and care in the instrument guide. - [ Tabla ](/en-pk/instrument/tabla) ## Overview The **tabla** (तबला, also written tablā) is a pair of hand drums from North India and the most important rhythmic accompaniment in [Hindustani classical music](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical). The player strikes the smaller right-hand drum, the **dayan**, a hollowed wooden shell, for treble tones tuned to a set pitch, and the larger, usually metal, left-hand **bayan** for the bass. Each stroke also has a spoken syllable, its **bol**, so a player can recite a composition as well as play it. The tabla differs in form from the [pakhawaj](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/pakhawaj), a single horizontal, barrel-shaped drum with two heads that remains the drum of dhrupad. The tabla is two separate drums, played upright with the fingertips, while the pakhawaj player strikes its bass face with the whole palm. Tabla players accompany singers, instrumentalists and [kathak](/en-pk/dance/kathak) dancers, and they perform solos built from set compositional forms. The drum also sounds in Sufi qawwali, in Hindu and Sikh devotional singing such as bhajan and kirtan, and in light, folk and popular music, across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In the 20th century players took it into jazz and fusion as well. Part of **Hindustani Classical**: Hindustani classical instrumental music is North Indian raga music played on instruments such as sitar, sarod, sarangi, bansuri and tabla, each with its own technique. ### Quick Facts Tradition Hindustani classical music Rhythm system Taal; teentaal has 16 counts Core form Kayda (theme and variation) Role Accompaniment and solo ## History & Evolution Historians date the **tabla** to the 18th century. James Kippen traces it to the early 1700s, and Rebecca Stewart, in Kippen's account, used paintings and family lineages to date its emergence to the second quarter of that century, probably in the Punjab hill states. The name comes through Persian from the Arabic tabl, a drum. Scholars read the tabla as a blend of earlier drums. Its tuned treble head matches the head of the [pakhawaj](/instrumental/hindustani-classical/pakhawaj), its bass draws on kettledrums such as the naqqara, and the dholak, a folk drum, contributed its bass technique. Gordon Thompson sees a meeting of a Central or West Asian kettledrum tradition with South Asian drums played with the fingers. Kippen notes that Muslim hereditary specialists traditionally played the tabla almost exclusively, and argues that writers after Independence recast its theory in Sanskritic and Hindu terms. About 1750 ### The Delhi line Siddhar Khan Dhadi, the first identifiable player of the Delhi line, worked in Delhi around 1750. Early pictures show the tabla played standing, tied waist-high in a cloth, by drummers who reached the courts with troupes of courtesans. Late 18th to 19th century ### The move to Lucknow After Delhi's decline, courtesan troupes moved to Awadh, whose capital Lucknow became the new centre of Hindustani culture from 1775. The tabla accompanied the new thumri there and, by 1900, had replaced the pakhawaj as the leading classical drum. 1960s to present ### A global audience Zakir Hussain (1951 to 2024), son and pupil of Alla Rakha, co-founded the fusion group Shakti with John McLaughlin in 1973 and became a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellow in 1999. The Ali Akbar College of Music, founded in Berkeley in 1967, teaches tabla. ## Technical Aspects ### Bols: the spoken syllables of tabla Players learn, remember and recite the tabla repertoire through **bols**, the syllables that name each stroke. Gordon Thompson notes a pattern in the sounds: dental syllables for right-hand strokes, guttural ones for the left hand, and aspirated ones for both drums struck together. Na, Ta, Tin and Tun sound on the dayan, Ghe and Ka on the bayan, and Dhin joins Tin with Ghe. Spellings and fingering vary between gharanas and teachers. The strokes ring at a definite pitch because of the **syahi**, the black patch built up on each head. Accounts of it differ: C. V. Raman and Sivakali Kumar describe a composition with metallic iron as its main