The Life of an Apprentice

Disclaimer: All characters and situations in this article are imaginary and does not relate to real life of any person dead or alive. please ignore spelling mistakes as this is written partiall in tamil




This is a story of the life of swaminathan from Kumbakonam, who is an apprentice with one leading mridanga vidwan in chennai




Characters in the article:
Guru a accomplished artist called “Anna”, guru’s wife called “manni”, guru’s mother called ”maami” the hero of the story Swaminathan from Kumbakonam usually called “dai sami”,the mridangam students,sabha secretary, mridangam repairer “varadan”, fellow disiple Sankara also from Kumbakonam.

Just 1 day in swami’s life:

5:30 am sankara saya to sami “ezhuinthiru da somberi annaku inniki kutcheri irrukku”
swami thinks “let this sankara go to hell”, “I worked so hard yesterday with
the mridangam repairing it, but he was fast asleep”, who knows the pain??

6:00 am sankara “koonjam pal podi kudu da, enthu gali, annaku therunja avaladhan”

6:15 am Anna just took off from bed! “Dai sami pai(mattress), porva(blanket),
thalagani(pillow) edithu vai”

sami: “ anna manni is still sleeping”,
anna:“arrive illiya??” “enodha things ellam edithu vai”
sami: sari anna!!
Anna: nee ellam oru jammam???!?!....as though he is really great!!

6:30 am anna: “sami class students ellam vandangala??”
sami: wait panindu irukanga na
anna: “loosu” class start panna vendithu thana, dai sankara, sami eppidi da
ivelom peria loosa irukan??

Swaminathanis taking class for the student of the great vidwan who gets the fees for doing so. He is teaching a aadhi thalam korvai…..tha..thi…ki…ta..thom…that hi kit a thom….goes on….but no student grasps it right!!!

7:00 am student: “sami master I am getting late for school”
sami: tell this one korai and u can go!
Student: they will scold me in school!!

Suddenly anna comes by the way….whts happening?
Sami: he wants to finish off the class, but……
Anna: what butt…….these days school is important than the mridangam
class…..how would u know that???? U stopped schooling at 2nd standard itself!!!....

After the student and the parents have gone, anna says…. Sami “eppadi sonna than parents and students will turn up next class, if u make it late in this class they will shift the mridangam teacher!!!....these are called tactics…….Chennai is not same as Kumbakonam ….u have got a long way to go!!

7:30 am mami: sami koonjam pal kaachi kudu da sami
sami: sari mami
mami: “appdi ye enga ellarukum kaapi potudu”
sami: mami sankarakuma?
Mami: ammam da , sankara nama atthu kozanthai(kid) da!

Sami thinks “why mami did not tell his name in the coffee list??” He feels let down!

Sami: anna coffee, mami coffee, sankara coffee kudi! Manni….
Anna: hey loosu manni is sleeping….how can she drink coffee while sleeping??
Anna: u should have a look at who are all the people ready to drink coffee before making it!!!...see now one cup of coffee is waste….(he is one codger)

Sami thinksthis willnot be a waste if I drink it!! But anna din tell me to drink it!!!!

7:40 am anna: sami ella coffee tumbleraium wash panni vai…paru manni has waken up!!!! Give her coffee!!

7:45 am anna to his mother: sammi prepares good coffee know?
Mami: that’s why I told him to make coffee “avan en koffee kuduchu valandhavan da”

7:45 am mami: sami coffe eppadi iranduthu??
Sami: I don’t know mami!!
Mami: why?
Sami: I dint drink it!!
Mami: dai coffee pootavanuke sollulanuma??
Anna: hey “loosu” idhu kooda neeye panna matiya??
Sami: no anna, I was waiting for u r words
Anna: “loosu” mariyadhey manasula irundha poodhum!!

Sami thinks “ thts the prize I got fro being so respectful”

7:50 am anna: sankara and sami manniku kai nariki kudunga

Then they both cut vegetables fro cooking!! What about mridangam lessons??

