Instrument Structure and Maintenance
This domain tests accurate naming of the parts of both drums, knowledge of materials, and practical tuning and care.
The right drum (daya)
- Body: turned from one block of sheesham (Indian rosewood) or khair (acacia), hemispherical, roughly 25–27 cm across.
- Head (pudi): goat skin with three zones - kinar (rim), maidan or chat (open middle ring), syahi (black centre patch of iron oxide with rice or wheat flour and gum).
- Fittings: gajra or braid (leather lacing), gatta/tasra (small tuning blocks under the lacing), tapped with a hammer to tune.
The left drum (baya)
- Body of copper, brass, clay or steel, head roughly 22–25 cm; the syahi sits off-centre on metal bayas.
- Heel and wrist pressure on the head bends the pitch, producing the gliding ghe that gives gamak and drives laggi.
- Tuning is by adjusting the lacing and the seating of the syahi, not by gatta tapping as on the daya.
Maintenance rules
- Keep both drums away from damp, direct sun and heat; humidity cracks the syahi and deadens tone.
- Cover the syahi, store in a padded case, and never rest weight on the pudi.
- Replace a pudi when the kinar tears or the syahi lifts; re-lacing is a professional job.
Worked example
A candidate's daya gives a dull thud on na. Reasoning: check syahi for cracks, check that the kinar is seated flat on the shell, check gatta tension. If the pudi is old, the maidan has stretched and re-tuning will not hold - replace the head. Always diagnose in that order: syahi, seating, tension, age.
Traps that cost marks
- Saying the baya's syahi is centred, or that the baya is tuned with gatta.
- Confusing kinar, maidan and syahi.
- Naming only wood for the baya, which is normally metal or clay.