text: MRIDANGAM: Membranophone
  SOUTH INDIA
  Bifacial cylindrical drum made of wood, tapering down to both ends. Layered parchments stretched over both faces and braced with thin leather straps through hoops. Thin wooden wedges between body and leather straps, used for pitch adjustment. Black paste in various layers loaded on right face. Much smaller then the classical Mridangam. Possibly used in folk forms. 
  