8:15 am manni: Tiffin ready!
Anna : rava uppma supara irruku di
Manni: sami, sankara after anna finishes eating u two eat the remaining
uppma ok?


Sami: sari manni!
Anna: dai plate ta wash panni vai!!

After that sami and sankara had a little uppma which was just finished in 2 minutes

9:00 am anna: sami mooka pidika saaptaha?...aantha 1 ½ katta mridangatha edu!
Sami: anna, inniki evening mama ku 1 ¼ sruthi anna!
Anna: I am playing concerts for 20 years, I know more thatn what u know, do
what I say! “aadikaprasangi”
sami: sari anna

Now anna starts tuning the mridangam, sami sat down to have a deep look at it

anna: dai “loosu” ravai(sooji for mridangam) yaar pasenju koodupa?? Oonga
appana(a bit harsh for us but not for anna )

sami: sari anna

sami starts preparing the rava paste, he has done it now gives it to anna

anna: enna da ithu??? Rava kozhumbu(a watery paste) pannirike??? Idhuku
than sankarava rava pesaya sollam nu irunthen, aadhu kulla nee pannite!!

Sami thinks “ I never prompted for doing the job”…what do I am a apprentice!!

9:15 am now anna starts playing the mridangam…..it sounds nice to all but….

Anna: sami toppi(leftside of mridangam) corrtecta irryka??

Sami: nanna irruka anna
Anna: na eppidi irruku na katein??? Corrects irrukanu thana keetien!!! U
idiot u forgot tamil???
Sami: anna!! Correcta irruku na!!(he told this in fear, but he knows that it
has to be little more ower in bass)
Anna: sankara nee sollu
Sankara: innukonjam errakunam anna(lowered)
Anna: good, eventhanda sishyan!! Dai sankara…nee munnuku vandu du va

Sankara: then sami ?

Anna: avan ennake guru aiduvan!!!(he will become my guru!)





Anna plays a korvai now ……a trikala korvai…a hard one…

Anna: dai sami “****” enna thalaam podera???
Sami: sorry anna…….
Anna: nee ellam enkita mridangam kathukara????

Anna finishes playing!! Aaabha thollai mudinchuthu!!

Anna: pasangala mridangatha edthu vaiga, naa shave pannum

Sami and sankara puts back mridangam in its place, anna comes and inspects it…

Anna: yaar rava edthu vachathu?
Sankara: sami thaan anna
Anna: anan “loosu”, paar eppadi floorla sindirikan!!

Anna tells a story, naan en gurukita irukum poothu, eppadin errupen…..goes on…

Dai sami….floor keetu pooidum da!! Naan intha house a 4 lu US tour poi vangi iruken!!
Okkku enga kaasoda arumai theriya poorathu!!!


The day goes on…….i’ll write more…in my next post!!!

Till then imagine what would have happened in sami’s life!!!

the valentines day topic for The Hindu newspaper

I extol the fact that people of Chennai are giving utmost respect to one of the greatest qualities of human kind “LOVE”, but certainly feel ashamed that that few miscreants misuse valentine’s day to party out and ramshackle our culture. Yes, Valentines Day is hyped nowadays. To be succinct the Valentines Day is misused nowadays and its sacrosanct nature is ignored.

Valentines Day is celebrated as a respect to St.Valentine, the epitome of love. In the past about ten years back Valentines Day was a sort of taboo. Only romantic students used to bunk their college to hang out at the not so safe beaches in the hot sun. But now the situation has changed drastically! Many older people have joined this celebration as well as clubs organize parties which are indeed safer than the sunny shores!

In this day the feeling of love is expressed by the mankind. I don’t know why Chennaiites limit this love to their boyfriends and girlfriends? This love could be expressed to their parents, grandparents other relatives and friends too. Why is this not done?

