Overview

Damaru is the most com¬mon hour-glass drum in India. It has a resonator which is anywhere from 4-10 inches in length and 3-8 inches in diameter. The resonator is us¬ually either metal or wood. There are two drumheads on each side of the resonator which are laced together with cord. Near the cen¬tre of the lacing are two loose knotted cords. The knots on each end strike both heads to produce a rattling sound. This is affected by rotating the drum rapidly in alternating di-rec¬tions. The pitch is bent by squeezing the lacing. The damaru has very strong cul¬tural associations. It is stron¬gly associated with the God Shiva and sadhus (wandering Hindu re¬li¬gious men). The damaru ap¬pears to be the most com¬mon re¬pre-sentative of a family of hour-glass drums. Although other re¬pre¬sentatives (e.g., udaku, hurduk, idakka, etc) may be found, they are very rare. This is in stark contrast to the abundance of forms that are found carved on temple walls. The damaru is vir¬tually identical to the dhad. This is played with the hands instead of knotted chords. The dhad is very pop¬ular in the Sikh bardic trad¬ition.

Source – https://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/damaru.html