Twisting Toward Sound
Name: Dumroo (Damru / Damaru)
Instrument: Pellet hand drum (hourglass drum)
Orchestral Taxonomy: Membranophone (indirectly struck pellet drum; ritual folk percussion)
Manufacturer: The Great Indian Bazaar
Model: Dumroo5
Size: 4 inches
Material: Wood body, leather heads, corded pellet strikers
Hornbostel-Sachs #: 212.11 – Hourglass pellet drum
Purchased: January 9, 2026
Price: $11.39
Location: Internet
Market: Amazon.com
Store: The Great Indian Bazaar
Condition: Like new
Status: In possession
As a clown, I was looking for small, unique, or silly instruments that were lightweight and would fit in my pockets. I’m often keeping a lookout for unique instruments and sounds to experiment with as well.
This Dumroo is played by rotating the wrist back and forth so that the pellets at the end of each cord beat the drum heads. The beads were fairly lightweight, and I was concerned that they wouldn’t have the striking power to reach the drum head or make a sound.
I watched a video on how to hold the Dumroo, placing the string between my middle and ring fingers when holding the drum in the palm of my hand. My hand is fairly large for the 4-inch drum, and I naturally ended up sliding my ring finger toward the center, giving the pellet less string to work with. Even when held properly, this technique still limited how much slack the bead could reach the drum head.
I worked out that if I held the Dumroo on its side, just below where the strings are attached to the center, they could move freely (Video 2). I would sometimes get a nice rat-tat-tat-tat sound, but it would quickly fade as one of the beads would stop knocking the head. The string resembles thick cooking twine used for roasting chicken and other meats. I am unable to tell whether it’s holding the drumhead rim in place or is just decorative, since many of the laces between the heads are not taut.
After that, I found another video that instructed me to pinch the strings at the bottom when holding the Dumroo horizontally, letting the drum rest on my hand (Video 3). This seemed to work as well, but not as effectively as putting pressure against the center, just below the beaded strings’ connections.
The beads themselves are made of a dark blue plastic with a molding line along the side. There is mold flash near each hole in the bead that needs to be cut off, as it could damage the drumheads with enough pressure at the right angle. This is a common injection molding artifact (Video 4). The sound is loud enough for the instrument to hold its own voice among other instruments.
The cultural use is for Indian folk music, bhajan, kirtan, and classical dance ensembles (Video 5). Indian street performers called Madari (Magician) often use it when showing tricks or (controversially) animals (Video 6).
It is often associated with Shiva iconography (cosmic rhythm symbolism). The Damroo represents the universe expanding and collapsing from nothing to everything — the breath of Shiva (Video 7).