Certainly the valentine day is hyped about. How is it hyped? The answer lies with two major factors:

The expansion of the IT kingdom. This has not only brought laurels to our nation but also some profane effects in our culture. This has taught the innocent Chennaiites the party culture. This also has given the Chennaites the monetary power to get besotted in parties. Youth who are the less experienced fall prey to this. The significance of the day is lost when we find many men and women in the name of “love” shake a leg all along the night till they are enervated. Situations are getting bad as the Tamil women are also starting be dipsomaniacs! This sound as a blasphemy to our culture.

The other major reason is the cinema. These people are can be named the worst criminals as they spoil the young minds by luring them towards their unrealistic fables. I think they are the ones who preach that Valentines Day is meant only for romantic couples and not for all! It’s an evident fact that people tend to follow what the film stars do in the screen thus; as this day is hyped about in the screen it is so outside.

Valentines Day can be resurrected as a day in which people respect love. This could be accomplished only when the youth try to understand the real meaning of the day. The plebeians must be educated about the acts of St.valentine. Doing this would certainly bring a good turn in which the chennaiites will start to respect the feeling of love in sophistry

WHY SHOULD PEOPLE ATTEND COLLEGE?

warning: essay typed in a timed practice test!!bare with erors


A man is respected in this world only when he is educated to a certain level, at least a college level, so I think this is one of the major reason for people of all walks of life to attend college. Attending college not only results in a degree but also moulds the man's life. I strongly believe that college days are the most important days in one's life.

On one hand take the case of engineering. The equipments required for the experiments are expensive, thus college paves way for cheaper method to learning as the cost is shared by all the students attending the particular course. On the other hand take the case of history education, only the college can maintain the resource required by the students to learn deeply about historical events, which may not be available outside. so this also suggests why people attend college. College is the only place where students find their professors of their field of interest. They also find their best counterparts in research fields as this is one of the deciding criterions if someone is planning academia as his future


College education not only teaches the subjects but also moulds the character of a person. For example the important qualities like time management, sincerety will be developed by attending college. Students attending college also develop a healthy competition between them. This is the one that is required by all to be successful in life.

Befriending one of the best qualities with the humankind, this quality built only in the college life. People find their best friends in life only in college. Sometimes they even find their life partner. Thus college is a place where people get to know how to behave and react to situations faced by them in their future.

Thus attending college is one of the most cherish able moments in one's life. if a person doesn’t attend college then he really misses something in his life.

MEDIA, BOON OR A BANE

warning: essay typed in a timed practice test!!bare with erors

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Television,newspapers, magazines, and other media pay too much attention tothe personal lives of famous people such as public figures andcelebrities. Use specific reasons and details to explain your opinion.

I strongly agree with the fact that the media pays too much attention in the lives of the celebrities. Sometimes they even cause grave danger to their lifes.But the career of the celebrities are dependent on the media too. If the media stop noting and publicizing small personal facts about the stars then they would be the friends of the personalities.

The discussion that the media is good or bad for the stars can be talked this way. One one hand they media is the one which brings out the good deeds the stars do, they even have a coverage of a star visiting the old age homes, medical patients, giving donations and many other events. They really help them in showing the world the generosity of the personalities and raise their name in the world. On the other hand, sometimes they prove to be the best enemies when they cross with the personal life of the stars.

One of the most affected person was Princess Diana. She was a simple School teacher who became the princess, the media encouraged this act of this great woman. They also helped her in telling the world about her philanthropic heart for the not so lucky fellow beings. But they were the reason for her death too. Take the case of president Clinton who was impeached in rather very ugly fashion. These were because of the media which cooked stories about him. But for the media he would have been respected much more than what he is now. Another star Kapil Dev the greatest cricketer of all times was worshipped by the media as God. But at a time they told stories about him and made him cry like a baby and telecasted it to the whole world.

