रुद्र वीणा
The rudra veena is the most ancient and most revered instrument in the Hindustani classical tradition. Associated directly with Lord Shiva (Rudra), it is the instrument mentioned in the Vedic texts, the Natya Shastra, and all subsequent classical treatises. It is the parent instrument of the North Indian classical tradition — and it is the instrument that very few musicians can play at the highest level today.
The rudra veena consists of a long bamboo tube (dand) approximately four feet in length, supported by two large resonating gourds (tumbas) attached below the tube. Four main playing strings and three drone strings run along the tube. The frets are thick and cylindrical rather than the flat frets of the sitar, and they are fixed in wax — twenty-four frets covering two octaves.
The rudra veena is played in the lap or on the floor. The right hand plucks the strings with finger picks, while the left hand slides a small glass bead (bead-mizrab) along the string to produce meend (glides). This sliding technique allows for extremely smooth, long glides — far smoother than is possible on the sitar — which is one reason the rudra veena's sound is considered uniquely close to the human voice in its ability to sustain and slide. Playing the rudra veena requires years of dedicated study and considerable physical strength.
The veena family of instruments appears in the Vedic texts (c. 1000 BCE) and is described in detail in the Natya Shastra. For much of Indian musical history, the veena was the primary classical instrument — the sitar, sarod, and other later instruments were all developments from the veena tradition. The Dhrupad tradition, the oldest surviving major form of Hindustani classical music, maintained the closest connection to the rudra veena. The Dagar family — custodians of the Dhrupad tradition for many generations — have been the primary modern practitioners of the rudra veena.
The rudra veena represents the deepest roots of Indian classical music — a direct, unbroken connection to the most ancient strata of the tradition. Its practitioners are few; its music is rarely heard in the concert hall. But what can be heard — in the recordings of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar especially — represents the oldest surviving strand of the Indian classical tradition, unchanged in its essential character for two thousand years.