| Summary/Abstract |
Conceived as a life force, rain has a significant place in Indian thought. Sanskrit and vernacular literary and religious texts, as well as visual arts, emphasise its auspiciousness and importance in human life. Additionally, through the use of poetical images and metaphors, these texts and images associate rain with music and identify thunder with drums. Through the analysis of compositions from the repertoire of different drums such as the dhrupad pakhāvaj, the miḻāvu of Kūtiyāṭṭaṃ Sanskrit theatre, and the ritual music of Brahmanical temples of Kerala, this article studies the association of drumming with rain as a symbol of life force, consciousness and enlightenment.
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