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VINA THROUGH THE AGES, The Vina is the national instrument of India. It is the classical instrument, par excellence for rendering Indian music and rightly occupies the first place, amongst the celebrated Vadya trayam: Vina, Venu, Mridangam. All the, delicate quarter-tones, the subtle nuances and the fine touches can be played, with accuracy on this instrument., The Vina is as old as the Vedas. The instrument is also mentioned in the, Sutras and Aranyakas. The Vina of the Vedic period had the parts: Siras (head, or neck), Udara (bowl), Ambhana (sounding board or the belly), Tantra (string), and Vaadana (plectrum). During Yajnas, the priest and the performer chanted, and the latter's wife played the Vina called Audumbari i.e., made of, audumbara wood. In another place it is said that Picchola was the Vina played, upon by the wife of the performer of the Yajna (Holy sacrifice)., Emperor Samudra Gupta (330-375 A.D.) is depicted in his gold coins as, playing the harp. Sculptures of Vinadhara Dakshinamurti belonging to circa 8th, Cent. A.D. are seen in Pudukkottai. Raghunath Naik of Tanjore (early 17th, cent.) in his Telugu Kavya ‘Sringara Savitri’ says that Tumburu played the, Gotivadyam, (Gotuvadyam or the Mahanataka Vina) in the Court of Brahma., The modern South Indian Vina with its 24 fixed frets were evolved in, Tanjore, during the reign of Raghunath Naik. Hence it is called the Tanjore Vina, and sometimes also as Raghunatha Vina. Prior to his time the number of frets, on the Vina was less and the frets were also movable., The only instrument with the largest number of varieties is the Vina. Vina, in ancient times simply meant a stringed instrument. It comprised the plucked,, bowed and struck varieties. Later on, the word Vina came to be used to denote, the fretted instrument. The Sata tantri vina was (played on open strings. This, Vina (also called Katyayana Vina) survives as the Santour in Kashmir. The Sata, Tantri Vina is more than two thousand years old. It became the Santir in Persia,, Psaltery in the Bible and it eventually paved the way for the development of, the Piano. The Sata tantri vina was used at every Vedic ritual. In some of the, Vedas and Samhitas, the Sata tantri is called the Vana.

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In addition to this struck variety, there were the bowed varieties, represented by the Ravanastram and the plucked varieties represented by, the Kinnari., The art of making musical instruments is as old as the Vedas. Jyakara, was the maker of the Jya or the ancient harp. When raga alapana emerged, as an important branch of classical music about a thousand years ago, the, fretted Vina developed throwing the Yazh into the background. The fretted, Vina had the facilities for producing subtle quarter-tones and graces by the, deflection of the strings, a facility which the Yazh lacked. The Yazh could, produce only straight notes and occasionally glides were performed on it, with the help of a small stick. The Vina had the drone-cum-tala strings. In the, ancient yazh, a new scale was performed either by the shift of the tonic note, or by re-tuning the concerned strings to conform to the new scale. In the, Vina, the player performed new scales by just touching the concerned frets., These facilities coupled with the introduction of metallic strings made its exit, from the scene of concert music in South India., The subject of Vina through the ages admits of being studied under the, following heads, 1, The varieties of Vinas mentioned in the sacred and secular literatures, of the various periods. With the meagre details furnished therein, it is difficult, to form any idea of the shape, construction, dimensions, parts and technique, of play of the Vinas mentioned., 2, The number of the parts and their dimensions., 3, The shapes of the resonators. There are the Vinas with pear-shaped,, trapezoid-shaped and hemi-spherical shaped resonators. Gourd resonators, were also used. But when wood was used to make the resonators, they, conformed to one of the above-mentioned 3 shapes., 4, The number of frets used., 5, The systems of tuning adopted., 6, The purposes for which the Vinas were used., Narada in his Sangita Makaranda mentions the following 19 kinds of, Vinas: Kachchapi, Vaishnavi, Kubjika, Brahmi, Chitra, Raudri, Vahanti, Kurmi

