Metal instruments such as mandira and kartal produce sounds through striking the metal body of the instrument. Instruments like the flute and sanai that are played by blowing are called wind instruments.
Instruments like the sitar, sarod, esraj, surbahar, tanpura, dilruba and vina that produce music through strings are known as string instruments. Thus they may be classified as string, wind, metal and hide instruments. Traditionally, musical instruments in Bengal are categorised into four types, based partly on the material of which they are made and partly in the manner in which they are played.