Media is very powerful weapon. It needs to be used in a formal fashion. It should not interfere with the public life of the celebrities. They should also stop spinning their own stories about small information they get. They should also be told to get permission from the stars before they publish or telecast anything about them. If they work in this way media would be cherished by all the celebrities and the general public too.

HEY PEOPLE THIS WAS A NICE DAY!

today this year's cricket cutcheri took place!!!
have some nice info regarding the happenings there! i'll write about that as well as the crickrt kutchery part II....jus wait for some days...till i return!..wanna go to bed.....3 am in the night!!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!!neways tommorow is a holiday for me....not to all!!!

cricket kutcheri! part 1

note:these pictures were taken in jan 2004, match for 2003 season


i was in an extolated mood when my guru added my name in one of the 4 teams for the musician's cricket match last year! i was put in ghatam guru's team!!
the first person i met in the ground was tm krishna.....we(me and my guru) had some lighter moments with him and we all geared up to look who have all come to play.

yeah it was nice in the morning to see manargudi eswaraan mama in a tee shirt and a trak suit!!never seen him so!!!!..he was the senior most there!! ....then there were yacm crew members.......all in a hilarious moods....havin the yacm flag....i met another close friend of mine violin varadarajan sir!!! he took a day from his office to play the game!!!!...too much obsessed!!!.....he is always like that about cricket.....sometimes he asks the scores when we meet after a concert!!! not only him...but many musicians are!!!!!!
one such cricket fanatic is my guru....poongulam ji !!!!! he is a star not only in the podium but also in the field!!...so..he is made captain every year!!and ppl are afraid being a part of his team as he scolds...if they dont play well!!!!!.......we saw many gettin thiers from him that day!!!!!

then the teams were given distinct coloured tee shirts......i was in the red team!!!!
guruji in orange!!!....i still cherish the tee shirt....i got that day!!!!.................

.....hey its late in the night......i've got my project work......so i'll write about the remaining part tommorow!!!.......

tell me "did u like it"........and....i say...."try to attend the match on 15th instant".....though u r not playing youll will enjoy others playing!!!

replies....relished!!

bye!

HIP!HIP!HURRAY!!!!MY PAPER GOT SELECTED!!!!

HEY TODAY WAS NICE MY PAPER GOT SELECTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF SIGITAL DESIGN AT SAN FRANSISCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THATS REALLY GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WILL BE PUBLISHED AT THE IEEE JOURNAL!!!!!!!!!!EEEAHH!!!!
OK.......I'LL GIVE U THE ABSTRACT!!!
HERE IT IS:






MULTIPLEXER BASED CLB ARCHITECTURE

V.RAGHAVENDRAN
Electronics and instrumentation engineering
EEC, Chennai,
INDIA
v.raghavendran@gmail.com

Abstract


In this work, I have presented a new CLB (Configurable Logic Block) architecture that consists of only multiplexers and does not have any LUTs. This is different from the LUT (standard look-up table) based CLB architectures available in commercial FPGAs. The new function generation architecture is based on the fact that a small set of k-input Boolean functions can generate all the 22 k , k-input Boolean functions using a simple techniques using multiplexers. By using Shannon’s expansion theorem, every 16-bit function is expressed in terms of 4-bit functions that can be generated as described. The area required by the new function generation architecture is lesser than the area required by a standard 16 x 1 LUT used in commercial FPGAs. In addition, the proposed architecture consumes lesser power than the standard 16x1 LUT. None of the existing algorithms for technology mapping, packing, placement and routing have to be modified, since the new CLB architecture makes no assumptions about the set of Boolean functions to be mapped on to the FPGA. The new architecture requires a small increase in the SRAM configuration memory. This is a trivial in comparison to the reduction achieved in the area of the FPGA and power consumption, by the proposed CLB architecture.

