A standard grouping of five classical instruments into non-membranous percussion, membranous percussion, windblown, plucked string, and bowed string.

The descriptions vary, but the five could be drums played by hand (ātata), drums played by stick (vitata), drums played by hand or by stick (ātatavitata), metal instruments such as cymbals (ghana), and wind instruments (suśira). Other less plausible descriptions define vitata as string instruments.

A traditional Indian classification of musical instruments enumerates non-membranous percussion, membranous percussion, wind-blown, plucked string, and bowed string.