SITAR The invention of Sitar is commonly credited to Amir Khusrau, a courtier of Allauddin Khilji in the 13th Century.

The name Sitar was derived from Persian 'Sehtar' meaning 'three strings' which the instrument originally had. But the modern Sitar has seven strings fastened to the pegs on the neck and the sides. Sixteen to twenty-two frets are secured to the finger-board by pieces of gut. There are also 11 to 12 sympathetic strings below the frets, running parallel to the main strings. The instrument is played by means of wire plectrum worn on the forefinger of the right hand. It was instrumental in introducing western audiences to Indian Classical music.

SAROD Although the origin of Sarod is not known, it is supposed to have descended from the rabab of the Middle East. Some believe that this stringed instrument might have originated from the Greco-Buddhist area of Gandhar (modern Afghanisatan) The modern Sarod is made of wood with one end being rounded and covered with parchment. There are six main metallic strings fastened to pegs at the neck of the instrument. It is played with a plectrum held in the right hand while the fingers of the left hand are used to play the notes. It is fretless instrument with sympathetic strings. Sarod has secured an important place in Hindustani Classical Music for its deep and rich tone and a distinctive sound.

SANTOOR Santoor, which originated from the VedicVana Veena, is characteristic of the Kashmir Valley and is neither seen nor played anywhere else. The Vana Veenaalso had strings and was played with sticks. The modern Santoor is made of a trapezoid wooden box. There are thirty bridges and a set of four strings of metal, turned to the same note, is stretched over each pair of bridges. It is played with a pair of flat wooden pieces curved at the striking ends. Today, Santoor is played with all Indian ragas and is very popular with film musicians. It is made by hollowing out a single block of wood and covered by parchment and has four strings. Four tuning pegs are fixed to the hollow head and a bridge is placed on the hide-covered belly in the middle. The player places the instrument on the lap and plays it with a horse-hair

bow in the right hand and fingers and nails of the left hand. The tone of the Sarangi is every near to the human vocal chord.

SHEHNAI Considered to be an auspicious instrument, Shehnai belongs to the category of Aerophonic Instruments. It is said to be of Persian origin and is a one-reed instrument with six holes yielding soft and melodious sound. Made of a smooth dark-grained black wood, the tube is narrower on the top and widens towards the bottom affixed in a cup. All the tunes of full tone, half-tone and sharp notes can be played on this instrument through breath control. The notes are continuous and is generally used in classical and light classical music.

SARANGI Sarangi is another stringed instrument mainly popular as folk instrument and probably made its first appearance in the late 17th Century. The ability to play all types of gamakas has given it a prominent place in the Hindustani Classic Music. It is made by hollowing out a single block of wood and covered by parchment and has four strings. Four tuning pegs are fixed to the hollow head and a bridge is placed on the hide-covered belly in the middle. The player places the instrument on the lap and plays it with a horse-hair bow in the right hand and fingers and nails in the left hand. The tone of Sarangi is very near to the human vocal chord.

VIOLIN Though the Indian Classical Music has a number of stringed instruments of the bowed variety, the introduction of Violin to it, is quite recent. In fact, it is the only western instrument to be absorbed completely into Indian music. It is said that, about a century ago, Varahappaya, a Minister to the Maratha rulers of Tanjavoor, explored this instrument to enrich Indian Classical Music.

The strings of the Violin in India are tuned to different notes than the western style. The light tone of the steel string and the deep, almost human tone of the fourth string embellishes the peculiarities of Carnatic music.

NAGASWARAM It is believed that this representative of the South Indian Music evolved from the snake charmer's Pungi. Nagaswsaram was well known in the 15th and 16th Centuries and formed an integral part of the temples. It consists of a wooden mouthpiece into which the player blows the air. This air under pressure is released from the lower end of the gourd through two bamboo or metal pipes. These tubes have a valve each to control air flow through the pipes and have holes to control the melody. Nagaswaram often attains a wild beauty and softness and brings out the subtle graces of Carnatic music.

FLUTE This wind instrument of ancient India was very common with Lord Krishna and the religious music of the Buddhists. Even the frescoes of Ajanta and Ellora depict this Flute or Bansuri as an accompaniment to vocal and instrumental music. Being an instrument of great antiquity, its construction remained constant over the years. It is made of a cylinderical bamboo pipe of uniform bore, containing six holes for movement of the fingers and a bigger hole for blowing air. It is handled in an oblique position and air is blown with the upper lip into the main hole. Different octaves are produced by covering the holes with the fingers.

