A South Asian term denoting pairs of wooden clappers, but in East India small cymbals.
Generally the term denotes wooden clappers, with or without jingles (either inserted bronze discs, or pellet bells, or both). Wooden or bamboo clappers, held two in each hand, are described in medieval Sanskrit works as kamrā. In Tamil Nadu kartāla denotes flat, round or oblong, wooden bats, with handles held between the fingers of one hand, which are struck together; these are called cekkai (Tamil) for the oblong type or cekkalu (Telugu) for the circular type with handles found in Andhra. Other wooden clappers include the catkulā of Madhya Pradesh, the kāthi of Orissa, the rāigidgidī of Rajasthan and the dandā of Bihar; the cimtā of South Asia and the tokā of Assam are analogous, sprung clappers (tongs).
In northern and central areas kartāl denotes pairs of thick wooden clappers, about 15 to 30 cm long, with flat inner surfaces; attached to the outer sides, which may be convex or concave, are metal rings, leather straps or incised wooden handles by which the clappers are held with thumb and fingers. They are clashed together in performance. Some have no jingles but most have thin bronze discs held vertically in slits at each end by metal pins; sometimes also bronze pellet bells are attached to the ends. These are used primarily in religious music. In the South this type is known as ciplā, in Maharashtra ciplyā and in Sind caprun.
For the kartāl of Bengal and Orissa see Tāl.
C.R. Day: The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan (Delhi, 1891/R)
C. Sachs: Die Musikinstrumente Indiens und Indonesiens (Berlin and Leipzig, 1914, 2/1923/R)
P. Sambamoorthy: A Dictionary of South Indian Music and Musicians (Madras, 1952–71)
P. Sambamoorthy: Catalogue of the Musical Instruments Exhibited in the Government Museum, Madras (Madras, 3/1962)
N.A. Baloch: Musical Instruments of the Lower Indus Valley of Sind (Hyderabad, 1966, 2/1975)
K.S. Kothari: Indian Folk Musical Instruments (New Delhi, 1968)
B.C. Deva: Musical Instruments of India (Calcutta, 1978)
ALASTAIR DICK