MUDHRAS THE CAMEO OF A COMPOSER version 1.1

PREFACE
I have done a deep search into the ocean of carnatic music to find out the mudhras used by different composers in their work. I started this work with a spark of the thought when people found it difficult to figure out a song during a music academy concert. With the help of my grandpa R.S. Srinivasan who has some good knowledge in this variety of music and my hunger for finding out the solutions for different kinds of problems I compiled the list of composers and their mudhras.I hope that this would be well received by the people loving this form of music and would also be useful to them. Any additions can be suggested to this work by mailing me. Thanks for your support.

V.Raghavan

INTRODUCTION:

Mudhras are “phrases” used by composers in their work to put a stamp to show that it’s their work. Those days in the past there were no organizations which could issue patents or register their work, so this mudra system was followed by them. Some mudhras tell about the composer’s deity, some their name and so on. These mudhras became a great tool in recognizing ones work. So with the help of a mudhra we can easily find out whose composition it is.
Example: shyama sastri used the mudhra shyamakrishna in all his work! This made it easier for people to find out that this is a work by shyama sastri

This is a succinct introduction to the mudhras. A deep research can be done in this field like “why composers used certain type of mudhras”, “why not their names”…etc., .i’ll come out with that research work in my summer holidays in mid May 2006!

I have compiled a database of mudhras, I think this would be a useful tool for you all.

RAGHAVAN’S MUDHRA DATABASE 1.0 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER


Anai Ayya
Umadasa
Annamacharya
Venkatachala.....................it goes on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BRAIN TO AN ARRAY OF MUSICAL NOTES

RESPONSE ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BRAIN TO AN ARRAY OF MUSICAL NOTES





PREFACE and DISCLAIMER

HERE IN THIS WORK I HAVE MADE A RESEARCH ON THE WAY IN WHICH THE HUMAN BRAIN RESPONDS TO MUSIC.I HERE BY WISH TO CONFIRM YOU THAT THESE ARE MY CONCLUSIONS AND ARE NOT UNIVERSAL. I ALSO WISH TO TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN IGNORE THIS ARTICLE IF YOU HAVE ANY SORT OF RESENTMENT AND PLEASE DO NOT CLAIM ME FOR ANYTHING EXCEPT DOUBTS WHICH ARISE OUT OF MISUNDERSTANDING THE LITRATURE.THIS IS A PIECE OF WORK DONE BY ME IN MY LEISURE TIME AND IS NOT SO SERIOUS BUT OFF COURSE A LITTLE IMPORTANT.SOMETIMES I WOULD HAVE REACHED THE ZENITH OF CRAPPING IN THIS ARTICLE IF YOU THINK SO DON’T BOTHER ABOUT THAT. THIS IS AN ARTILLE WRITTEN JUST FOR THE PURPOUS OF GIVING AN EDUCATED ENTERTAINMENT.SO HAVE A NICE TIME READING THROUGH.





1. Introduction:

The term “MAKING NEGATIVE THINGS POSITIVE” is well known to the human brain! Let me discuss some of the factors governing with this phrase with regards to a song which I defined as an array of notes. This research work is dedicated to the world of carnatic music.

2. Concept of conversion of negative to positive:

The abstraction of this concept pushes me to analyze mathematically. So let me go with my thoughts to prove the concept.
Any term is converted from a negative value to positive by multiplying with an integer which doesn’t have any effect in it altering its value(except from +ve to -ve)
Example: -45 x (-1) = +45!

But when it comes to human brain the values the approach is different!

3.0 Concept of recognition of an array of notes in human brain:

Do we people know how a human brain reacts when it senses anything?
Most of us us would have known how this happens! The concept of electricity rules even here! yes the human brain produces various levels of currents to each and every different variety of the notes it has sensed! (if I am not wrong!)

