The kanjira looks almost incidental next to the larger drums that usually accompany South Indian devotional singing, a shallow wooden frame barely wider than a hand with a single head and a few loose metal jingles set into the rim, but it carries a rhythmic complexity out of proportion to its size. Players use the fingers, the heel of the palm and controlled pressure against the drumhead to produce a wide range of tones and pitch bends from what looks like a simple tambourine adjacent instrument, and virtuoso kanjira playing is now a recognized solo showcase within Carnatic concert practice as well as an accompanying role.
In devotional settings, its function is to keep the rhythmic cycle, or tala, steady under bhajan singing and other devotional performance, working alongside the mridangam, the primary Carnatic drum, rather than replacing it, and its brighter, jingling sound sits above the mridangam's deeper tone in the same way a tambourine sits above a larger drum in other musical traditions. The drumhead itself is a living material, traditionally lizard skin, and its tension and tone shift noticeably with humidity, so touring players routinely carry more than one head to suit different climates and venues.