The Origin and Evolution of Veena: An Overview
The Origin and Evolution of Veena: An Overview
The Origin and Evolution of Veena: An Overview
An overview
There are different theories that people put forth regarding the aspect of the
origin and evolution of Veena. The following is the theory put forth by
some. Music has been prevalent from the very primitive stage of human life.
The reason is not far to seek. Even before the Iron Age (when use of metal
strings came into vogue), the aborigines or cavemen lived in hills and
reptiles and beasts, surrounded them. The various pleasing chirps and sounds
produced by these fauna would have made the aborigines mime them and
would have led them to reproduce those sounds in their own way. It can well
Basically the cavemen were hunters. Let us think about how they would
have come up with musical instruments. Coconut shells and skulls were
largely available. They could have fixed a bamboo stick through the coconut
shell, tied one end with a nerve of an animal and tightened it at the other end
to get some sound, or fixed a bamboo stick piercing through the two ear
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holes of the skull, tied one end with the nerve, passing the same along over
the nose bone which, would act as a bridge, and tightened the other end of
the nerve to the free end of the bamboo. The nerve passing through a bridge
would definitely produce a better sound. In both cases, they would have
Thus, they would have produced musical sound by bowing or plucking the
tightened nerve and danced to the sound and rhythm of it. It might have been
a crude type of sound, but it would certainly have given them a blissful
satisfaction, which would have relieved them from the drudgery of their
tough life.
Later, usage of bridges, ridges and handles (tuning pegs) came into vogue to
take the shape of 'Ektaari', 'Dotaari' etc. It may not be out of place to name
shell) and 'Runda Vadya' (the one with the skull) just for recognizing them.
Even today we come across hawkers selling toy Karata Vadyas improvised
with parchment covering the bowl, bridge, ridge and a handle tied with a
steel string on which music is produced with a bow. Runda Vadya could not
have lasted long since the solid state of the skull could not have produced
good and proper sound. But, using shapes of animal heads to decorate
It
58 Ve
musical instruments is maintained (Eg.Vyali in Veena, Peacock head in
Mayuri Veena)
the basic seven notes has been derived from the sounds made by birds and
animals.
Chandrika', Tambura is also called Brahma Veena and had no frets. The
question arises whether notes were also produced on such fretless instrument
in olden days apart from using them for Aadhara sruthis (Drone). Tambura
also might have been used for playing music as Karata vadya and Runda
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Vadya as in Gottu Vadhyam. When they found out that different pitches of
notes could be produced from an Ekthaari, they might have thought of fixing
some frets in some places and thus produced the three notes of Udaatha,
Anudaatha and Swaritha in chanting of mantras from Rig Veda, the origin of
Music.
string. Hence it could be concluded that the present close to perfect shape of
This might be the reason why 'Mahathi Veena' has less number of frets. By
none other than Narada, one feels that it is a primitive instrument with
strings and very few frets. There is another instrument called 'Kinnari
number of frets.
The Veena used by Nijaguna Sivayogi had sixteen frets. The 'Rudra Veena'
single string. From then on to this present Saraswathi Veena that has 24 frets
with four strings on which three octaves can be easily produced, the journey
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has been really noticeable. This Veena has been in use for the last four to
We can definitely see the gradual change over from gourd bowl to wooden
been established that almost all stringed instruments are termed as 'Veena'.
Even today stringed instruments are manufactured with gourds for main
resonators for Hindustani music. But with regard to Camatic music, the main
The process of improvisation has taken place from almost 10* century, as
depicted by Yazh, Narada's Veena depicted in 10* century, and a final shift
two ladies playing Veena and Tambura carved in the Kapardeeswara temple
of Thiruvalanchuzhi.
Starting fi-om then on till today, the structure of the Veena continues to
evolve towards the path of refinement. Though Karata Vadya & Runda
Vadya might have been the original crude music producing instruments, the
Rudra Veena.
