Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

SOUND PLAY

While all musical instruments in India are traditionally held in reverence, there are some that top the others in terms of divine associations. One of these is the veena. Played by Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, and Narada, the cosmic sage, it was also the instrument of the 19th century composer Muthuswami Dikshitar.

The veena is a wooden stringed instrument of which there are several varieties, notably the Saraswati veena, the Rudra veena and the vichitra veena. The Saraswati veena, an important member of the array of Carnatic instruments, is the one most commonly seen, and when the name veena is used with no epithet prefixed, this is the one referred to.

With a resonator made of hollowed wood at one end and a gourd, smaller in size, at the other, the two connected by a tapering wooden neck, this is a highly resonant instrument, though it does not have sympathetic strings like other Indian instruments, for instance the sitar. Of its seven strings, four are playing strings, while the other three are known as the talam strings. Twenty-four brass frets set in wax help the player pick out the notes.

Some veenas are carved out of a single block of wood, while others are made of three separate pieces. The smaller gourd may be made of light materials like papier mache, cane, etc. The traditional Saraswati veena as we see it today has evolved from ancient times. Although we see calendar pictures of immortals like Saraswati holding this veena, it is said to have taken its present form in the 17th Century.

However, the instrument can be truly said to have entered the 21st Century, now that its electronic and digital versions are available. The electronic veena, with the brand name Sunadavinodini, is advertised as assembled or dismantled within seconds. Thus one of its main advantages is portability. Besides, it has a built-in tanpura as well as amplification. Purists may or may not shudder at innovations like its increased potential for sustained notes without the effort needed in an ordinary veena.

In the past, South India produced celebrated players of the veena, including the legendary Veena Dhanammal, Seshanna, Chittibabu, Balachander and others. Contemporary practitioners include Rajeswari Padmanabhan, Vishalam Venkatachalam, E. Gayathri and so on.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail