The ghatam, used in Carnatic music, belongs to which class of instruments?

The correct answer is C, Ghana vadya. The ghatam is a clay pot with nothing stretched across its mouth. The player strikes the body of the pot with fingers, palms and wrists, and changes the tone by moving the mouth of the pot against the stomach. Because the solid body itself vibrates, it falls in the ghana class along with the manjira, the jaltarang and the morsing. Its best known player is T. H. Vikku Vinayakram.

Option A, avanaddha vadya, would require a stretched hide, which the ghatam does not have; the mridangam, the kanjira and the thavil of the same Carnatic ensemble do belong there. Option B, sushira vadya, covers wind instruments such as the nadaswaram and the flute. Option D, tata vadya, covers stringed instruments such as the veena and the violin. The pot shape misleads students into calling it a drum, which is exactly the error the question is set to catch.