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A detailed Analysis;
The best knovm of the Vedic Veenas was the 'Vana' or 'Maha Veena' (the
great Veena) of one hundred strings of Munja (grass) that was played with
two bamboo pieces. More details about this Veena can be found in Chapter 5
about "Playing techniques in the Sama Gana period". The strings of these
early Tata Vadyas (Stringed instruments) were not of metal but were made
of spun grass (munja). Animal Sinew was also used for similar purposes and
metal wires in most cases have replaced these. It may be recalled that the
Tamil word for 'Tata Vadya' was 'Narambu Karuvi' and 'Narambu' means
nerves. Nowadays, metal strings have by and large displaced guts and grass.
This is particularly so in the instruments that are plucked and also those in
Ancient music and musicology relied much on two of the Harp varieties.
One was with seven strings and the other was with nine. There might have
been regional and structural types, because one often notices a mix up of
names and instruments. For instance, the harp with seven strings had more
than one name - The 'Chitra', the 'Parivardhini' and the 'Saptha thantri
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say whether they were different except in the number of strings or whether
'Chitra', was the best known and is referred to in the Ramayana on many
occasions. The nine stringed harp was the 'Vipanchee' which, besides
having more strings than the 'chitra', was different in other ways. While the
seven stringed 'Chitra Veena' was plucked with the fingers, the nine
stringed 'Vipanchee' was played with a small wooden piece called kona.
Like the 'Chitra', the 'Vipanchee' also finds a place in the epics. We now
come on to the ancient Tamil literature that might have had a parallel
musical system. The major stringed instrument described here was the
'Yazh'. In some literary examples the words 'Yazh' and 'Veena' are used in
juxtaposition and are used in the same context. This has made some scholars
think that the 'Yazh' and the Veena were different. On the other hand, Yazh'
has also been termed as the Veenai, for example, the 'Makara Yazh', was
also known as the 'Makara Veenai' and this lands us back in a hazy situation
where we are not in a position to decide on whether the Yazh was different
This is more so, when we see that even the constitutional details of the
'Yazh' and the Sanskrit Veenas were almost the same. Cultural aspects
apart, many savants have studied old classics like the 'Pattu-Pattu',
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'Silappadikaram', ' Mani meghalai' and 'Jeevaka Chithamani' as well as
Yazhs.
Most probably, the 'Vil Yazh' was the first of these 'Narambu Karuvis'. An
early writer, Kannanar describes a hunter who made a bow out of a hollow
accompaniment of this Vil Yazh, roamed happily singing the Kurinji Pann.
(Pann were melodic forms analogous to ragas). Later other harps were
invented with more Narambus or guts. The 'Senkottai yazh' had a resonator
which, most likely was covered with a wooden plank and its Kotu
curved one, it had seventeen strings. The 'Sakota yazh' had fourteen strings
of which four were tuned in the lower register, seven in the middle octave
and three in the upper octave. The 'Peri Yazh' might have been a large sized
harp with a boat shaped patter (an analogous of the 'Ambhana') or resonator
closed with leather and having twenty-one strings. The 'Seeri Yazh' was
probably a smaller version of the 'Peri Yazh'. The 'Makara Yazh' or the
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Yavanas, who are usually taken to be Greeks. The harps described thus far
resonator and an arm (Danda), After a reign of more than three thousand
years, from prehistoric times till about the 10* century AD, the polychords
almost vanished from the Indian scene, except for the Santoor and the Swara
mandal.
'Kachchapi', the 'Rabaab', the 'Sarod', the 'Sitar', the Camatic (Saraswathi)
Veena, and the Zithers like the 'Kinnari' and the 'Rudra Veena' take over
and dominate the musical reign. An entire Music and Musicology are left
finger- board Veenas leading to our present practice grows replacing the
older system. This near revolution is one of the greatest mutations in our
we scrutinize our music works and other literature, the same old problem
raises its head and confronts us: that of lacunae in information, insufficient
description and the question of reliability of sources. Such being the case,
one can at best give some suggestions on missing links and point to major
permits.
