Madhalam: India musical instrument

The madhalam or maddalam is a drum that is made put of wood of the jackfruit tree. The musical instrument has two sides for playing it. The two sides for playing the musical instrument is made out of leather and has various kind of sounds on each side. The musical instrument is a heavy instrument that is hung around the waist of the player and the player of the instrument stands all the while to play the musical drum.

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The madhalam is a crucial musical instrument in the traditional Kerala percussion groups like Panchavadyam, Keli and Kathakali orchestra.

The musical instrument is taken to be a DevaVadyam because it resembles Lord Shiva and Lord Parvathi by the sound it manufactures. It is believed that by structure, the musical instrument really resembles the ShivaSakthi swaroopa, in which the right hand side of the instrument resembles Shiva and the left hand side of the musical instrument resembles Parvathi. A comprehensive study on development, history, production, conservation and present day version of the musical instrument can be seen in one and only one literature on the madhalam that was done by Kalamandalam Sankara Warrier in his book "Maddalam Enna MangalaVadyam".

Kalamandalam Sankara Warrier, famous madhalam maestro has published this book in the year 2003 with the help of Kerala Kalamandalam. This book is the only comprehensive book or guide to the playing of the musical instrument and understanding of this musical instrument.

Some of the most popular players of the musical instrument are Thrikkur Rajan, Cherpulassery Sivan, Thichur Vasu Varrier, Edappal Appunni Nair, Kunisseri Chandran, Chirakkala Sankara Marar, Pulappatta Balakrishnan (Kundalassery Thankamani), Kalamandalam Sankara Warrier, Kundalassery Krishnankutty, Sadanam Ramachandran, Kallekkulangara Krishna Varrier, Thrippalamunda Nataraja Varrier, Odakkali Sankaramani Marar, Chottanikkara Surendran, Kongad Sukumaran, Eravath Appu Marar, Kalamandalam Sasi, Eloor Arun Deva Warrier, Peruvanam Haridas, Panangattukara Prakasan and Sadanam Bharatharajan, Kundalassery Manu, Kundalassery Ratheesh, Kundalassery Hari. Kathakali has its maddalam maestros like Kalamandalam Narayanan Nambisan, Kalanilayam Eachara Varrier, Kalanilayam Babu, Kottakkal Ravi, Kalamandalam Ramadas, Kalamandalam Gopikuttan, Sadanam Sreedharan, Sadanam Rajan and Sadanam Devadas among many others.