VEENA, A Sacred Instrument

 

Veena is a sacred musical instrument. It is always seen in the hands of the goddess Saraswati. In this video my Guru Mrs. Savithri Rao is teaching me a Keerthana Sarasara Samarai in Raga Kuntal Varali.

TYPES OF VEENA

Veenas can be classified on the basis of frets.

WITH FRETS

Rudra Veena

Rudra veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music.Rudra veena literally means the Veena dear to Shiva'. Dr.Lalmani Misra modified this as the Shruthi Veena to establish Bharat's Shadja Gram and obtain the 22 Shruthis from it. One of the women who play Rudra veena is Smt.Jyothi Hegde from .....

A beautiful Rudra Veena

Saraswathi Veena

It is a plucked string instrument used in Carnatic music.There are 7 strings in this kind of Veena.Some notable Vainikas (players) are Veene Sheshanna, Iyer Brothers and....

FRETLESS

Vichitra Veena

Vichitra Veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is a modern form of the ancient Ektantri Veena.(Single stringed Veena). There are 4 main strings and 5 secondary strings (chikaris). There are 13 sympathetic strings underneath them. 5 octaves can be covered in this Veena. It has peacock heads on the either side of its narrow ends. Some of the performers of Vichitra veena are Lalmani Misra, who also played Dadras along with the traditional compositions on Veena. He was creator of a famous Raga Madhukali.  Dr.Radhika Umdekar Budhkar is noted as the 1st lady Vichitra Veena player.

Vichitra Veena

Chitra Veena

Chitra veena ,a fret less lute for Carnatic music is also called as Gotuvadyam.The name Gotuvadyam was given by Pandit Sakha Rama Rao. Its origin can be traced back to Bharata's Natya Shastra. It has 20 or 21 strings. Some performers are Budaloor Krishnamurthy Shastri,Veena Doraiswamy, Seetha Doraiswamy who plays both Chitra veena and the Balakokila, a smaller version of Chitra Veena.

Chitra Veena

GUITAR

Mohan Veena
Though this instrument is not classified in Carnatic music, I tempt to mention it since it is  a new invention made by the famous Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat.

Mohan Veena is a slide guitar used in Indian classical music. It is a modified Archtop guitar invented by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat and he named it so. It has 20 strings having 3 melody strings, 5 drone strings and 12 sympathetic strings. Great performers are a famous fusion artiste Harry Manx, Pandit Satish Khanwalkar, Matt Malley, Salil Bhat, the son and Shishya of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat, the inventor of Mohan Vena.

Written by Ananya Pramod