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There were Veenas with one string (Ekathantri), with two strings (Nakuli),
with three strings (Trithantri) and so on. But very often we have no way of
knowing whether such names were of harps, zithers or lutes, and many
the three categories of Tata Vadya (stringed instrument). Much therefore has
to be taken with reserve, especially where zithers and lutes are concerned.
fi-etless and most important, the resonator being fixed below it. The 'Vichitra
is a broad long one of about a meter and quarter in length with two large
wide bridge on one end of the Dandi with the other end having the ledge and
four pegs bearing the main playing strings. There are two more strings,
called the 'Chikari', that are plucked to lend the drone, the principal strings
are also plucked with the string- plectra made of steel that are worn on the
fingers. To produce a raga, a glass ball is pressed and moved over them.
Underneath the main strings there are about a dozen or more of sympathetic
strings called the Tarab, which vibrate sympathetically when properly tuned
and provide additional resonance. Both from its construction and manner of
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handling, it is clear that this Zither is a descendant of Ekthaari. The present
name of the instrument is probably not more than a century old, though it is
likely that it is the same as the Sar Veena which is listed as an important
group of instruments, we get the fretted Zithers of which the 'Kinnari' and
the 'Rudra Veena' are the most famous. The first was a great favourite with
musicians during the Middle Ages and the second one was the reigning
The earliest assignable period for the 'Kinnari' Veena could be about 5*
century AD, when Mathanga lived and wrote the treatise 'Brahaddesi'.
Matanga is said to be the one who first mentions the fixing of frets to the
the 11* Century onwards, and they give a fairly detailed account of this
Veena.
There were two 'Classical' Kinnaries. The 'Laghu Kinnari' and the 'Brihat
Kinnari'. As their names indicate, the first one was small (laghu) and the
second was a larger (Brihat) Variety. The 'Laghu Kinnari' used in classical
pumpkins. The frets, 14 in number, were made usually of the chest bones of
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vultures and fixed to the Danda with a mixture of wax and the ashes of burnt
cloth. Over these passed a string of steel or brass that was tensed by a peg on
one side.
All the later Veenas of the Zither type are only further descendants of the
'Kinnari'. The most respected of these is the 'Rudra Veena' which till
bamboo. One end of this holds a flat bridge typical in our instruments and
beneath the Dandi are two very large pumpkins. There are four main strings
for the melody, under which are fixed straight and thin, frets attached to the
bamboo tube with wax. While the fingers of one hand pluck the strings the
other stops them over the frets. Besides the main strings there are two drone
strings on one side and one more on the other side of the Dandi.
The 'Been' was played by men and women in royal courts and rural settings
invariably a companion of Ragini Thodi, a lady with the Zither whose music
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Ra^ini Todi. Note the veena in her hand
enchants the deer. "Her slender body anointed with saffron and camphor
gleams white like the jasmine flower. The Woodland deer are spellbound at
Surdas, the immortal Hindi poet takes poesy further. Addressing the hero of
his poem, he says, " Do not play the delicate Veena. For the deer that draws
the chariot in the moon may get captivated and stop, thus halting the moon".
The Been was one of the premier instruments in the court of Akbar. Surat
sen (son of Tansen) and Misri Singh, his Son in law, are credited with
Hindustani musicians also call their Veena, the Zither already described, by
this name. We shall however refer to the South Indian Veena as the
henceforth.
The Saraswathi Veena deservedly occupies this exalted position not only
because of its elegant beauty of appearance and tone, but also by virtue of its
to play the Raga and that too in a wide range of pitch, it has the drone so
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very necessary for Indian Music and these drone strings are placed in such
In other words, the Veena has in itself, Swara, Raga and Tala. That the drone
very peculiar only to the Veena. The present structure of the lute seems to
Veena'. Here again, historical information is scanty and in all probability the
closed on the top with a wooden plate serves as the main resonator. This
bowl projects into a small neck to which is attached the fretless fingerboard.
