What is "dholak"

n. North Indian hand drum.

The dholak (, , ; ; in the Netherlands and Suriname and ) is a South Asian two-headed hand-drum.

It may have traditional cotton rope lacing, screw-turnbuckle tensioning or both combined: in the first case steel rings are used for tuning or pegs are twisted inside the laces.

The dholak is mainly a folk instrument, lacking the exact tuning and playing techniques of the tabla or the pakhawaj. The drum is pitched, depending on size, with an interval of perhaps a perfect fourth or perfect fifth between the two heads.

It is related to the larger Punjabi dhol and the smaller dholki.