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In the Chitra and Vipanchi, a stick was used to glide over the playing, strings and produce notes of' different pitch. This is the Gotuvadyam. In North, India, this type of Vina is even now called Vichitra Vina or Vichitra Bin., Vinas may be classified and studied under the following heads: 1, Gana Vina and Pradarsana Vina: Gana Vina is the Vina on which one, could play classical music and Pradarsana Vina is the instrument used for, explaining certain musical laws, facts and phenomena., 2, Gatra Vina and Daru Vina: Gatra Vina is the unseen musical, instrument of the human voice and played by the will of man. The Daru Vina, is the concert instrument made of wood., 3, Dhruva Vina and Chala Vina: These are the experimental Vinas, devised by Bharata for proving the frequencies of the 22 Sruthis and other, facts relating to the tone-system of Indian music., 4, Sthira Vina and Chara Vina: Sthira Vina was tuned and kept stationed, at a particular place. It was automatically set in vibration when currents of, wind blew against the strings. Since the strings vibrated as open strings it is, clear that they were tuned to harmonics or Svayambhu swaras. When the, same type of Vina tied on to the tops of trees and made to sound, it was called, the Akasa Vina., 5, Dhanur Vina was played with a bow, whereas in the other types of, Vinas, the strings were set in vibration by plucking or striking., 6, Sari Vina i.e., Vina with frets and Nissari Vina i.e., Vina without the, frets. The Sarode like Vina depicted in the Udayagiri caves is an example of a, Nissari Vina. The Gotuvadyam is a Nissari Vina., 7, Number of strings used: Ekatantri, Tritantrika, Sapta tantri, Sata tantri, (hundred stringed) etc. Ekatantri was a single-stringed vina with a resonator, of cocoanut-shell; the other parts were made of Khadira wood (acacia, catechu). It is the Eka tantri that has become the Ektar or Ekanadam. It was, used as a drone., Nakula was a vina with two strings. This is seen in the sculptures and it, was used to play the music of the Vedic chants., Tritantrika was a vina with 3 strings. Kinnari is an example., The Kinnari is one of the oldest of stringed instruments and is named, after Kinnara, a celestial musician. It is extensively mentioned in the Sanskrit, literature. It is represented in many old Indian sculptures and paintings.

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The finger-board of Kinnara consists of a round stick of blackwood or, bamboo and upon these 12 or 14 frets of metal or of the bones of eagle are, fixed with a resinous substance. The tail-piece of the instrument is made to, look like a kite. There are three gourd resonators below the dandi, the middle, one being larger than the other two. There are three strings, two for playing, music and one for being used as the drone., Three types of Desi kinnari i.e., Brihat, Madhyama and Laghu are, mentioned., Chitra had 7 strings. This instrument is referred to in the, Mrichchakatika. Sapta tantri and Parivadini were seven-stringed vinas., Vipanchi had 9 strings. Mattakokila had 21 strings and they were tuned to the, notes of the 3 octaves: Mandra, Madhya and Tara. Sata tantri had 100 strings., 8, Shruti vina and Svara vina: The former was the drone and the latter,, the vina for playing alapana and compositions. This corresponds to the svara, nadi and shruti nadi in flute. The Shruti vina described by Sarangadeva is the, experimental vina with 22 strings. It was designed to explain the frequencies, of the 22 Sruthis The notes of the sa grama were given by the 4th, 7th, 9th,, 13th, 17th, 20th and 22nd strings respectively. The Svara vina of the Sangita, Rathnakara was a Gana vina., 9, Ekaragamela vina - Sarvaragamela vina: The former had movable, frets. The fret positions were so adjusted that a particular mela raga and its, janya could be played. When a change of raga was desired the positions of, the concerned frets were re-adjusted and played. This practice continues in, the Sitar even at the present day. In the sarva raga mela vina, there were 12, frets for each octave and the several ragas were played by placing the fingers, on the particular swarastanas., 10, Special types of Veenas like the Savyasachi vina and the Pradarsana, vina., OTHER VINAS, a, Alabu vina, had a gourd resonator., b, Alapini was a stringed instrument with a stem (dandi)made of bamboo., c, Kachchapi was the vina used by Goddess Sarasvati. The Kachchapi survives, in the Philippine Islands even now under the name Kudjyapi., d, Mahati was the name of the vina used by Rishi Narada., e, Kalavati was the name of the vina used by the celestial musician Tumburu.

