Chapter 2

The Origin and Evolution of Veena

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

forests. Abundant trees of different kinds, occupied by birds, animals,

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

be imagined, how they would have converted inanimate objects and

materials to make some sort of instruments to produce musical sounds of the

fauna, being surrounded by them day and night.

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

23
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

achieved something, which would have given them immense satisfaction.

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

the above-mentioned instruments as 'Karata Vadya' (the one with coconut

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 ([Link] in Veena, Peacock head in

Mayuri Veena)

Gradually, as people progressed and got more accomplished, they

recognized the usefulness and meaning of music. This lead to the

development of Music by leaps and bounds. It is said that the evolution of

the basic seven notes has been derived from the sounds made by birds and

animals.

Peacock sounds Shadja - Sa

Cow moos Rishabha - Ri

Goat sounds Gandhara - Ga

Duck quacks Madhyama - Ma

Cuckoo coos Panchama - Pa

Horse neighs Dhaivatha - Dha

Elephant trumpets Nishada - Ni

As music developed into Sapthaswara range, use of more number of frets

came into existence. As stated by [Link] in his book 'Sangita Sastra

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

25
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.

The earlier version of Tambura is the Ekanaada or Ekathaari with a single

string. Hence it could be concluded that the present close to perfect shape of

the Veena could be the culmination of gradual improvements made from

time to time on Ekthaari. Gliding a hard cylindrical piece on the Ekthaari

could have produced interesting notes.

This might be the reason why 'Mahathi Veena' has less number of frets. By

observing the photograph of 'Mahathi Veena' said to have been played 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

Veena'. As a mark of development, the 'Kinnari Veena' had increased

number of frets.

The Veena used by Nijaguna Sivayogi had sixteen frets. The 'Rudra Veena'

(Been) had 18 to 20 frets crudely fixed giving roughly two octaves on a

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

26
has been really noticeable. This Veena has been in use for the last four to

five centuries. The instrument is popularly known as 'Saraswathi Veena'

depicted by Raja Ravi Varma in his famous painting of Goddess Saraswathi.

We can definitely see the gradual change over from gourd bowl to wooden

bowl in South India. By studying the sculptures of different times, it has

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

resonators are made of wood, be it for Veena, Tambura or GottuVadyam.

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

to Wooden bowl in the 13* or 14* century as depicted in the sculptures of

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

present day Veena, according to some is an improvised version of Ekthaari,

Yazh, Do thaari, Tambura, Trithantri Veena, Mahati Veena, Kinnari and

Rudra Veena.

27
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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

which strings is deflected sideways, as in the Veena and Sitar.

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

Veena'. Since detailed information about these are lacking, it is difficult to

28
say whether they were different except in the number of strings or whether

they were the same instrument but known by various names.

'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

from what we know as Veena or not.

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',

29
'Silappadikaram', ' Mani meghalai' and 'Jeevaka Chithamani' as well as

archeological evidences and have given us fairly detailed accounts of these

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

branch of a 'Kumizh tree', tied a hempen rope to it and, to the

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

(comparable to the Danda) seems to have been a straight tube instead of a

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

'Makara Veenai' had nineteen 'narambus'. It was an instrument of

aristocracy, played in the mansion and seraglios. Tamil writers themselves

have called it as an 'Avanakkai Veenai', meaning, an instrument of the

30
Yavanas, who are usually taken to be Greeks. The harps described thus far

belong to a class of polychords that were bow shaped or arched with a

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.

The Monochords or fingerboard instruments that are lutes, like the

'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

behind. A system based on Harps is given up and a new one founded on

finger- board Veenas leading to our present practice grows replacing the

older system. This near revolution is one of the greatest mutations in our

music history and is closely dependent on the evolution of instruments. As

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

milestones in the evolution of our instruments, as best as the situation

permits.

31
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

times, translators (Particularly into English) have not distinguished between

the three categories of Tata Vadya (stringed instrument). Much therefore has

to be taken with reserve, especially where zithers and lutes are concerned.

Zithers are instruments wherein there is a fingerboard with strings,fi-ettedor

fi-etless and most important, the resonator being fixed below it. The 'Vichitra

Veena' is a fretless Zither played by Hindustani musicians. The fingerboard

is a broad long one of about a meter and quarter in length with two large

pumpkins screwed to its either side. As in all contemporary Veenas, it has a

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

32
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

instrument in the 'Ain - I- Akbari'. By fixing frets on to the Vichitra Veena

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

Veena in Hindustani Music till a few years ago.

