THE ROLE OF PUMPKIN IN THE MAKING OF TANPURA: AN INSIGHT

Abstract

Tanpura and other instruments are made of wild pumpkins. The main objective of this research is to know where the wild pumpkins grow, how tanpura instruments are made and the continuity of swara produced by it. The purpose of my research is to introduce the farmers who grow wild pumpkins and the artisans of tanpura instruments. As a music teacher, I was very much curious to know the role of pumpkins involved in producing swara after the instrument was completely made. I have written the research article partly after consulting scholars, instrument makers and partly by experience and experiments. The research article throws light on many factors such as: How many months are required to harvest these wild pumpkins? What is the method of processing it? How do these instrument makers make the instrument after tempering it? What is the economic status of the instrument makers and how this impacted the transformation of the instrument in the course of time, besides the family history of instrument makers.