VEENA The Southern Veena was brought into use by Raghunatha Naik, a ruler of Tanjavoor, consisting of twenty four fixed frets. The body is hollowed out of a block of wood. The neck is attached to the stem having a weired figure like the head of a dragon. There are seven strings in all.

The Vichitra Veena of the North and a rare instrument, was introduced by Ustad Abdul Ajij Khan, a court musician at Indore. It is of comparatively recent origin. It has a broad stem and six main strings are fastened to wooden pegs fixed to the other end. It is played by means of a plectrum on the right hand finger.

GHATAM Ghatam, one of the ancient percussion instruments, often heard in Carnatic Music concerts, is a mud pot carefully kneaded and uniformally fired. The mouth of the Ghatam is open and is played with two hands, wrists, fingers and nails. The mouth is pressed against the stomach so that when strokes are given, the air inside is set in vibration and gives a deep tone. The player can elicit various volumes and tonal colours by giving the finger strokes at the neck, centre and bottom of outer surface.

TABLA Tabla, an evolution of the oldest percussion instrument - the damru of Shiva, is believed to be an innovation of Amir Khusrau ( a courtier of Allauddin Khilji in the 13th Century). It is said to be derived from a kind of Arabian drum calledTabl. It consists of two drums-Dayan (Right) or the Tabla being made of black wood and the Bayan(left) or the Duggi being made of wood, clay or copper. Both are hollowed from inside and covered with skin fastened to leather straps which are stretched over the body of the drums by means of leather braces. These straps are pulled to raise or lower the pitch. The two pieces of Tabla are generally tuned one octave apart. In the hands of a master, Tabla is capable of producing all patterns of rhythms with wellestablished time cycles (talas).

Manjira Manjira is known by many names. It is also called jhanj, tala, mondira, (small size) kafi (large size), or a host of other names. It is basically a set of small cymbals. It is a ubiquitous component of dance music and bhajans. It is a very ancient instrument; examples may be seen on temple walls going back to the earliest of times. They are usually made of brass.

Nadaswaram Nadaswaram is a South Indian version of the shehnai. It is also called nagaswaram. It is substantially larger than the shehnai and has a simple double reed rather than the more complex quadruple reed. It is considered a very auspicious instrument and is found at temples and at weddings. It is normally accompanied by a sur peti, ottu, and a tavil. There is a smaller version of the nadaswaram which is played in folk music and is known mukhavina.

Saraswati vina (Saraswathi veena) is the instrument associated with Saraswati, the goddess of learning and the arts. This instrument is common in south India and is an important instrument in carnatic sangeet. It is variously called simply vina, or veena, the "Saraswati" part being implied. The saraswati vina has an interesting construction. It has a body made of wood, generally, this is jackwood. The highest quality vinas have the entire body carved from a single block of wood, while the ordinary vinas have a body which is carved in three sections (resonator, neck and head). There are 24 frets made of brass bars set into wax. (see "Fretting and Fingering the Vina") There is another resonator at the top of the neck. This is no longer a functioning resonator, but is mainly used as a stand to facilitate the positioning of the instrument when it is played. Because it is no longer functioning it is not unusual to find that this upper resonator may be made of acoustically neutral materials such as paper mache, cane or other similar materials. Unlike north Indian instruments like the sitar, the saraswati vina has no sympathetic strings. It has only four playing strings and three drone strings (thalam). (see also "Tuning the Vina") The main bridge is a flat bar made of brass. This bar has a very slight curve. It is this light curve which gives thevina its characteristic sound. A major centre for the manufacture of the saraswati vini is in Tanjore. The playing position is shown below. We see that the performer sits cross-legged on the floor, the small vestigial gourd rests against the left thigh while the main resonator rests on the floor. The right hand plucks the strings while the left hand frets the instrument.

The Gottuvadhyam also known as the chitravina, is an instrument played in Southern India. It is usualy used as a solo instrument in Carnatic sangeet. Gottuvadhyam has an interesting construction. It resmbles the saraswati vina in its general form. It has six main playing strings which pass over the very top of the instrument. It has three thallam (drone) strings at the side, and a series of sympathetic strings which pass under the main strings. The approach to tuningis in some ways similar to the sitar, in other ways it is similar to the saraswati vina, but in many ways it is unique. It is played with a slide in a manner somewhat like a Hawaiian guitar.

