Concussion sticks of northern South Asia. Clashed wood or bamboo sticks, natural or lathe-turned, plain or painted, with or without jingles, are widespread in South Asia, especially in dancing. Common northern names are dandiā, danda, dandī and cār, all meaning ‘stick’; the equivalent southern terms are kōlu and karra (katta). The lī-keli of Sri Lanka is a related instrument. Each dancer usually has a pair of sticks, which he or she clashes together and against those of the other dancers, as in the famous dandā rās of Gujarat; in the southern pinnāl kolāttam, a maypole stick-dance, the dancers have only one stick each.
The dandiā of Gujarat are often comparatively short and thick, lathe-turned and given an ornamental lacquer. Small metal pellet-bells (ghungrū) are sometimes hung from the end of one stick on strings. The dandiā rāscircle-dance is performed primarily by men, during the autumn festival of Navarātrī. The dandiā of neighbouring Rajasthan are used in fertility dances of the springtime holī festival, as well as at the autumn harvest. The dandā of Madhya Pradesh are long sticks (about 60 cm) used by Ādivāsī peoples in the sailā dance, while those of adjacent Bihar appear to play the sticks (with pellet-bells) as clappers, in one hand. The dandoof Sind is a single stick rattle.
South Asian percussion or stamping sticks include the tippani of Gujarat and the gedi of Madhya Pradesh; the cimtā of the Punjabi areas, the cinpiā of Rajasthan and the tokāof Assam are metal clappers with sprung joints.
K.S. Kothari: Indian Folk Musical Instruments (New Delhi, 1968)
B.C. Deva: Musical Instruments of India (Calcutta, 1978)
ALASTAIR DICK/R