The proposed study will explore the history of musical instrument making in South India during the colonial to postcolonial period by focussing on the history of tavil drum making. The study attempts to understand the history of the craft practice from the perspective of history of technology, which can provide comprehensive understanding about craft. Some of the broad questions which my thesis will explore are: how can we understand the complex world of craft, the knowledge acquired by craftspeople about the material they work with, and the complex web of actors involved in craft production? Have these networks sustained over time, have they changed, and if so, how? How can we understand pedagogy of craft, knowledge transformation and skill acquisition in the workshop space in a socio-historical context in South India? The study aims to answer these broader questions by exploring the history of the craft of musical drum making in Panruti region, which has a connected history, brings together diverse actors and materials to the assemblage. Panruti has become the centre for musical instrument making in South India and supplying musical instruments to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other countries. The drum brings leather (animal) and wood (plant) together, which have larger connections with international trade, war economy and movement of both processed and raw materials from one space to the other. The existing narratives about craft in India need to be flipped from the user to the maker. Only few studies in India have so far attempted to understand the collaboration and exchange of ideas, skills and other forms of knowledge between craftspeople and scholars, and why and how technicians like craftspeople become invisible in the history of science and technology in India (as an example, see Mamidipudi 2016). The history of technology perspective brings together diverse social and professional groups who specialised in handling particular materials, playing the instruments, and studying materials in modern scientific laboratories. It also brings all the actors together to narrate a complex story about power and inequality in recognizing the technicians’ knowledge and contribution in the history of instrument making as technology. In order to understand and revisit the existing discourse on musical instruments, the study borrows concepts from the field of sound studies.