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

'Kinnari' Veena. Definite descriptions of this instrument commence from

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

music had a fingerboard of bamboo nearly 75 centimeters long, with two

pumpkins. The frets, 14 in number, were made usually of the chest bones of

33
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

recently reigned supreme in Hindustani Music and was popular among

commoners also; this is the instrument that is called 'Been' in common

parlance. Like the 'Kinnari', the fingerboard is of a wide and smooth

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

as can be seen from innumerable miniature paintings of North India. In one

class of such pictures, known as 'Ragam"ala' miniatures which personify

Ragas and Raginis as well as their literary symbolization, the 'Been' is

invariably a companion of Ragini Thodi, a lady with the Zither whose music

34
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

the sight of Todi (personification of the Raga) holding a Veena"

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

popularizing the Rudra Veena.

The queen of all the Veenas is the Saraswathi Veena. Incidentally,

Hindustani musicians also call their Veena, the Zither already described, by

this name. We shall however refer to the South Indian Veena as the

SARASWATHI VEENA and the Hindustani Zither as the Rudra Veena

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

versatility. In a way, it is the only self-contained Veena today. It has strings

to play the Raga and that too in a wide range of pitch, it has the drone so

35
very necessary for Indian Music and these drone strings are placed in such

manner that the Tala can also be kept by playing on them.

In other words, the Veena has in itself, Swara, Raga and Tala. That the drone

strings are used to indicate accented beats in a rhythmic cycle is something

very peculiar only to the Veena. The present structure of the lute seems to

have come to finition at Tanjavur in Tamilnadu by about the 17* Century,

during the reign of King Raghunath; it is hence often referred to as the

Tanjavur Veena. Detailed description of the Saraswathi Veena will be

found in Chapter 6 "Saraswathi Veena- Tuning and playing Techniques",

The best-known long necked Veena without frets is the GottuVadyam of

Camatic Music. This instrument is sometimes also called the 'Mahanataka

Veena'. Here again, historical information is scanty and in all probability the

first reference to it is in a Telugu work of the 17* century. The instrument

itself is simple though the playing is difficult. A wooden 'spherical' bowl

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

36
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

is interesting is the presence of the Tarab or the sympathetic strings on the

instrument. This is the only Camatic instrument with such an accessory and

seems to be a recent innovation, as instrumentalists in the South have no

name for it yet. The plucking of the strings is done as in the Veena. For

playing a tune or a Raga, a small piece of cylindrical hard wood or ebony is

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

off the fingerboard, the technique is difficult and delicate.

(The above study is based on [Link] Iyengar's book, 'History of

South Indian Music')

About Introduction of 24 frets and evolution of the present shape of

Saraswathi Veena.

37
There are many differences of opinion regarding who introduced 24 frets

instead of 12 frets. Though many beheve that it is Govinda Dhikshitar,

some believe that it is arbitrary. The following is an extract from a letter

written to "Sruti" Magazine by Prof T.V. Kuppuswamy from Delhi.

" It is Abraham Panditar, the well know music savant, who credited Govinda

Dhikshitar with the designing of the Saraswathi Veena ('Kamamritha

Sagaram', book 1, page 193). Panditar states that Govinda Dhikshitar

introduced 24 frets instead of 12 frets. He also adds cautiously that the claim

is made by Dhikshitar's descendents." Panditar's illustrious son A.A.

Varaguna Pandian has authored an excellent treaties in Tamil called " Paanar

kaivazhi". Therein, he states that the medievalists christened the name Tamil

"Yazh" as "Veena". He establishes his viewpoint by quoting Tamil literary

sources profiisely. Tamilogists swear by Pandian's thesis, though most

scholars are not inclined to accept his view. Prof P. Sambamurthy came

much later in giving credit to Govinda Dhikshitar.

With the evidence available at present (mostly literary and that too in

Sanskrit/ Telugu), it is unwise to pinpoint Raghunath Nayak, Govinda

Dhikshitar, Tulajendra, or any other person as the progenitor of the

'Prototype of modem South Indian Veena'. That the Veena is * the

38
consummation of long experimentation and design' is a legitimate claim. It

is reasonable to assign the work 'Chaturdandi Prakasika' (by Venkatamakhi)

to the reign of Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjavur. The first and relatively

important part of the work, namely ' Veena Prakarana' has yet to be traced

and certified as bonafide.

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.

'Sangeetha Saramrita' of King Tulaja provides us with 935 verses of

'Chathurdandi Prakasika'. Tulaja himself admits that they are quotes. This

'extract' comes to our aid as it gives more information on the Veena.

