India

Indian

Metals, wood
Length: 32 in; Width: 19 in; Depth: 7.5 in
1960’s
Idiophones – Struck Idiophones – Bells

‘Noah Bell’ (khadki)  is the common name given to this distinct type of bell that possibly originated from monasteries in India hundreds of years ago.  Today they are still hand crafted by ancient and inherited traditions of using iron sheets that are coated on the outside with molten brass, then baked.  The inner surface of the bells is powdered coated, and the outer surface has a distressed finish.

The history and origins of ‘Noah Bell’ is not clear.   Depending upon who you talk to, one account more recently credits them originating in the village of Nirona, in the Kutch district of the western state of Gujarat in India, where they are still being made.  Here they are called khadki which translates simply to “bell” in the local Kutchi language. These bells have been produced there by the same small number of local families over the last few hundred years, using techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation.   When first imported to the United States by Maharani Imports in the late 1960s, they were popularly renamed in the USA after Noah Shah, the son of Maharani Imports’ founders, Bonny Karstadt and Ratilal Shah, hence the name ‘Noah Bell.’  These bells range in size from over two feet to less than an inch in diameter, with a carved wooden clapper. They have a dark, heavy tone with lots of mid-range body, and sustained strong, complex overtones and undertones.  This set is mounted on a brass frame and are tuned, thus they have also been referred to as ‘harmony bells,’ or ‘temple bells.’