Acknowledgements

We thank Vidwan Mahadevanna, noted Mrudangist and Mrudanga maker, for his initial help in explaining and showing in detail how a traditional Mrudanga is made. He also helped us in some initial experiments with synthetic skins.

Thanks are due to Mr. B.R. Sanjay Nag, vocal student of Dr. K. Varadarangan for his constant help and support in the development of the S.R.I. Mrudanga. Mr. Sanjay Nag who has also been learning the Mrudanga for many years under the tutelage of Vidwan T.S. Chandrashekar, has contributed significantly to this project by playing on the instrument at various stages in its development and offering constructive criticisms and helpful suggestions. This project would have been a non-starter without Sanjay’s help.

We are grateful to Vidwan G. S. AswathanarayanaRao, reputed Mrudanga artiste, for his constant encouragement and helpful suggestions. Every visit of his made us feel more confident as he played the instrument and offered his feedback. His constant encouragement and admiration for the work has been a wonderful morale booster for us.

Thanks are also due to Mr. V. Abhay Rangan and Ms. V. Varidhi for helping in the construction of this website

We are grateful to Pundit Sri Ravindra Yavagalji for his kind guidance in testing the synthetic Tabla and offering very valuable suggestions in improving it further.

Ms. Amrita Dutta deserves a special mention for her painstaking efforts in editing the contents of this website. She is the editor and cofounder of the Vegan-India initiative . It is highly commendable that she undertook this editorial responsibility and completed it in a very short time.