'Chathurdandi Prakasika' was printed nearly three centuries after

Venkatamakhi.

The evolution of the instrument through its various stages can be traced with

available evidence. The following points are worthy of consideration in this

context.

Ref: 'History of South Indian Music ' By [Link] Iyengar

39
(l)Vikrita Swaras enumerated in 'Sangeetha Rathnakara' were not

intended to be located on the achala (fixed) frets of the Veena; they

were inseparably connected with the Moorchana system.

(2) Ramamatya located them on the Veena (15* Century). They were

identified with the mela system. Out of 12 Vikrithies, Ramamatya

accepted seven on theoretical considerations and he was able to locate

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

varieties of Gandhara, two of Nishadha and one of Madhyama and

one of Panchama. These could be accommodated only at the cost of

lower Varieties of Nishadha and Dhaivatha. This state of affairs

resulted in serious misapprehensions of Sruthi intervals."

The letter concludes by saying that "To ponder over the question of who

ushered in the Veena of current usage is a speculative exercise. But it is our

good fortune that the heritage is not wasted" - [Link].

Ref: "Sruti" Magazine Letter to the editor column by Prof. T. V. Kuppuswamy from Delhi

40
In this context, [Link], the renowned scholar from Mysore has

his own viewpoint. He says, " The authorship of 'Sangeetha Sudha' is

attributed to Raghunatha Nayaka, King of Tanjavur (1614-1632/3) but

Venkatamakhi claims in his 'Chathurdandi Prakashika' that 'Sangeetha

Sudha' was authored by his father Govinda Dikshitar and that the

'Raghunathamela Veena' was created by Govinda Dikshitar and dedicated to

King Raghunatha Nayaka.' 'Sangeetha Sudha' describes only three Veena

melas (fretboards), namely, 'Suddha Mela Veena', 'Madhyamela Veena'

and 'RaghunathamelaVeena'. Even a casual study of these is enough to

convince that none of them can be the prototype of the modem South Indian

Veena. The 'Suddhamela Veena' and 'Madhyamela Veena' are in total

accord with those described earlier by Ramamatya ('Swaramela Kalanidhi'),

Somanath ('Ragavibodha') and Pandarika Vithala ('Sadraga Chandrodaya')

and are thus tuned to Anumandra Sa, Anumandra Pa and Mandra sa and

Mandra ma (Suddhamela Veena) and to Anumandra pa and Mandra Sa,

Mandra Pa, Mandra Sa (Madhyamela Veena) in their four upper strings. As

done by previous authorities, 'Suddhamela Veena' is taken as the model for

mela setting with extrapolation in 'Madhyamela' and 'Raghunathamela

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

41
intervals." [Link] says that Govinda Dhikshitar cannot be

credited with inventing or inaugurating the modem Veena fretboard of

Camatic music because: His accordatura is of Suddhamela Veena whereas

that of the modem Veena is of Madhyamela Veena.

(a) The modem Veena fret board obviates the need for shorter and longer

frets.

(b) Chjoita Madhyama Gandhara and kakali Nishada(archaic) which were

featured in the Suddha Mela Veena are incompatible as consonants

and the latter note is no longer used in modem Camatic music.

(c) He prescribes only 12 frets on the strings, whereas the modem Veena

fretboard has 23 excluding the Mem.

(d)'Sangeetha Sudha' is confused and opaque in respect of two major

cmxes, namely dvaadasa parvasu and sishteshu and sakalaah. These

cannot be resolved with any degree of certainty.

Venkatamakhi extracts three verses from 'Sangeetha Sudha' in his

'Chathurdandi Prakasika' and offers the following textual exegesis in respect

of'Raghunatha mela' Veena. If the open string in the Madhyamela Veena is

tuned to Madhya Sa instead of to Ma, and is played as Pa, then the Ma of the

Madhyamela Veena (on the same string) turns out to be Sa of the

42
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

of the tonic (Grahabedha or sruthi bedha) to Ma. This is known as

'Madhyama Sruthi tuning' in modem Camatic musical parlance and is

commonly employed in performing ragas such as Jenjooti, Punnagavarali

and Nadanamakriya. Govinda Dikshitar has invented this tuning technique

to serve inter-convertibility between 'Suddhamela Veena' and 'Madhyamela

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

Analyzing the collective sources on 'Sangeetha Saramritam' available at the

Tanjavur Saraswathi Mahal Library, [Link] has shown that

[Link].5.10787, 10800, 10801 and 10781 of the work contain valuable

additions to the Swara Chapter not found in the Pandit [Link] Sastry

edition. These include a description of the Tulajendramela Veena as noted

43
by [Link] in his introduction. The passage may be understood freely

as follows.