constituent, and Thompson calls the treble patch a specially prepared rice paste. In 1920 Raman and Kumar reported that a loaded head of this kind gives harmonic overtones like a string instrument. The player tunes the **dayan** to the soloist's tonic (Sa), sometimes the fifth or fourth; Thompson describes tuning an overtone of the head to the tonic. The bayan's pitch lies a fifth to an octave lower. ### Taal: cycles of rhythm A **taal** (tala) is a repeating cycle of counts, each count a **matra**. The cycle divides into sections (vibhag). Claps (tali) mark the stressed sections and waves (khali, meaning empty) mark the unstressed ones. Phrases resolve on sam, the first count. On the tabla each taal is known above all by its **theka**, the fixed bol pattern that supports the music, and Kippen found that hereditary musicians identify a taal by its theka first. **Teentaal** (also tintal or trital) has 16 counts in four groups of four, with khali on count 9; jhaptal has 10. Traditional accompaniment used a handful of cycles, of 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 counts, and most solo repertoire sat in teentaal. Manuals list many more: Taranath Rao's compendium Pranava Tala Prajna gives 101 rare taals of 2 to 35 counts. Kippen traces many thekas to folk and light dance grooves of the North and North-West, which explains why their clap patterns follow no single rule. ### Layakari: playing with tempo **Laya** means tempo, in three broad grades: vilambit (slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast). **Layakari** is playing at a set density against that pulse. Students train single density (thah or barabar), double (dugun) and fourfold (chaugun), and ad laya, at one and a half times the pulse. The **Ajrada** gharana is known for kaydas in ad laya and other triple-based ratios, which players of every gharana now use. ### The six gharanas of tabla Six tabla **gharanas** (schools or stylistic lineages) are commonly recognised: Delhi (Dilli), Ajrada (Ajrara), Lucknow, Farrukhabad, Benares (Banaras) and Punjab. Two historical styles (baj) group them. The Dilli baj covers Delhi and Ajrada; the purab, or eastern, baj covers Lucknow, Farrukhabad and Benares. Punjab developed apart, on a pakhawaj base, and shares features of both. **Delhi**, traced to Siddhar Khan Dhadi, favours light, precise strokes, a restrained bayan and a two-finger technique, and is the home of the kayda and peshkar. **Lucknow** came from the Delhi line through Mian Bakhshu and took bolder, open strokes from kathak and pakhawaj. **Farrukhabad**, from Haji Vilayat Ali Khan, is known for gat, rela and chalan. **Benares**, from Ram Sahai, has a powerful, resonant sound and a strong solo tradition. Ajrada, from Kallu Khan and Miru Khan, stresses bayan work. In India, Punjab now centres on the line of Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain. Most players today perform material from several gharanas while keeping roots in one. ## Journey to Mastery Follow this structured journey to master this discipline 1. 1 ### Posture and first bols Sit on the floor behind the drums, usually cross-legged, with the right hand on the dayan and the left on the bayan. Learn single strokes and say their bols aloud: Na and Tin on the dayan, Ghe and Ka on the bayan. Then play the theka of teentaal, the fixed bol pattern of the 16-count cycle. 2. 2 ### Kayda: theme and variation Learn a kayda, a word meaning rule: a theme built from a few bols, then varied through paltas (variations) that reuse only those bols. Each kayda closes with a tihai, a phrase played three times so its last stroke lands on sam, the first count of the cycle. Recite it while keeping taal on the hands. 3. 3 ### Bayan and bass control Train the left hand on the bayan, the bass drum. Strike Ghe, then press the heel of the hand into the head and slide it while the note sounds, so the pitch rises or falls. Practise it in time until the left hand shapes the bass without losing the count. 4. 4 ### Fixed compositions Move on to the fixed or cadential forms, played as composed: tukra, chakradar, paran and gat. A chakradar is a tihai of tihais. Learn the two kinds of tihai the national syllabus names, dumdar and bedam, from your teacher. The Lucknow gharana is credited with many of these forms, and Benares adds its own, such as uthan and farad. 