The simple explanation of a current-time analysis is explained to understand better:



fig 1 response to relished notes fig 1.1 response to mediocre notes


as seen in this analysis fro fig 1.0 the current produced is reaching a peak and continues in its steady state for a song relished by one. But the case is a damped for a mediocre song, the response would cease to exists at the end.


fig 1.3 response to a peeved notes

In the case of a song which the brain gets irritated to there is produced a reverse current (ir).

this is just the basic analysis of the response of the human brain to different notes!




3.1 The experimental analysis:

To verify this concept lets take an example. Lets say that a person is carnatic freak and doesn’t even like to hear any of the filmy notes. The response of his brain to a song he dislikes to its apex “appadi poodu…poodu”is like the one seen in the figure 1.3.

There is a steady increase of the ir in the negative direction. As the time tends to increase the value of the reverse current tends to follow it in the same manner till he gets peeved to a limit where he does something to stop hearing the song.

3.2 The elements in the response:

We should know that there are different elements associated with the response this man’s brain gave to analyze the situation and come to a conclusion
The basic regions are the rise time, peak value, steady state value and the fall time.
According to the fig 1.3 we may see that the rise time is too steep! the peak value is proportional to the time till a certain period of time! And the fall time is nearly zero, in course of time but not sown in the waveform

4.0 Factors that influence the recognition of a array of notes :

Its surprising to know that some of the factors that are involved in the process of recognizing a set of notes are dependent on the following:

Absolute values of the peak time, absolute value of the rise time, settling time and the human psychology are these factors

4.1 The analysis of these values in our experiment:

The peak time is very high! rise time is also very high! And its difficult the settling time because the brain got peeved so much that it dint forget the notes!


4.2 Role of human psychology:

This plays a very important part in the analysis. Its we human who always do what we are told not to do! Remember what ought not to be! This is the crux of the research!

5.0 The new phenomena:

As we saw that the human brain retains the notes it got peeved off, it contradicts the fact that there is a reverse current produced every time it hears the notes!

This cannot be true as there is a fact that that tell us that a positive current is produced when it relishes a note!

Thus that notes which it got peeved off should have created a positive impact! How is that possible!!!

5.1 The concept of 3-dimension:

This response which was created must have a finite positive value equal to the one that’s created by the relishing note! This is possible only by analyzing in a 3d mode! We introduce an axis called the imaginary axis or the z-axis

Thus the brain would have responded in a manner such that the value of the peak time would be equal to the one which was produced in relishing mode but in the z- axis parallel to it!which means that the brain can remember and

Fig 1.4 the 3d model

Reproduce it at the same speed of reproducing the notes which they are fond of!
This clearly says that a bad piece of music is registered in to the same depth a good piece is! This makes us think!

6.0 conclusions:

Thus by this article I want to convey that the human brain retains the most disliked piece of notes in the same way it registers the notes which is relished by it. Thus even a so called bad song is liked theoretically as much as a good song is.
Then why humans have likes and dislikes? That’s my next research.

Future work:

After a research in this topic I want to know what is the the z-axis also that how does the brain differentiate between the signals in the x,y,z axis. The other arena I want to concentrate is that why carnatic music is liked only by few people?

MY OPINION ON SO CALLED EDUCATING A PUBLICAN ALL ABT CARNATIC

WARNING:i've experesed my thoughts in a hurry...so just dont mind errors and patterns!

mani sir...in jaya tv told
"carnatic music is 5 star!only ment for class people and not for the regular types,carnatic music is like a bunglow!dont take it near the slums....if so even there it would have its eternity,class...etc...don mix any other music with carnatic"
my thoughts(only mine!!no offence to anyone!)
its a blasphmey that carnatic is taken to the slums in the name of spreading it!
many in the name of spreading do all sorts of nonsense.....for ex:i heard the song "thaye yeshoda"with a mix of fast drum beats in a store put up at music academy
it was a staccato to hear that....it really told me the pathetic state of carnatic music....its only liked when some irrelevant drum beats are added to it!!

