Music Technology & Sports Junction

The RUDRA VEENA is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music, one of major types of veena played in Indian classical music.

It has a long tubular body with a length ranging between 54 and 62 inches made of wood or bamboo. Two large-sized, round resonators, made of dried and hollowed gourds, are attached under the tube. Twenty-four brass-fitted raised wooden frets are fixed on the tube with the help of wax. There are 4 main strings and 3 chikari strings.

As Rudra is a name for the Hindu god Shiva, rudra vina literally means "the veena dear to Shiva".

It is an ancient instrument rarely played today. The rudra veena declined in popularity in part due to the introduction of thesurbahar in the early 19th century which allowed sitarists to more easily present the alap sections of slow dhrupad-style ragas. In 20th century, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar modified and redesigned the rudra veena to use bigger gourds, a thicker tube (dandi), thicker steel playing strings (0.45-0.47 mm) and closed javari that. This produced a soft and deep sound when plucked without the use of any plectrum (mizrab). The instrument was further modified as the shruti veena by Lalmani Misra to establish Bharat'sShadja Gram and obtain the 22 shrutis

.