5. 5 ### Accompaniment and solo Learn to tune the dayan and keep the theka steady behind a singer, instrumentalist or folk ensemble. Then build a solo. The CBSE senior secondary syllabus works towards a 10 to 15 minute solo, usually in teentaal, moving through forms such as peshkar, kayda, rela, tukra, chakradar and paran. It stresses face-to-face teaching from guru to pupil. ## Related Disciplines [### Ghatam The ghatam is a South Indian pot drum, made of clay mixed with metal filings. It accompanies the… ](/en-pk/instrumental/carnatic-classical/ghatam) ## Upcoming Events Performances and concerts featuring this discipline [ ](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-oxford-two-strings-one-pulse) ### [A Hundred Strings in Oxford: Two Strings, One Pulse](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-oxford-two-strings-one-pulse) Adnan Khan · Vinay Desai · Akram Khan **Holywell Music Room** WED, NOV 18 7:00 PM [ Book Tickets](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-oxford-two-strings-one-pulse/book) [ ](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi) ### [A Hundred Strings in Manchester: Strings of Kashmir and Delhi](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi) Adnan Khan · Vinay Desai · Akram Khan · Shahbaz Hussain **The Stoller Hall** FRI, NOV 20 7:00 PM [ Book Tickets](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi/book) [ ](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi) ### [A Hundred Strings in Manchester: Strings of Kashmir and Delhi](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi) Adnan Khan · Vinay Desai · Akram Khan · Shahbaz Hussain **The Stoller Hall** FRI, NOV 20 7:00 PM [ Book Tickets](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-manchester-strings-of-kashmir-and-delhi/book) [ ](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-bournemouth-ragas-by-the-sea) ### [A Hundred Strings in Bournemouth: Ragas by the Sea](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-bournemouth-ragas-by-the-sea) Adnan Khan · Vinay Desai · Akram Khan **Palace Court Theatre** SAT, NOV 21 6:30 PM [ Book Tickets](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-bournemouth-ragas-by-the-sea/book) [ ](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-london-plucked-and-struck) ### [A Hundred Strings in London: Plucked and Struck](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-london-plucked-and-struck) Adnan Khan · Vinay Desai · Akram Khan **St Saviour's, Pimlico** SUN, NOV 22 5:00 PM [ Book Tickets](/en-pk/event/a-hundred-strings-in-london-plucked-and-struck/book) ## Media Gallery Audio and video performances [ Live Performance 5:20 ### Raag Miyan ki Malhar \| Jhaptaal \| Slide Guitar & Tabla \| Debasis Chakroborty, Akram Khan \| KalaSudha 6 months ago ](/en-pk/video/raag-miyan-ki-malhar-jhaptaal-slide-guitar-tabla-debasis-chakroborty-akram-khan-kalasudha) [ Live Performance 5:10 ### Raag Bhairav \| Rekesh Chauhan & Shahbaz Hussain \| Live \| The Duke’s Hall 7 months ago ](/en-pk/video/raag-bhairav-rekesh-chauhan-shahbaz-hussain-live-the-dukes-hall) [ Live Performance 9:20 ### Mountain Dhun by Ajay Prasanna \| Live \| Raga Unison at Edinburgh 7 months ago ](/en-pk/video/mountain-dhun-by-ajay-prasanna-live-raga-unison-at-edinburgh) [ Live Performance 15:02 ### Raag Kirwani \| Deepak Shah \| Piano \| Reading \| Kala Festival 2025 7 months ago ](/en-pk/video/raag-kirwani-deepak-shah-piano-reading-kala-festival-2025) [ Live Performance 12:32 ### Yaad Piya Ki Aaye \| Ajay Prasanna \| London Raga Fusion \| Flute, Piano, Tabla & Ghatam \| KalaSudha 8 months ago ](/en-pk/video/yaad-piya-ki-aaye-ajay-prasanna-london-raga-fusion-flute-piano-tabla-ghatam-kalasudha) [ Live Performance 8:14 ### Ustad Akram Khan \| Tabla Solo in Rupak Taal \| Live in Reading \| Kala Festival 2025 8 months ago ](/en-pk/video/ustad-akram-khan-tabla-solo-in-rupak-taal-live-in-reading-kala-festival-2025) #### Pagination 1 [ Next ›› ](/en-pk/markdownify/taxonomy/term/90?page=1 "Go to next page") ## Featured Artists Renowned performers of this discipline ## [Sandipan Mukherjee ](/en-pk/artist/sandipan-mukherjee) Sandipan