Shehnai

The shehnai, shahnai, shenai or mangal vadya, is an aerophonic (wind) instrument, a double reed conical oboe, common in North India, West India, Iran, and Pakistan, made out of wood, with a metal flare bell at the end. Its sound is thought to create and maintain a sense of auspiciousness and sanctity and, as a result, is widely used during marriages, processions, and in temples of West India, although it is also played in concerts. The South Indian equivalent of the shehnai is the nadaswaram.