Veena

The veena, also spelled vina (Sanskrit: वीणा IAST: vīṇā), is any of various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps. The many regional designs have different names such as the Rudra veena, the Saraswati veena, the Vichitra veena and others.
The North Indian rudra veena, used in Hindustani classical music, is a stick zither. About 3.5 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long to fit the measurements of the musician, it has a hollow body and two large resonating gourds, one under each end. It has four main strings which are melodic, and three auxiliary drone strings. To play, the musician plucks the melody strings downward with a plectrum worn on the first and second fingers, while the drone strings are strummed with the little finger of the playing hand. The musician stops the resonating strings, when so desired, with the fingers of the free hand. In modern times the veena has been generally replaced with the sitar in North Indian performances.
The South Indian Saraswati veena, used in Carnatic classical music, is a lute. It is a long-necked, pear-shaped lute, but instead of the lower gourd of the North Indian design, it has a pear-shaped wooden piece. However it, too, has 24 frets, four melody strings, and three drone strings, and is played similarly. It remains an important and popular string instrument in classical Carnatic music.
As a fretted, plucked lute, the veena can produce pitches in a full three-octave range. The long, hollow neck design of these Indian instruments allows portamento effects and legato ornaments found in Indian ragas. It has been a popular instrument in Indian classical music, and one revered in the Indian culture by its inclusion in the iconography of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of arts and learning.
The Sanskrit word veena (वीणा) in ancient and medieval Indian literature is a generic term for plucked string musical instruments. It is mentioned in the Rigveda, Samaveda and other Vedic literature such as the Shatapatha Brahmana and Taittiriya Samhita. In the ancient texts, Narada is credited with inventing the Tampura, described as a seven-string instrument with frets. According to Suneera Kasliwal, a professor of music, in the ancient texts such as the Rigveda and Atharvaveda (both pre-1000 BCE), as well as the Upanishads (c. 800–300 BCE), a string instrument is called vana, a term that evolved to become veena. The early Sanskrit texts call any stringed instrument vana; these include bowed, plucked, one string, many strings, fretted, non-fretted, zither, lute or harp lyre-style string instruments.
A person who plays a veena is called a vainika.
The Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni, the oldest surviving ancient Hindu text on classical music and performance arts, discusses the veena. This Sanskrit text, probably complete between 200 BCE and 200 CE, begins its discussion by stating that "the human throat is a sareer veena, or a body's musical string instrument" when it is perfected, and that the source of gandharva music is such a throat, a string instrument and flute. The same metaphor of human voice organ being a form of veena, is also found in more ancient texts of Hinduism, such as in verse 3.2.5 of the Aitareya Aranyaka, verse 8.9 of the Shankhayana Aranyaka and others. The ancient epic Mahabharata describes the sage Narada as a Vedic sage famed as a "vina player".
The Natya Shastra describes a seven-string instrument and other string instruments in 35 verses, and then explains how the instrument should be played. The technique of performance suggests that the veena in Bharata Muni's time was quite different than the zither or the lute that became popular after the Natya Shastra was complete. The ancient veena, according to Allyn Miner and other scholars, was closer to an arched harp. The earliest lute and zither style veena playing musicians are evidenced in Hindu and Buddhist cave temple reliefs in the early centuries of the common era. Similarly, Indian sculptures from the mid-1st millennium CE depict musicians playing string instruments. By about the 6th century CE, the goddess Saraswati sculptures are predominantly with veena of the zither-style, similar to modern styles.
One of the early veenas used in India from early times until the Gupta period was an instrument of the harp type, and more precisely of the arched harp. It was played with the strings kept parallel to the body of the player, with both hands plucking the strings, as shown on Samudragupta's gold coins. The Veena Cave at Udayagiri has one of the earliest visual depictions of a veena player, considered to be Samudragupta.
At a first glance, the difference between the North and South Indian design is the presence of two resonant gourds in the North, while in the South, instead of the lower gourd there is a pear-shaped wooden body attached. However, there are other differences, and many similarities. Modern designs use fiberglass or other materials instead of hollowed jackwood and gourds. The construction is personalized to the musician's body proportions so that she can hold and play it comfortably. It ranges from about 3.5 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters). The body is made of special wood and is hollow. Both designs have four melody strings, three drone strings and twenty-four frets. The instrument's end is generally tastefully shaped such as a swan and the external surfaces colorfully decorated with traditional Indian designs.
The melody strings are tuned in c' g c G (the tonic, the fifth, the octave and the fourth), from which sarani (chanterelle) is frequently used. The drone strings are tuned in c" g' c' (the double octave, the tonic and the octave). The drones are typically used to create rhythmic tanams of Indian classical music and to express harmony with clapped tala of the piece.
The main string is called Nāyakī Tār (नायकी तार), and in the Sarasvati veena it is on the onlooked's left side. The instrument is played with three fingers of the right (dominant) hand, struck inward or outward with a bent-wire plectrum (a "mizrab"). The index and second fingers strike inward on the melody string, alternating between notes, and the little finger strikes outward on the sympathetic strings.
The bola alphabets struck in the North Indian veena are da, ga, ra on the main strings, and many others by a combination of fingers and other strings. The veena settings and tuning may be fixed or adjusted by loosening the pegs, to perform Dhruva from fixed and Cala with loosened pegs such that the second string and first string coincide.
One of the earliest description of the terminology currently used for veena construction, modification and operation appears in Sangita Cudamani by Govinda.
Being a generic name for any string instrument, there are numerous types of veena. Some significant ones are:
Media related to Veenas at Wikimedia Commons