This terminates in the animal motif, Yali. Near this end, there are four pegs
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that receive the metallic strings that pass over the bridge on the resonator
bowl.
Besides these four main strings on which melodies are played, there are
three more strings on the side meant for giving the drone and the Tala. What
instrument. This is the only Camatic instrument with such an accessory and
name for it yet. The plucking of the strings is done as in the Veena. For
moved along the strings, and slight pressures on them obtain finer pitch
variations as also gamakas. This piece is known as Gottu and the name of
the instrument seems to be derived from it. This was the exactly the method
of playing the ancient Ekathantri and is also followed in the style of playing
the Hawaiian guitar. Since there are no frets and the wires are raised slightly
Saraswathi Veena.
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There are many differences of opinion regarding who introduced 24 frets
" It is Abraham Panditar, the well know music savant, who credited Govinda
introduced 24 frets instead of 12 frets. He also adds cautiously that the claim
Varaguna Pandian has authored an excellent treaties in Tamil called " Paanar
kaivazhi". Therein, he states that the medievalists christened the name Tamil
scholars are not inclined to accept his view. Prof P. Sambamurthy came
With the evidence available at present (mostly literary and that too in
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consummation of long experimentation and design' is a legitimate claim. It
important part of the work, namely ' Veena Prakarana' has yet to be traced
P.G. Sundaresa Sastri of Trichy and D. K. Joshi of Pune made the other
parts of the work available. Since some of the contents of'Veena Prakarana'
are not available, we are forced to look for alternative sources for
information.
'Chathurdandi Prakasika'. Tulaja himself admits that they are quotes. This
Venkatamakhi.
The evolution of the instrument through its various stages can be traced with
context.
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(l)Vikrita Swaras enumerated in 'Sangeetha Rathnakara' were not
(2) Ramamatya located them on the Veena (15* Century). They were
only five of them on the Veena because the number of frets was 12
and the seven had to be reserved for Suddha Swaras. This gave rise to
grave misreading.
(2) Out of the five Vikrithi Swaras located by Ramamatya, two were
The letter concludes by saying that "To ponder over the question of who
Ref: "Sruti" Magazine Letter to the editor column by Prof. T. V. Kuppuswamy from Delhi
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In this context, Prof.Sathyanarayana, the renowned scholar from Mysore has
Sudha' was authored by his father Govinda Dikshitar and that the
convince that none of them can be the prototype of the modem South Indian
and are thus tuned to Anumandra Sa, Anumandra Pa and Mandra sa and
Veena'. Thus the Suddhamela fret board carries only 12 (not the modem 23)
frets on the Sa String. There are 6 long and 6 short frets creating the
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intervals." Prof.Sathyanarayana says that Govinda Dhikshitar cannot be
(a) The modem Veena fret board obviates the need for shorter and longer
frets.
(c) He prescribes only 12 frets on the strings, whereas the modem Veena
tuned to Madhya Sa instead of to Ma, and is played as Pa, then the Ma of the
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Raghunatha mela Veena. This is how the Veena players perform on this
Veena. Thus every note on the Raghunathamela Veena is exactly one fifth
higher than the corresponding note on the Madhyamela Veena. This amounts
to making Ma the Aadhara sruthi on the Sa string and thus to a Modal shift
Veena' and this has survived till our own time as an extrapolatory device to
raise the range by one half of an octave (For Eg. To accommodate female
voices)."
Tulajendramela Veena
additions to the Swara Chapter not found in the Pandit S.Subramanya Sastry
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by Dr.Raghavan in his introduction. The passage may be understood freely
as follows.
"Now will be described the Veena created by Tulaja wherein lie 23 smooth
bronze rods in between the Meru and the Shadja called Atitaara, rods which
are raised at both ends on the pravaala (walls of the fret board) and slightly
low (concave) at the middle (of the Veena) which is attractive with seven
pegs and with other prescribed characteristics, in which the effort in setting
the fret board is minimal. This is replete with all desirable lakshanas and is
beautiftil with all decorations, with all the Varna alankaras that fiilfills the
desires of the performer and ever captivates the hearts of Veena performers.
