Music Traditions
Kerala’s iconic cylindrical drum — loud, rigid, and central to temple festivals, Kathakali, Theyyam, and chenda melam.
About
The Chenda (Malayalam: ചെണ്ട) is a cylindrical percussion instrument of Kerala, also widely used in Tulu Nadu of Karnataka (as chende). Famous for its loud, rigid sound, it has two heads: Edamthala (left) with one or two layers of cow skin, and Valamthala (right) with five or seven layers for a bass tone. The body — about one foot in diameter — is carved from soft jackfruit wood (varikka plavu); skins are stretched on wooden rings (chenda vattam). It accompanies Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Theyyam, and many temple rituals, and leads the great chenda melams of Kerala’s festival culture.
The chenda is strongly tied to the cultural identity of Kerala and Tulu Nadu. Traditionally associated with Malayar communities in Kerala — who hold that Lord Shiva blessed them with the chenda — it is often classed as an asura vadyam for its powerful, uncompromising sound. Crafting is linked to Perumkollan (smith) families in villages such as Peruvembu, Nemmara, Lakkidi, Vellarkad, and Valappaya; Vellarkad is especially known for instrument quality.
Statewide Kerala; also Tulu Nadu (Coastal Karnataka). Craft centres include Peruvembu, Nemmara, Lakkidi, Vellarkad, and Valappaya.
Malayar and related temple-percussion lineages; Marar and Ambalavasi drumming traditions; Yakshagana (Tenku Thittu) in Tulu Nadu.
Traditional white mundu/veshti; temple and festival upper cloth; often bare-chested in processional melam.
None for the drummer (distinct from the painted Kathakali roles the chenda accompanies).
Chenda with sticks (kol); often joined by ilathalam, kuzhal, and kombu in melam; also used with dance-drama ensembles.
Hindu temple festivals, Poorams, Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Kannyarkali, Theyyam, Yakshagana, and cultural stages across Kerala and Tulu Nadu.
Leading Melapramanis and chenda masters of Kerala’s Pooram and Kathakali stages, including lineages celebrated at Thrissur, Palakkad, and Ernakulam festival centres.
Edamthala uses one or two cow-skin layers; valamthala uses five or seven for bass. Skins dry in shade and are fastened on chenda vattam rings made from palm trunk or bamboo with gum from pananchi seed. The jackfruit-wood shell is thinned at intervals to strengthen resonance. Only the skin rings are replaced when tone fades — serious players may need around fifteen rings a year.
Sized by vattam diameter (ettara, ompathu, ompathe kal, ompathara, and related measures) for different art forms. Functionally they include Uruttu Chenda (pramanavadhya — leads with wrist-rolling strokes on soft edamthala), Veekku or Acchan Chenda (keeps thalam with hard beats on bass valamthala), and Muri Chenda.
A chenda melam is percussion built around the chenda — Kerala’s most popular festival drumming form for centuries. Classical melams include Panchari, Champa, Chempada, Adantha, Anchadatha, Druvam, and Pandi (the first six often grouped as chempada melangal), plus Navam and Kalpam. Thin vattam suits classical Panchari, Pandi, and Thayambaka; harder, cheaper skins mark non-classical Shingari Melam.
Students first practise on stone or wood with a thick tamarind stick, then on valamthala (veekku), then uruttu/edamthala. Lessons open and close with Ganapathi Kai (37 beats). Training progresses through sadhakam exercises such as Tha Ki Ta across rising kaalam (geometric speed degrees), with oral vaai thari syllables guiding the strokes.
Kaalam is geometric speed: onnam kaalam sets the basic thalam; each higher kaalam doubles the beat count within the same thalavattam (cycle time). Seasoned players may work through seven to ten kaalam.
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