Sacred Object
Damaru
Sanskrit: Ḍamaru
The damaru is a small, two-headed hand drum, shaped like an hourglass, most closely associated with Shiva — whose rhythmic beating of the damaru in his form as Nataraja is said to have created the primordial sounds and rhythms of the universe.
- Category
- Instrument
Material Culture & Craftsmanship
Damarus are traditionally made from two pieces of wood or bone joined at a narrow waist, with skin heads on each end and small weighted strikers attached by cords, so that rotating the drum in the hand causes the strikers to strike each head alternately. Similar small hourglass drums are also used in Tibetan Vajrayana ritual, carrying their own distinct symbolism.
Symbolism
In Shaiva theology, the damaru's two beats are associated with the fundamental duality of creation and destruction, and its sound is said to mark the rhythm underlying the universe itself — a role especially emphasized in depictions of Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of the Cosmic Dance.
Ritual Use
The damaru is used in temple ritual and processional or devotional music associated with Shiva worship, and appears widely as an iconographic attribute even where not physically played.
Sources & References
- A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History and Literature — John Dowson, Trübner & Co. (1879) · Link
Public domain.
- Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic — W. J. Wilkins, Thacker, Spink & Co. (1900)
Public domain.