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f, Kanda vina was the lute of a chandala and used in the Mahavrata ceremony, in ancient times., g, Pinaki was a bowed instrument. Horse-hair was used for the bow. Rala was, the name of the resin applied to the hair of the bow., h, Upavina was a secondary vina and was used to provide accompaniment., i, Vallaki was a kind of Yazh., EVOLUTION, The Vina is the instrument with the longest pedigree. There are seven, main stages in its evolution., 1, Harp stage., When the primitive man shot an arrow, he heard the fascinating sound, emanating from the string of the bow. The bow-string or Vil yazh is the, earliest stringed instrument in the history of human culture. The Dhonus, tankara or the twanging of the bow string is referred to in early literature. The, Jya ghosha or the sound of the bow string is referred to in the Atharva Veda., (A musical note is heard when the cotton cleaner twangs his cotton, cleaning bow)., The archer's bow paved the way for the emergence of the musical bow., In the bow string, vegetable fibre or gut was used. Twisted bark and strands, of grass root twisted together were also used as strings. By tying strings of, different lengths to the same bow and plucking them, he heard notes of, different pitch. The harp instrument was the natural result. Strings of munja, or darbha were used in early times., Unlike the western harp, the Indian harp had no front pillar. In the Vedic, harp, the strings were struck successively in the arohana krama by a piece of, the udumbara wood. In the later harp, the strings were plucked and played., 2, Harp with a resonator., In the second stage, a gourd or calabash was fixed to the bow to amplify, the sound. The gourd replaced by a boat - shaped resonator later on and the, sound of the monochord was amplified. The invention of the tuning peg, constitutes an important land-mark in the evolution of stringed instruments., 3, Lute stage.

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Instead of having different string lengths for producing the different, notes, the idea of producing the different notes, by artificially decreasing the, string length by damping a single string at various points with the fingers,, naturally suggested itself to man and the lute emerged as a consequence. For, example, In the Vedic lute two guts were tied round the dandi to indicate the, Svarita and Udatta swaras. The anudatta svara being given by the open string., The bowl of the Vedic vina was covered with leather., 4, Vina with Resonators., Vina with two large gourd is seen for the first time in the Ellora caves, (8th cent.), 5, Nissari Vina., Instruments with a plain finger-board (i. e. without frets) later came into, existence. They were played with a bow as in the sculpture in Tirumagudalu in, Mysore State (10th. Cent) or plucked and played as the Mandolin type of, instrument depicted in the Udayagiri caves and Ajanta paintings., 6, Sari Vina., Fretted Vinas with frets for the left half of the finger board came next., These are seen in the Halebid and Belur sculptures., 7, Modern Vina., Frets for the entire finger-board were fixed. In this arrangement, one can, play two octaves on a single string. This is the latest development and is, represented by the modern Tanjore Vina. Herein, there are the Ekaragamela, vina and the Sarvaragamela vina types. Vina was played with a Kona according, to the Amarakosa. Danta kona was an ivory plectrum., VINAS OF RAMAMATYA, The seven stringed vina, with 4 playing strings and 3 drone-cum-tala, strings emerges into prominence with Ramamatya. In his work,, Svaramelakalanidhi (1550), he mentions 3 kinds of vinas based on the systems, of tuning adopted for the strings. Each vina again admitted of the two varieties, such as Eka raga mela vina and Sarva raga mela vina., 1, Suddha mela vina - System of tuning adopted for the strings were S p s m, 2, Madhya mela vina - This is the modern system of tuning - p S P s, 3, Achyutha Rajendra mela - System of tuning adopted for the strings were S, p S A.

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Reference: Padma Bhushan Prof. P. Sambamurthy,2005 Fifth Edition. pp 202 - 217, History of Indian, Music, The Indian Music Publishing House, Chennai.