The Ekatantri Veena, the Vipanchee Veena and the three stringed Veena are
the Veenas described under the names of the authors in their own works are
alike from the point of view of the Swara arrangement scheme alone.
How indeed can all these other Veenas ever equal this form of the Veena
created by Tulajendra in his own name in his own treatise! Therefore, this
alone is the important, best of all Veenas. Those who desire to perform
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acmes without fatigue. Aspirants who desire to practice with felicity should
"This leaves one in no doubt at all that the Tulajendra Mela Veena is the
prototype of the modem South Indian Veena in every essential. This Veena
help in the realization of its dream of beauty in sight, sound and rhythm."
Prof.Sathyanarayana.
Prof Kuppuswamy is said to have felt that "To ponder over the question of
our good fortune that the heritage is not wasted". It is to be noted that the
exercise and is well worth its time and energy, as it will have an indelible
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
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interpolation has resulted in the intercultural migration of Musical
culture have expanded because of this. The Veena offers the best example
for this. The Vamam, Audumbari, Kinnari, Chitra, Tamburi and other
The process of diffusion and migration has extended over nearly four
millennia. Ancient Indian Veenas are preserved in both the wall paintings of
For Instance, the 'Ghoshaka' was transformed into the Persian 'Ghizic' and
'Khamaicha' and 'Rabab' have migrated to India from Persia and Arabia,
and got slowly stabilized as folk musical instruments here and have traveled
Varieties have made a two way journey between 'Art Music' and 'Folk
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THE VEENA IN SCULPTURES
in Bhopal.
varying sizes, shapes and descriptions. The earlier Veena is in the shape of a
boat or a bow. It is a harp like instrument with open strings made out of guts.
The string was called 'Jya' - same as the name for the Bowstring."
century AD, we find an evolution in the early Veena, held vertically, with a
resonator at the base, and of course, with plucked open strings. This is the
in Tamilnadu.
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.mat^ ka mandir - Abaniri
^araswati from Mathura, Indian museum ARCHEOLOGlCAL SURVEY OF INDl
Dancing Siva - Allahabad m u s e u m " ;: \1. M KN I "5 ' i|
The 'Parivadhini' and the Mandohn shaped Veena depicted in the sculptures
of India and in the temples of Greater India are also found in the Ajanta
frescoes. Identified also as the 'Kachchapi' on the basis of its shape, these
We see the first Veena with a long Danda, a small gourd on the right hand
plucking side, and with some kind of thin bridge on which the string is
Pudukottai. It is in the Hoysala sculptures of about 11* and 12* century that
the long stemmed, the short stemmed, Veena in the inclined position, Veena
in the vertical position, Veena in the horizontal position, Veena with gourd
depict the Veena with a head of a bird or 'Sardula' and some without it. But
the head of the bird is uniformly curled up and in no instance curled down as
with long Danda presumably of bamboo, with a gourd for the resonator at
the right hand end of the Danda positioned near the right bent knee and
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shoulder.
understandably with the right hand fingers to pluck the strings for sound
production and the left hand fingers to produce music by moving them over
the strings.
complex. The Belur temple, which is famous for its exquisite bracket figures
Greater India till the middle ages, may still not facilitate our understanding
We tend to take the harp type of the 'Parivadhini Veena' as the earliest type
of Veena, duly evolved, and developed over many centuries till it reached
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The vast variety in the Veena mentioned in Vedic literature, which should
precede these sculptural evidences, must however, give us the idea about the
innovative capabilities of the Vedic Veena player and the Vedic Veena
maker, which leads us on to think that different types of Veenas were in use
Conclusion:
The Veena surely seems to have evolved greatly and has undergone several
evolving.
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