A tanpura is a drone instrument. It plays no melody and keeps no rhythm. Four or five strings, tuned to the notes of your raga and plucked in a slow continuous cycle, hold the pitch that everything else is sung or played against.
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It is also called a tambura. A smaller one is a tanpuri. Same instrument, different names and sizes.
Two decisions come before anything else. Size class first: male tanpuras are larger and built for lower scales, roughly C to E, and female tanpuras are smaller and built for higher scales, roughly G to B. These describe pitch, not the player. Choose by the Sa you actually sing.
Then style. Miraj instruments have a gourd body and are the concert standard for vocalists. Tanjore instruments are carved from wood and are more common in Carnatic music.
Everything after that comes down to the jawari, the bridge whose filing decides whether the drone shimmers and blooms or simply buzzes. That is the difference between a $399 tanpuri and a $2,299 concert instrument.
$399 to $2,299. Prices include free shipping to the USA, UK, Germany, Australia and many more countries.
A tanpura does one thing and it does it for hours: it holds the drone that everything else is sung or played against.
That sounds simple and it is the hardest instrument here to build well. Four or five strings, a gourd body, and a jawari bridge whose filing decides whether the drone shimmers and blooms or simply buzzes. A tanpura is judged almost entirely on the evenness of that sustain, string to string, with no dead notes.
Male or female? These describe size classes matched to vocal range, not the player's gender. Male tanpuras are larger, built for the lower scales most men sing, around C to E, and produce the deep room-filling drone of classical vocal concerts. Female tanpuras are smaller and built for higher scales, around G to B. Choose by the Sa you sing, never by the label.
Or a tanpuri? A tanpuri is the compact version, lighter and higher, made to be carried to lessons and concerts. Instrumentalists often keep one tuned to their key. It is not a lesser tanpura, it is the portable one.
What about a shruti box instead? Honest answer, because people ask constantly: a shruti box gives you a steady drone for a fraction of the price, none of the tuning, and none of the shipping problems. What it does not give you is the complex, beating, overtone-rich sound of four strings interacting. If you want the drone as a tool, buy the shruti box. If you want the drone as part of the music, buy the tanpura.
Shipping the big ones. A full-size Miraj tanpura is close to five feet and ships in a fitted case inside a heavily padded box. Dimensions and weights are on every product page. If you have narrow stairs or a small car, tell us before ordering.
Every tanpura is strung and tuned to your Sa before dispatch. Tell us your pitch on WhatsApp after ordering. Compare makers on Tanpura Brands.
Questions we get asked
Male or female tanpura?
These describe pitch, not the player. Male instruments are larger and built for lower scales around C to E, female are smaller for higher scales around G to B.
Can you tune it to my Sa?
Yes. Tell us your scale after ordering and we string and tune the instrument to it before it ships.
Tanpura or shruti box?
A tanpura is the traditional acoustic drone and needs tuning and maintenance. A shruti box is simpler, more portable, and holds its drone with no tuning at all.