what happened to the mridangam??ghatam(i am sure karthick anna will support me)
kanjira(really a wonderful instrument).....if u guys out there in this city want to listen to heavy metal we can can give u that experience with our precussion!!
i tell u man....technicaly the base drum of mridangam(toppi),the kanjira have a greater complex harmonics than that created wih the help of a stick and tensioned rexin!
one thing folks.....dont ever try to mix this jarring sound into the sacroscant carnatic!!!
i am really harsh on that company wich did that....why did u all bring it out....and too also too many ppl buying that!!!!!!hey its ridiculous!!!!!!(it was next to a loss making stall by xyz audios!!!)
why did ppl come to music academy then!
heard one young couple telling on the 29th evening 7pm:
"i woul love to hear carnatic with this type of beats all round rather than that monotonous mridangam sound".....hey wait a minute

do u know how mridangam sounds???the greatness in its quality of sound??i bet no other drum in the whole world can be compared with it!!!its simply unequivocal!!

OK...COMMING TO THE TOPIC...CARNATIC MUSIC SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN OUT....IT SOULD MAKE PPL COM OUT OF THEIR PLACES TO LISTEN TO THEM.....AND DON PLZ....DO NONSENSE TRYING TO MAKE A PLEABIAN UNDERSTAND IT BY GOING HIS WAY(ADDING NONSENSE TO IT!) RATHER TRY TO EDUCATE HIM ABOUT HIS STANDARD OF UNDERSTANDING IT!OR MAYBE HIS IGNORANCE!]
Romonov

for people who want to know about mridangam

The origin of mridangam goes back to the Indian mythologies wherein it is stated that Lord Nandi (the Bull God), who was the escort of Lord Shiva was a master percussionist and used to play the mridangam during the performance of the " Taandav " dance by Lord Shiva. Another myth adds that that the mridangam apparently was created because an instrument was needed that could recreate the sound of Indra (the Hindu counterpart of Zeus king of Gods) as he moved through the heavens on his elephant Airavata. That is why mridangam is called the 'Deva Vaadyam' or the instrument of the Lords. Indian music, like every other aspect of Indian culture, reflects centuries of influences and changes wrought during its 3,000 years of recorded history with the immigration of the Aryans from Central Asia in the second millennium B.C. to Islamic invasion in the 12 century B.C. and the British rule from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. With each group came new cultural ideas and technical innovations, and with the passage of time, the new ideas were absorbed and assimilated, emerging finally in an undeniably Indian synthesis. In music this synthesis can be seen in the relationship between ragas (expressive modes) of India and those of the Middle East (the Islamic influence) as also in the talas (cycle of beats). Indian music, classical, folk or popular, thus reflects layers of metamorphosis. It includes the two styles of classical music - North India's melodious Hindusthani music and the intricate Carnatic Sangeetham of South India. India can be said to be a country of countries; its diversity of languages, religions, cultures, and traditions have no parallel example anywhere in the world. Indian musical instruments in the same manner are very diverse in nature. Most of the Indian musical instruments have evolved over centuries. Each instrument has its own history behind its evolution. In Indian culture's early stages, artifacts, musical instruments, and lifestyles were simple and basic in nature. Example: all tribal instruments are basic rhythm instruments and never complex instruments having a capacity to produce a range of octaves. As a society progressed, the demands on musical instruments arose. Thus, most Indian instruments, although having started in simple forms, because of a long period of evolution, have now become exquisite instruments capable of producing a varied pitch and range of octaves.Musical instruments, according to ancient works, have been divided into four types. Thatha, Avanaddha, Sushira and Ghana which are Chordophones, Membranophones, Aerophones and Idiophones respectively. The mridangam belongs to the percussion family and has been played by Indians for more than 2000 years. It consists of a wooden shell approximately 27 inches long, covered with stretched skins on each side. It is famous for its distinctive buzzing sound and is used extensively for dance performances. Mythologically it is believed that God himself created tabla by cutting the mridangam into half.