The two-headed “king of percussion”, without which the sound of Carnatic music cannot be the same, is made of cowhide. “There are stories about how a mridangam player has chosen a cow” that will be turned into an instrument, said Krishna. There are also stories about how “the cow will pray to be killed to be part of the mridangam”, he added. Mridangam players will talk about thattu, but not about thol,” Krishna said. What do I tell a vegan?”The mridangam is said to be the sound of Nandi, Shiva’s bull.

Source: The Telegraph January 25, 2020 19:52 UTC