Description of Tulajendramela Veena;

"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

but subordinates of Tulajendra Veena. Except for differences in shape, all

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

concerts should take only to this Veena, wherein instrumental virtuosity

44
acmes without fatigue. Aspirants who desire to practice with felicity should

also take up only this instrument"....

"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

is the consummation of long experimentation and design. Recent

engineering and technological innovations, while only peripheral to its

fundamental purpose and function, are certainly welcome in as much as they

help in the realization of its dream of beauty in sight, sound and rhythm."

[Link].

Prof Kuppuswamy is said to have felt that "To ponder over the question of

who ushered in the Veena of current usage is a speculative exercise. But it is

our good fortune that the heritage is not wasted". It is to be noted that the

study of the development of the Veena structure is surely not a speculative

exercise and is well worth its time and energy, as it will have an indelible

place in the history of Indian music.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

This is an excerpt fi-om discussions held at Bhopal Veena Samaroh in 1996.

"Continuous action of the forces of cultural ecology, diffusion and

45
interpolation has resulted in the intercultural migration of Musical

instruments, especially of stringed instruments in India. Both the Music and

culture have expanded because of this. The Veena offers the best example

for this. The Vamam, Audumbari, Kinnari, Chitra, Tamburi and other

chordophones may be shown to have migratory cousins in other ancient

cultures such as those of Egypt, Sumer, Mesopotamia, Acadia, Assyria,

Arabia, Persia, China and Japan.

The process of diffusion and migration has extended over nearly four

millennia. Ancient Indian Veenas are preserved in both the wall paintings of

ancient towns of Central Asia and in Archeological excavations in the Far

East, and also in temple sculptures of India.

For Instance, the 'Ghoshaka' was transformed into the Persian 'Ghizic' and

'Khamaicha' in Turkey. The 'Chitra' metamorphosed gradually into

'Chitara' - 'Quitra'- Guitar in which form it has returned to India. Both

'Khamaicha' and 'Rabab' have migrated to India from Persia and Arabia,

and got slowly stabilized as folk musical instruments here and have traveled

further east to Indonesia and Malaysia. Intra culturally, many Veena

Varieties have made a two way journey between 'Art Music' and 'Folk

music', as seen from textual and literary sources".

46
THE VEENA IN SCULPTURES

Excerpts from a talk delivered by Prof.R. Visweswaran at 'Veena Samaroh'

in Bhopal.

"From the Sculptures of Barhut and Amaravathi, down to those of today's

crude commercial material, the Veena has always been an extremely

fascinating instrument to sculpt.

The Veena has been represented in different periods of sculpture with

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."

Veena is actually called 'Jya' in Vedic literature. This instrument is

mentioned in Tamil literature and is described as 'Yazh'. Even by the 7^

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

'Parivadhini Veena' for which the Kudimiyamalai inscription of Music

lessons in the seven root ragas was designed by Rudracharya at the

command of the Pallava King Mahendra Vikrama Varman I, in Pudukkotai

in Tamilnadu.

47
.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

are the earliest of our Veenas,

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

drawn in the hands of Veena Dhaara Dakshinamoorthy. This is in

Pudukottai. It is in the Hoysala sculptures of about 11* and 12* century that

we see a lot of variety of plucking technique, Veena of bowing technique,

the long stemmed, the short stemmed, Veena in the inclined position, Veena

in the vertical position, Veena in the horizontal position, Veena with gourd

for resonator, Veena with wooden resonator, Veenas with resonators of

different shapes and with a varying number of strings. Some sculptures

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

we see in today's Veena.

In the Hoysala sculptures. Goddess Saraswathi uniformly holds a Veena

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

48
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shoulder.

This is consistently the position in which a performer holds the Veena,

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.

Veena Saraswathi and Natya Saraswathi are prominent among the

breathtaking sculptural marvels of the Hoyasalas and in the Halebid temple

complex. The Belur temple, which is famous for its exquisite bracket figures

of damsels, has a few types of Veenas with minute details.

A study of the sculptural representations of the Veena from the earliest

evidences found at Bhaja, Barhut and Amaravathi and in the temples of

Greater India till the middle ages, may still not facilitate our understanding

of the stage by stage evolution of the Veena.

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

the stage of near perfection in the Veena in our hands.

49
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

at the same time.

Conclusion:

The Veena surely seems to have evolved greatly and has undergone several

stages of metamorphosis making it what it is today - improving and further

evolving.

50