Dilruba
A bowed instrument with a sitar's long fretted neck and a sarangi's skin-covered belly, sweet enough to be called 'heart-stealer'.
The dilruba is played with a bow, the player stopping the strings on metal frets along a long neck while a row of sympathetic strings rings beneath. Sikh tradition holds that it was made as a lighter, more portable form of the taus for the Khalsa on the move.
It became the classic accompaniment of Sikh kirtan before the harmonium, and its sound, close to a human voice, is heard again today as gurdwara musicians revive the old string instruments.
More instruments
The fretless lute of Bhai Mardana, the first instrument of Sikh kirtan.
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The bowed fiddle that sounds most like the human voice, partner of the dhadi singer.
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The peacock-headed bowed instrument associated with Guru Hargobind.
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The one-stringed plucked instrument of Punjabi folk music, made famous by Yamla Jatt.
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The paired flutes played at once, one droning and one singing, by the herdsmen of the bar.
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The big double-headed drum, the heartbeat of bhangra and the harvest.
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The fire tongs with jingles that keep time for folk singers and kirtan in the villages.
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The hand-pumped reed organ that came with missionaries in the 19th century and became the voice of kirtan, qawwali and the Punjabi song.
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The pair of hand drums that keeps time for kirtan, qawwali and classical song, and the Punjab gharana of Lahore that made a style of its own.
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The small hourglass drum of the dhadis, held in one hand and tightened with the fingers to make it sing.
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The folk fiddle of the villages, with an open belly half covered in skin, played to accompany ballads and qisse.
▶ WatchGharaThe village water pot turned into a drum, played with the fingers and a ring at weddings and in folk ensembles.
▶ WatchKatoA wooden squirrel on a stick that jumps and clatters when a string is pulled: the joker of the bhangra and Malwai giddha.
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A small drum with a string fixed to its skin, plucked and pulled to make a rubbery, twanging beat.
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The 'snake': a lattice of wooden slats that stretches out and snaps shut with a clap.
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The snake charmer's pipe: two reed pipes set in a dried gourd that holds the player's breath, so the sound never stops.
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The bamboo flute of the herdsmen of the bar, the flute Ranjha played to Heer's buffaloes by the Chenab.
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The great kettledrum of kings and of the Khalsa, beaten at the Akal Takht and before Sikh processions.