as tape recorders has led to a decline in the importance of dhol players in celebratory events. Nevertheless, dhol music still figures in the studio recordings of present-day raas, garba and bhangra music artists. History Shail Vyas claims several percussion instruments such as the Dhol maybe came from the influence of some clay made instruments that are similar to the Dhol, which are found in Indus Valley Civilisation. Dhol is depicted in earliest ancient Indian sculptural arts as one of the chief percussion instruments for ancient Indian music along with tabla. Ain-i-Akbari, describes the use of Dhol in the orchestra of the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great. The Indo-Aryan word "dhol" appears in print around 1800 in the treatise Sangitasara. Regional forms and traditions The Punjab region The Punjabi dhol is used in the Punjab region of Pakistan and northern India. In Pakistan, the dhol is mostly played in the Punjab region; however, it is also used throughout the country ranging from as far south as Karachi and as far north as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In India it is found in the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi. The beats of dhol have been an element in the ceremonies of the great Sufi mystics and their followers. The patterns of dhol have been developed to catalyze the mind of the devotee who is seeking spiritual trance. Assam In Assam, the dhol is widely used in Rongali Bihu (Bohag Bihu), the Assamese new year celebrations in the month of April. Celebrated in mid-April every year (usually on 14 or 13 April according to Assamese traditional calendar), the dhol is an important and a quintessential instrument used in Bihu dance. The origin of the Dhol in Assam dates back to at least the 14th century where it was referred in Assamese Buranjis as being played by the indigenous people. This shows that the origin of Dhol in Assam was much older than the rest of India, and the name was probably due to sanskritisation. The people of the Valley reckon that the beats of the dhol are enchanting for people even at a long distance. Played by using a bamboo stick with bare hands, the Assamese dhol is made up of wooden barrel with the ends covered primarily with animal hide (unlike the rest of the Indian subcontinent, where it could be a synthetic skin as well), that can either be