Find the odd one out from the given alternatives.

Correct — D.
Rule: three are drums, one is a string instrument.

Tabla, mridangam and pakhawaj are all percussion instruments with stretched skins, played by hand.

The sitar is a plucked string instrument, so it is the odd one out → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Tabla — Tabla is a pair of hand-played drums of Hindustani music. It shares the skin-drum family with the mridangam and pakhawaj.
• (b)
  Mridangam — Mridangam is the main drum of Carnatic music. Region sets it apart, but by instrument family it is a drum, like the tabla and pakhawaj.
• (c)
  Pakhawaj — Pakhawaj is a double-headed barrel drum that accompanies dhrupad in Hindustani music. As a drum, it stays inside the group.

Indian instruments are classed by how they make sound. The Natya Shastra's four classes are tata (strings), sushira (wind), avanaddha (skin drums) and ghana (solid percussion such as cymbals).

Tabla, mridangam and pakhawaj all fall in avanaddha. The sitar, with plucked strings over a long fretted neck, is tata.

Key facts

• Tabla, mridangam and pakhawaj are skin drums (avanaddha vadya).
• The sitar is a plucked string instrument (tata vadya).
• The mridangam is the principal percussion instrument of Carnatic music.
• The pakhawaj is the traditional drum accompaniment for dhrupad.

Common traps

• Picking the mridangam because it is Carnatic: the key sorts by instrument family, not by region
• Taking the pakhawaj for a string instrument because the name is less familiar: it is a barrel drum

No directly related past PYQ was found.