Thanjavur Veena

26 Oct 2024 14:23:19 pm

Tags : Thanjavur Veena

Topic: Musical Instruments

Why in the news?

The Thanjavur veena is the first musical instrument in the country to get the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

Source: The Hindu

About Thanjavur Veena :

It is an Indian instrument and has an interesting construction.
It is of two types viz. Ekantha Veena and Sada Veena.
- Ekantha Veena\" is carved from a single block of wood, while Sada Veena has joints and is carved in three sections namely resonator, neck and head.
It has 24 fixed frets (Mettu), so that all ragas can be played.
It is made of fresh bark from a Jack Fruit Tree. The tree bark is forced to undergo several rounds of testing before being finalized for usage.
The work involves making the resonator (kudam), the neck (dandi) and a tuning box, the three integral parts of a veena.
It takes up to 15-20 days to get the finished product. The wood gets cut, intricately carved, shaped, and assembled.
There are four types of veena i.e. Rudra veena, Vichitra veena, Saraswati veena and Chitra veena.
- While Rudra veena and Vichitra veena are popular in Hindustani classical music, Saraswati veena and Chitra veena are used in Carnatic classical music.
- Thanjavur is the only place where Saraswati veena is made. Saraswathi, the goddess of learning and arts, is portrayed with a veena.