Veena

The word “veena” is 3,000 years old. The instrument sitting under that name today isn’t the one the word first described.

MCQ Questions

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Veena

One ancient name, several very different instruments.

~1000 BCE

“Veena” appears in the Vedas

The word shows up in the Rigveda and Samaveda, naming a broad family of stringed instruments.

6th century CE

Linked to Saraswati

Sculptures of the goddess start showing her holding a zither-style veena.

South India

The Saraswati Veena develops

A pear-shaped lute, with 24 frets, becomes central to Carnatic music.

North India

The Rudra and Vichitra Veena develop

Long stick zithers, once central to Hindustani music, now rarer than the sitar.

One word, several instruments: “veena” once meant almost any stringed instrument. Today it names a small family of very specific, very different ones — Saraswati, Rudra, and Vichitra Veena among them.

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Must Know

• Veena is a generic name, for a family of plucked string instruments from the Indian subcontinent.
• The word appears in the Rigveda and Samaveda, dating back roughly 1,000 BCE.
• By the 6th century CE, sculptures began showing the goddess Saraswati holding a zither-style veena.
• Today, “veena” refers to specific modern instruments, not one single design.
• The Saraswati Veena is the South Indian type, central to Carnatic classical music.
• It is a pear-shaped lute, with 24 frets, 4 melody strings, and 3 drone strings.
• The Rudra Veena and Vichitra Veena are North Indian types, linked to Hindustani music.

Good to Know

• The Rudra Veena is a stick zither, roughly 3.5 to 4 feet long, with two large gourd resonators.
• Modern Hindustani performances favour the sitar far more often than the Rudra Veena today.
• The Vichitra Veena has no frets. Players use a glass slide to create its distinctive, voice-like glides.
• Players use a bent-wire plectrum, called a mizrab, on the melody strings.
• Traditional veenas were built from hollowed jackwood and gourds. Modern versions sometimes use fibreglass instead.

Test Yourself

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1. The word “veena” appears in which ancient texts, dating back roughly 1,000 BCE?

The Ramayana and Mahabharata

The Rigveda and Samaveda

The Arthashastra

The Manusmriti

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Great to Know

• Don’t treat “veena” as naming one single instrument. Historically, it meant almost any stringed instrument. Today, it names several specific, quite different ones.
• Don’t confuse the Saraswati Veena with the Rudra Veena. Both share a name, but they come from different regions, and different musical traditions — Carnatic and Hindustani.
• The sitar itself grew out of this same tradition. Its inventor blended a Persian instrument with the older Indian veena tradition, to create something new.