Mukherjee plays tabla in the Hindustani tradition, trained by Pandit Kumar Bose and Pandit Arvind Kumar Azad, performing across India with KalaSudha. [ ](https://www.instagram.com/sandipan__mukherjee "Instagram") ## [Shahbaz Hussain ](/en-pk/artist/shahbaz-hussain) Shahbaz Hussain is a renowned and accomplished tabla virtuoso. He is considered one of Europe's finest players, known for his dynamic and intricate performances in Indian classical music and fusion Tabla [ ](https://www.facebook.com/shahbazhussaintabla "Facebook") [ ](https://www.instagram.com/shahbaztabla "Instagram") ## [Sam Evans ](/en-pk/artist/sam-evans) Sam Evans is a contemporary Australian tabla player. He works as a performer, composer and educator in Melbourne. Following a decade of study with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee in Kolkata, India and with ## [Kayam Hussain ](/en-pk/artist/kayam-hussain) Kayam Hussain is an emerging British tabla player, son and student of Ustad Shahbaz Hussain. He has performed as a Tabla player with Gorillaz and accompanies visiting artists at KalaSudha concerts. [ ](https://www.instagram.com/kayamtabla "Instagram") ## [Hanif Khan ](/en-pk/artist/hanif-khan) Hanif Khan’s musical journey began under the tutelage of his father, Ustad Hidayat Khan, who was a well-respected tabla player in India. Hanif Khan is an expert in Delhi kayda tabla playing. Hanif Tabla [ ](https://www.instagram.com/tablauk "Instagram") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/fineindianmusic "Facebook") [ ](https://x.com/hanif_khan "Twitter") ## [Akram Khan ](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) Ustad Mohammad Akram Khan is a respected Indian classical tabla player from the Ajrada Gharana. A seventh-generation artist, he has performed around the world for over forty years. He is renowned for Tabla Ajrara Gharana [ ](https://www.facebook.com/mohdakramkhan "Facebook") [ ](https://www.instagram.com/akramtablaofficial/ "Instagram") #### Pagination 1 [ Next ›› ](/en-pk/markdownify/taxonomy/term/90?page=1 "Go to next page") ## Frequently Asked Questions Where can I learn tabla online with live lessons? KalaSudha teaches [tabla](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla) online in live one-to-one lessons with a vetted teacher, in HD video with stereo audio built for music. At **Foundation**, you speak each **bol**, the syllable for a stroke, as you play it. Na and Tin sound on the dayan, the treble drum; Ghe and Ka sound on the bayan, the bass drum. Then you learn the theka of teentaal, the fixed bol pattern of its 16-beat cycle. Our [courses](/en-pk/courses) run in levels, and where enough learners sign up, we bring workshops and summer camps near them. How long does it take to learn the tabla? The time it takes to learn the [tabla](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla) depends on regular practice and on training each hand for its own drum. The right hand plays the treble dayan. The left shapes the bass on the bayan, pressing the heel of the hand into the head to bend the pitch. At KalaSudha you move through the levels in order, starting at **Foundation** with the **bols**, the syllables you speak for each stroke. Each level's award records your learning hours. Lessons run live and one-to-one in our [online academy](/en-pk/academy), with workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up. How does a beginner, a child or someone coming back after a long break start learning the tabla? Start the [tabla](/en-pk/instrumental/hindustani-classical/tabla) with KalaSudha at **Foundation** level, online or in a workshop. The first stage covers hand placement and the basic bols, the spoken syllables for each stroke. Children learn with us as well as adults: ask us what age suits a child starting the tabla, and about a size for a younger learner. Returning learners pick up where they left off after a long break. Our [courses](/en-pk/courses) run in levels, and your teacher reviews where you stand first. Can I take tabla lessons with Ustad Akram Khan, online or in person? [**Ustad Akram Khan**](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) teaches tabla through KalaSudha's [online academy](/en-pk/courses). The academy offers