Ghumot is an indigenous earthen drum fashioned as a designed clay pot, with the skin of the monitor lizard stretched taut across the pot’s mouth, forming a drumhead. Ghumot is a percussion instrument widely played during Ganesh Chaturthi Aarties. Goa soon to notified it as a heritage instrument of Goa.

Why Ghumot was banned?

The skin of monitor lizard is one of the key components of the Ghumot. Since the monitor lizard was classified as an endangered wildlife species and was listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, Ghumot was banned by the Forest Department of Goa.

In recent years attempts were made to revive the heritage instrument of Goa by replacing monitor lizard skin with the skin of a she-goat. This revival had spiked the interests about the instrument.