The gottuvadyam does not appear to be very old, probably around 100 years old. It was popularised in the south by Sakharam Rao of Tiruvidaimarudur. It was later taken up and further popularised by Narayan Iyengar who was a palace musician of the old state of Mysore. Miraj Style Tambura (Tanpura) Tanpura is a drone instrument. It resembles a sitar except it has no frets. It has four strings tuned to the tonic. The word "tanpura" (tanpoora) is common in the north, but in south India it is called "tambura", "thamboora", "thambura", or "tamboora". The tanpura is known for its very rich sound. There are three main styles; the Miraj style, the Tanjore style and the small instrumental version sometimes called tamburi. The Miraj style is the typical north Indian tanpura (tambura). This is the favourite of Hindustanimusicians. It typically is between 3 to 5 feet in length. It is characterized by a pear shapped, well roundedtabali (resonator face) and non-tapering neck. It usually has a resonator made of a gourd, but rarely one may find resonators made of wood. This style is shown at the top of this page.

Getchu vadyam, also known as gettuvadyam, gethu vadyam, or Jhallari, is a very rare instrument. It is a hammered lute, only 2-3 feet long. It is placed in front of the performer and struck with two small bamboo mallets. It is found only in the deep south where it is played along with the mridangam. There are very few artists today who play this instrument.

Mridangam is a South Indian version of the pakhawaj. It bears a strong superficial resemblance topakhawaj but there are major differences in construction and technique. The tone of the instrument is quite different. This is due to differences in construction. The construction of the mridangam is interesting. It has heavy annular membrane around the right side, and a number of pieces of straw which are placed radially between the annular membrane and the main membrane. The right side has a permanent application, known as soru or karanai. The left side uses a mixture of flour and water to provide a proper tone. This application must be removed after each performance. The lacing and heads are all placed upon a barrel shaped wooden shell. The wood is usually of jackwood.

Tavil is an instrument found only in the extreme south. It has a shell of nearly spherical proportions which is open on both sides. There are two skins wrapped around two large hemp hoops. The left side is played with a stick. The right side is played with the hands with metal thimbles placed over the fingers to give a sharp sound. This instrument is commonly played in South Indian temples and weddings. It is the most common accompaniment to the nadaswaram.

The ottu is a south Indian drone instrument. It is very similar to the nadaswaram or the shehnai in construction. It is usually somewhat longer than the nadaswaram. It has a bell, usually of metal like theshehnai. It has four or five holes, which are not fingered but merely occluded with wax to bring the instrument to the correct pitch (shruti). This instrument does not play a melody, but merely provides thedrone for temple ensembles composed of nadaswaram and tavil.

Although the violin is not native to the Indian subcontinent; it has become so popular that it must be mentioned. There appears to be no difference in construction between the Indian violin and its Western counterpart, however the technique is quite different. The most refined technique is to be found in South Indian music. Instead of holding the instrument under the chin, the musician props it between the shoulder and the foot. This gives a stability which cannot be matched by either north Indian nor occidental techniques. North Indian technique, though not nearly as refined, is still impressive.

Harmonium Harmonium is a wind activated reed instrument. Air is blown using the hand bellow. A version with foot pump too exist but not very popular. A smaller version with no Key board called Sruthi box exist to provide drone. The key board is European and has many drone reeds peculiar to Indian music. Base drone is accomplished by keeping some of the reeds continuously activated by pulling the required knobs in the front side of the instrument. There are a number of parts of the harmonium, the main ones are: Body, Bellows used for pumping air and also serves as a reservoir, Keys though similar to Western it does not follow the International standard for pitch (A = 440), Cover, Main Stops - a series of valves which control the way that air flows in the instrument, Drone Stops - the most distinguishing feature of Indian harmoniums (base stops control the flow of air over un-keyed reeds. They simply drone their particular pitch. There may be any number of drones set to any pitch; however they tend toward, A sharp, C sharp, D sharp, F sharp, and G sharp), Handles for transport, Reeds - a series of brass reeds set into a heavier brass base (Each base is roughly 1/4 inch by 2 inches. There must be a minimum of one reed per key while two or three are the most common. These small brass reeds vibrate whenever air passes over them), Coupler - a mechanical arrangement whereby another key is played along with the one being fingered (Normally this is a key located an octave below the selected key. This arrangement produces a richer sound than an uncoupled keyboard. This coupling may be enabled or defeated by the user), Scale Changer (not very popular), Reed Board (The reed board is a flat piece of wood with a series of long holes cut in them. There are a series of brass reeds covering these holes. These reeds are arranged in banks. If there are two banks of reeds, it is said to be a double-reed harmonium. If there are three banks of reeds, it is said to be a triple-reed harmonium. The triple-reed harmonium is generally considered to be superior to the double-reed variety. Sometimes this board is not flat, instead has the reeds set into perpendicular baffles. This style is said to produce a better sound). The harmonium may be played sitting, standing or walking with the harmonium is slung by a strap around the neck.