classes in every discipline of Indian classical music and keeps adding specialised courses and teachers. The courses are hybrid: KalaSudha brings physical workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up, so you can learn online and in person. For him the tabla is a voice that carries the spirit of his gurus and of the Ajrara gharana. Can I take tabla lessons with Durjay Bhaumik, online or in person? [**Durjay Bhaumik**](/en-pk/artist/durjay-bhaumik) teaches tabla through KalaSudha's [online academy](/en-pk/courses). The academy offers classes in every discipline of Indian classical music and keeps adding specialised courses and teachers. The courses are hybrid: KalaSudha brings physical workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up, so you can learn online and in person. Can I take tabla lessons with Ustad Shahbaz Hussain, online or in person? [**Ustad Shahbaz Hussain**](/en-pk/artist/shahbaz-hussain) teaches tabla through KalaSudha's [online academy](/en-pk/courses). The academy offers classes in every discipline of Indian classical music and keeps adding specialised courses and teachers. The courses are hybrid: KalaSudha brings physical workshops and summer camps where enough learners sign up, so you can learn online and in person. How do I find a good tabla teacher? To find a good tabla teacher, or guru, look for one who can tell you who they learned from. From your first lesson, a good teacher checks your hand placement and the basic bols, the spoken syllables for each stroke. On KalaSudha, each teacher's lineage is on their profile. Pick one yourself, or ask us to match you. Lessons are live and online, from £30 / $30 an hour, set by each teacher. If you have played before, your teacher first reviews where you stand. Where enough learners sign up, we also bring workshops and summer camps near them. Our [courses](/en-pk/courses) include a tabla course in three levels. [Ask about tabla lessons in the Academy](/en-pk/academy). Have more questions? Contact our support team and we'll be happy to help! ## Past Performances [ ](/en-pk/event/london-ragas-pandit-debasis-chakroborty-ustad-akram-khan) ### [ London Ragas: Pandit Debasis Chakroborty & Ustad Akram Khan ](/en-pk/event/london-ragas-pandit-debasis-chakroborty-ustad-akram-khan) Date SAT, SEP 26 Time 6:00 PM - DC [Debasis Chakroborty](/en-pk/artist/debasis-chakroborty) • - AK [Akram Khan](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) **The Tate Institute** Early Bird [ View Details ](/en-pk/event/london-ragas-pandit-debasis-chakroborty-ustad-akram-khan) [ ](/en-pk/event/kala-festival-2026-rhythms-of-ragas-of-feet) ### [ Kala Festival 2026: Rhythms of Ragas & of Feet ](/en-pk/event/kala-festival-2026-rhythms-of-ragas-of-feet) Date WED, SEP 23 Time 7:00 PM - DC [Debasis Chakroborty](/en-pk/artist/debasis-chakroborty) • - AK [Akram Khan](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) • - AG [Alokparna Guha](/en-pk/artist/alokparna-guha) **The Bhavan** Early Bird [ View Details ](/en-pk/event/kala-festival-2026-rhythms-of-ragas-of-feet) [ ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) ### [ Cambridge Ragas: Resonance of Sitar, Slide Guitar, and Tabla ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) Date SUN, SEP 20 Time 6:30 PM - DC [Debasis Chakroborty](/en-pk/artist/debasis-chakroborty) • - AK [Akram Khan](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) • - SE [Sam Evans](/en-pk/artist/sam-evans) **Cambridge Junction** Early Bird [ View Details ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) [ ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) ### [ Cambridge Ragas: Resonance of Sitar, Slide Guitar, and Tabla ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) Date SUN, SEP 20 Time 6:30 PM - DC [Debasis Chakroborty](/en-pk/artist/debasis-chakroborty) • - AK [Akram Khan](/en-pk/artist/akram-khan) • - SE [Sam Evans](/en-pk/artist/sam-evans) **Cambridge Junction** Early Bird [ View Details ](/en-pk/event/cambridge-ragas-resonance-of-sitar-slide-guitar-and-tabla) #### Pagination 1 Current page [ Page 2 ](?page=1 "Go to page 2") [ Next page ](?page=1 "Go to next page") Stay close ## Keep KalaSudha close. 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