Tavil
तविल
The barrel drum of stick and fingers that partners the nadaswaram
The tavil (thavil) is a South Indian barrel drum, played with a stick on one head and the fingers on the other, that partners the nadaswaram in temple and festival music.
History & Evolution
No source fixes when the tavil arose. The organologist B. Chaitanya Deva offers a conjecture: that its bulging body follows an ancient Indian drum shape named after the myrobalan fruit. He also notes how close the word tavil sits to the Arabic tabl and the Turkish davul, and records that the drum is said to have been cylindrical before it took its present barrel form.
Its players came from hereditary musician communities. C. R. Day's 1891 survey names the Telugu-speaking Mangalavandlu as the community that formed the periya melam, a band distinct from the chinnamela of the dancers. The musicologist P. Sambamoorthy notes that such musicians held posts in the establishments of temples, mutts (monasteries of Hindu orders) and rajas. R. Nandakumar, writing on how the nadaswaram has been heard, traces an old prejudice against that instrument partly to its loud, rhythmic playing with the tavil.
- 1891
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The periya melam recorded
C. R. Day describes the Peryamela, "big music", as a band of men playing the nagasara, an older spelling of nadaswaram, with drums, set apart from the Chinnamela, "smaller music", of dancers. He calls the drum a dhol and never uses the word tavil.
- 1931
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A museum catalogue entry
P. Sambamoorthy's catalogue of the Government Museum, Madras, lists the tavil as the drum of outdoor music and still describes a cylindrical shell. Its later edition calls the nadaswaram ensemble the Tanjore band.
- 1930s to 1970s
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From exclusion to the festival stage
Early in the 20th century nadaswaram players were barred from the Tyagaraja Aradhana stage, a ban Nandakumar says seems to have eased after 1930. In 1974 the Tamil Nadu Assembly heard that the state arts council, the Iyal Isai Nataka Manram, helped arrange nadaswaram and tavil concerts.
- 1985 to 1988
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National honours for tavil players
Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam plays at the Festivals of India in France and the United States in 1985 and 1986 and receives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1988. The Akademi's citation also records his work with vocalists and violinists.
Technical Aspects
Stick and fingers
In standard practice the right hand plays the right head with fingers and wrist, and the left hand strikes the left head with a short, thick stick. S. Krishnaswami and P. Sambamoorthy's catalogue for the Madras museum both give the stick to the left hand. Krishnaswami calls the right head very tight, though it is tuned to no definite pitch.
Barrel Construction
The shell is carved from a single log of jackwood. Deva gives a typical tavil as about 40 cm long and 35 cm across the middle, against 55 to 60 cm long for the mridangam. The heads stretch over hoops of bundled bamboo, joined by leather braces that also circle the shell. Deva notes a paste often applied inside the head, where the mridangam carries its black karanai outside.
Standing and Seated Play
For open-air playing the tavil hangs from the player's shoulders on a strap, of cloth or leather by different accounts, and is brought round to the front so the player can stand and walk. This lets the periya melam lead processions honouring temple deities. The drum can also be played seated.
Journey to Mastery
Follow this structured journey to master this discipline
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Posture and the Two Strokes
Two ways of striking come first: the stout stick on one head and the fingers and wrist on the other. The learner works in both playing positions, seated and standing, with the drum hung from the shoulders for open-air performance. B. Chaitanya Deva writes that the heads are tensioned when the drum is made, with no tuning on the spot; S. Krishnaswami describes tightening the leather band to the desired pitch.
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Stick and fingers together
Stick and fingers then work together. In the alapana, the slow opening of a raga, the tavil keeps a subdued rhythm, and in the tanam sections it breaks in with bright passages. Nandakumar calls these percussive passages nadais.
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Ceremonial Repertoire
Ceremonial repertoire follows the occasion. Krishnaswami lists music for processions, weddings, welcomes and departures, and even funerals. The mallari belongs to the nadaswaram tradition alone: a composition without words, built from rhythmic syllables (jatis) and drum mnemonics (sollukattu), and played in raga Gambhira Nata in the rhythmic gait called khanda nadai.
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Nadaswaram Accompaniment
This stage covers the drum's part in a nadaswaram recital. Accounts of the alapana, the unmetred opening exposition of a raga, differ. Krishnaswami says the tavil and talam stay subdued through it; Nandakumar calls the alap free of rhythm, with percussive passages he names nadais within and before it. In the tanam, the rhythmic section that follows, Krishnaswami describes bright tavil passages breaking up the melody.
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Concert Accompaniment
This stage takes the tavil past the periya melam, to accompany other soloists and to play alone. Deva places the drum in concert as well as folk music. The Sangeet Natak Akademi citation for Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam shows both sides: he accompanied vocalists and violinists as well as nadaswaram players, and he issued a solo gramophone record.