The Manjira is a traditional percussion instrument in India. The manjira, in its simplest form, is a pair of small hand cymbals.
The Manjira is used in various religious ceremonies of India, especially bhajans - devotional songs dedicated to some Indian god or goddess.
The manjira can also consist of a wooden frame with two long straight handles that connect to each other with two short wooden handles; the open space between the long handles has a wooden separator that separates two rows of three (total of six) brass jingles.
Indian folk music is diverse because of India's vast cultural diversity. It has many forms including bhangra, lavani, dandiya and Rajasthani. The arrival of movies and pop music weakened folk music's popularity, but cheaply recordable music has made it easier to find and helped revive the traditions. Folk music (desi) has been influential on classical music, which is viewed as a higher art form. Instruments and styles have impacted classical ragas. It is also not uncommon for major writers, saints and poets to have large musical libraries and traditions to their name, often sung in thumri (semi-classical) style. Most of the folk music of India is dance-oriented.