veena
veena, any of several stringed musical instruments of India, including arched harps (before 1000 ce), stick zithers, and lutes.
The North Indian version, the bin, is used in classical Hindustani music. Classified as a stick zither, it is about 4 feet (1.2 meters) in length, having a large resonating gourd under each end of its hollow wooden body, 24 high, movable frets, and four metal melody strings and three metal drone strings running along the length of the body. The musician, who plays the instrument in a seated position, holds it across his body at a 45-degree angle with one gourd resting on the left shoulder and the other gourd resting on the right knee or hip. The melody strings are plucked in a downward motion with a plectrum that is worn on the first and second fingers of the right hand, while the little finger of the right hand strums the drone strings in an upward motion. The fingers of the left hand are used to stop the strings. The bin was the dominant stringed instrument of Hindustani music in the 18th century, but in the 19th century its use declined in favor of the sitar, and it has since become nearly obsolete.
The veena of southern Indian Carnatic music is a long-necked lute with a pear-shaped wooden body attached to the neck, rather than the lower gourd found on the bin. Like the bin, it has 24 frets, four metal melody strings, and three metal drone strings. Musicians play the veena while in a seated position, holding the instrument across their lap in a nearly horizontal position, with the instrument’s body resting on the floor or supported by their right thigh and the gourd resting on their left thigh. The strings are plucked in a manner quite similar to that used in playing the bin. Of later origins than the bin, the veena was a favorite chiefly among amateur female vocalists, but it now occupies in Carnatic music the dominant position held by the sitar in Hindustani music.
