THE SitÁr is the favourite instrument of Upper India, and was reintroduced and perfected by the poet-musician Amir Khusru of Delhi in the thirteenth century. The name is Persian, and implies "three strings," although the SitÁr has now usually five, six, and sometimes seven strings. SitÁrs called Taruffe have sympathetic strings of fine wire attached to the side of the neck and passing underneath the frets and bridge, to vibrate in unison with the notes of the same pitch that are played. This contrivance, although of recent date in Europe, is of great antiquity in the East, being mentioned in the SangÍta RatnÂkera, the earliest known work in Sanscrit upon music. The principal strings of the SitÁr are sounded by a wire plectrum worn upon the forefinger of the player's right hand; and their accordance, which was noted when given to Mr. A.J. Ellis and myself by H.H. The RÁjah RÁm PÁl Singh, an Indian prince residing in England, who played upon a fine SitÁr now in my possession, is music. Here the keynote, or khuruj, is F. This method of tuning, although not so common as tunings given later, is employed in the north of India and the Punjab; and a similar employment of the second and third for open strings may be found in the tuning of the Sur-s'ringÂra. The F string is the melody string stopped by the frets. The other strings are occasionally struck, but are rarely fretted, and never to produce harmony. The brass frets are secured to the neck by catgut ties, and are movable, so that by changing their positions different modes are obtained. The classical Sanscrit name for the SitÁr, the instrument drawn on the left, was Tritantri (three-stringed) VÍna. A form of SitÁr, with a flat body, was called KÁchapi (Kacchapa, a tortoise) VÍna, now known as KÁchw SitÁr. The usual tuning of SitÁrs having from three to seven strings is to these intervals:—

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In these tunings C is the khuruj or keynote, the melody string being mÁhdyam or F. SitÁrs have usually seventeen to eighteen frets. The five methods of arranging them, so as to produce different modes, styled ThÂt, are as follows:—

The word "ThÂt," employed to signify scale or mode, should not be confounded with "RÂga," the foundation of all Indian music. RÂga has no equivalent in European musical language, but may be described as a melody type founded upon the intervals of a mode, and having a succession of notes so arranged as to excite a certain feeling of the mind. There may be many melodies in the same rÂga, differing distinctly from each other. Methods for the SitÁr have been written in BengÂli by the RÁjah Sir S.M. Tagore, a well-known amateur, and in MahrÁtti by a Brahmin musician of Poona, Anna GhÁrpure, a fine performer now in the service of H.H. the ThÂkore Sahib of WadhwÂn. Besides the RÁjah RÁm PÁl Singh, I had an opportunity of hearing a player from Jeypur, at an exhibition called "India in London," in 1886. The technique and charm of his performance are not easily forgotten. The resonance body of an ordinary SitÁr is a gourd, but he had one with two gourds, known as the "Been," or VÍna SitÁr.

The SitÁr in the centre, with fiddle-shaped body, is the SÚrsanga, or Esrar without sympathetic strings, a bowed instrument combining the SitÁr with the SÁrungÍ. It is a modern instrument, and is intended to accompany women's voices. It has four strings, tuned, upon the authority of the RÁjah Sir S.M. Tagore, as given by Mr. Victor Mahillon in his admirable Catalogue of the Museum of the Brussels Conservatoire, music.

The third instrument, upon the right, attached to two gourds, is the Mahati or great VÍna—known now as the "Been." It is the most ancient and finest Indian instrument, and is also the most difficult to play. It is composed of a bamboo resting upon two gourds, and has seven strings—two at the side nearest the F or melody string, four over the frets, and one at the side away from the melody string. The tuning, the pitch varying with the size of the instrument, is as follows:— music. The string × is tuned E or A as required in the "rÂga" played. In the drawing five strings have been shown over the frets; the string, however, from the peg above and nearest to the nut, should pass over a small ivory head, not shown, but placed on the side of the bamboo, between the second and third frets, to the small bridge shown at the farthest end of the instrument at the side, and not over the main bridge. The frets, twenty-two in number, are at semitonic intervals, and fixed. The instrument is played with two plectra upon the first two fingers of the player's right hand; the two side strings are struck by the nail of the little finger moved upwards; the single side string, upon the other side, is struck by the little finger of the left hand when required. The instrument is held with the gourd nearest the nut resting upon the left shoulder, while the right gourd rests beneath the right arm. It should be noted that the disposition of strings is, in VÍnas, reversed from that of SitÁrs. There is a peculiarly soft and plaintive quality of tone in the VÍna that is altogether wanting in the SitÁr.

There are two systems of music in vogue in India at the present day—the KarnÂtik or southern system, and the HindustÂni or northern. The latter is chiefly in the hands of Mahomedan professors, who have borrowed from the Arabian and Persian systems. The KarnÂtik is more melodious, and possesses fewer traces of foreign innovation. Instruments used by KarnÂtik professors employ only the intervals of the tonic fourth and fifth (or their octaves) upon the open strings. Hence we find the southern Indian VÍna—an instrument with only one resonance gourd, and a wooden body like a lute—tuned to the following intervals:—

music or music

the first method being known as "PÁncham s'ruti," the latter as "MÁhdyam s'ruti," from the relative intervals between the strings.

The illustrations of the SÚrsanga, Mahati VÍna, and three-stringed SitÁr, are from a fine Indian collection, divided by the RÁjah Sir Sourindro Mohun Tagore between the Brussels Conservatoire and the London Royal College of Music.

For completing this information concerning Indian stringed instruments, as well as that of the Indian Drums in Plate XLI., I am indebted to one of the highest authorities on the subject, Lieutenant C.R. Day, Oxfordshire Light Infantry (late 43rd), whose recent personal experience and searching studies have been generously placed by him at my disposal.

XLI