India

Hindustani Music

Wood, gourds, metal strings, bone, brass
Late 20th century
Length: 54 inches
Chordophones – Zithers

The rudra veena (also spelled rudra vina, or called bin in North India), is an ancient large, plucked stick zither used in Hindustani classical music. The rudra veena seen here is the bin model that was modified and conceived by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929-90) and Calcutta instrument maker Murari Adhikari (1928-2006) in the 1960’s.  Two large gourd resonators are attached under the long tubular body of wood. Twenty-four brass-fitted raised wooden frets are fixed on the tube with four main strings (melodic-raga) and three chikari strings (used for rhythmic punctuation-tala). As Rudra is a name for the Hindu god Shiva, rudra vina literally means “the veena dear to Shiva.” This ancient instrument is rarely played today, due to the popularity of the surbahar, which was introduced in the early 19th century.

Resource: “Bin,” Alastair Dick, “The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments,” 2^nd ed., Vol. 1, Laurence Liben, Editor in Chief. Oxford University Press.