The Saraswati Veena – Ancient Indian String Instrument

ByMunyaradzi Mafaro

The Saraswati Veena is an ancient stringed musical instrument that originated in India. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati. In Hindu mythology, Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, music, art, speech, and learning. She is often shown playing or holding a veena in her iconography.

The origins of the Saraswati Veena date back thousands of years to India’s Vedic period. References to veena-type instruments can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures like the Rigveda and Samaveda, estimated to have been composed between 1500 and 1000 BCE. The modern Saraswati Veena evolved from these ancient veena instruments over the centuries.

Instrument Design and Construction

Body and Resonators

The Saraswati Veena has a long, hollow wooden neck that stretches between two large resonating gourds. One gourd is placed at the top of the instrument’s neck, while the other is at the bottom. These gourds help amplify and add richness to the veena’s sound.

The gourds are made from a special type of squash called the “Kaddu Thikapary” gourd, which is native to southern India and Sri Lanka. When the gourds are harvested to make veenas, they are first dried in the sun. Then, they are cut, hollowed out, and treated before being attached to the veena.

Strings

Across the veena’s neck are 24 metal frets and seven strings. Four of the strings are called the “main playing strings.” These are plucked with the fingers to produce melodic notes. The other three strings are “drone strings” or “chikari”. They provide a constant background tonal structure similar to a drone.

The main playing strings are typically tuned to the notes Pa (G), Sa (D), Pa (G), and Sa (D) in the Indian sargam scale, which is similar to the Western solfege system. The drone strings are tuned to Sa (D), Pa (G), and Sa (D). The strings are made of steel, and the frets are made of brass.

Bridge and Tuning

Where the strings pass over the top of the lower gourd, they cross a curved wooden bridge. This bridge transmits the strings’ vibrations down into the gourd’s resonating chamber, amplifying the sound. The bridge also slightly pulls the strings upwards, giving them tension.

Small tuning pegs carved into the neck above the top gourd adjust the tension and pitch of each string. Wooden tuning beads are also moved up and down the neck to fine-tune each string to the raga’s proper shadda (natural notes) and Vikram swara (altered notes).

Playing Technique

Right Hand

To play the Saraswati Veena, it is held horizontally in front of the musician in a seated position. The small gourd rests on the musician’s left thigh while the long neck stretches out and across the other leg or lap to the right.

The player plucks the main melody strings with the fingers of their right hand using different techniques:

  • Dragging a finger or fingernail across a string for a gentle plucking sound
  • Using one or two fingers to pull a string upwards and release
  • Simultaneously plucking two strings together
  • Rapidly rolling the fingers across multiple strings to produce musical scallops or ornamentations

Left Hand

The player’s left-hand holds down the strings behind the frets along the neck to play different notes and scales (swaras and ragas). By pressing a string down between two frets, the length of the vibrating part of the string changes, changing the pitch of the sound produced.

Proficient veena players often incorporate multidimensional string pulling and pushing techniques to perform complex oscillations, gamaka (ornamentation), and meends (sliding notes) in a very fluid and subtle manner. They can also adjust the tension on a string with their left-hand fingers for subtle tonal variations.

History and Evolution

Ancient Origins

The earliest known veenas had only three strings and lacked frets. These simple early veenas developed into more complex instruments over time, with the addition of more strings, a widened neck, frets, and additional gourds.

The name “Saraswati Veena” and its association with the goddess Saraswati became popular in the medieval era. The 6th-7th century Sanskrit text Natyashastra mentions the four-stringed veena. By the 13th-14th centuries, there are depictions in sculpture and paintings of the goddess Saraswati holding veenas identical to the modern instrument.

Regional Variations

Regional styles of the Saraswati Veena emerged, notably:

  • Thanjavur style from the South Indian city of Thanjavur
  • Mysore style of the town of Mysore
  • Bobbili style from the Bobbili region of Andhra Pradesh

These styles vary slightly in construction, tuning, playing technique, and tonal quality. Many modern veenas incorporate innovations and adaptations that blend these traditional regional styles.

Modern Innovations

In the 20th century, notable master vainika (veena player) Emani Sankara Sastry pioneered several innovations to the veena’s design, materials, and playing technique:

  • Shifted the right gourd closer to the left to make the instrument more compact
  • Used a new type of wood to reduce the veena’s weight
  • Replaced the ivory tuning pegs and tailpiece with ebony and rosewood
  • Added a fourth melodic string to expand the instrument’s range
  • Introduced the left-hand “double plucking” technique

Other modern adaptations have included:

  • Coating the resonating gourds in fiberglass for more excellent durability
  • Using highly refined thin metal strings for enhanced acoustic response
  • Experimenting with new synthetic materials for the neck and gourds
  • Amplifying the veena electronically for more significant concert performances

Munyaradzi Mafaro is a music enthusiast and he also likes to tackle topics of business, productivity, and the possibilities for growth in the digital world.