Damarus

Scope note

Hourglass rattle drums of the Indian subcontinent, the Himalayas, and Mongolia, having a body usually made of wood or metal (in Tibet often of human skulls), with two thin skins wrapped around wooden hoops tightened by V-lacings and a central crosslacing. Two cords knotted at the ends or with pellets of wood, clay, or other hard material threaded on their ends, are attached to the central lacing; the knots or pellets strike the drum heads when the drum is twirled.