Rasa Bharat रस भारत · The Living Arts of India

Instruments

वाद्य — strings, winds and the language of drums

Ancient Indian theory classifies instruments into four families — tata (strings), sushira (winds), avanaddha (membrane drums) and ghana (solid percussion like cymbals). Behind every famous instrument stand generations of makers and the maestros who gave it a voice on the world stage.

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Sitar with a pair of tabla drums
Jump to: Strings Winds Percussion

Strings — Tata Vadya

Plucked and bowed voices, from the meditative tanpura drone to the sitar's cascading runs.

Sitar Hindustani

Plucked, long-necked luteNorth India

Among the best-known Indian instruments worldwide: a long-necked lute with a gourd resonator, movable arched frets, playing strings and shimmering sympathetic strings that give its halo of resonance. Its precise origin is debated — popular legend links it to Amir Khusrau, but scholars generally trace its modern form to the 18th century. Ravi Shankar's global concerts (and his association with The Beatles' George Harrison) made it an international icon; Ustad Vilayat Khan developed the voice-imitating gayaki ang style. Maestros: Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Shahid Parvez, Anoushka Shankar.

Sarod Hindustani

Fretless plucked luteNorth India

A fretless lute with a polished steel fingerboard and goatskin-covered body, descended from the Afghan rubab and developed in India in the 19th century (the Ghulam Ali Khan lineage of Gwalior and, later, Allauddin Khan's Maihar tradition are central to its history). Its fretless steel surface allows profound sliding meend; its tone is deep and introspective. Maestros: Allauddin Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan, Ali Akbar Khan (whom many rank among the greatest instrumentalists of the 20th century), Amjad Ali Khan, Buddhadev Dasgupta.

Veena — Saraswati & Rudra Carnatic & Dhrupad

Ancient lute familySouth & North India

"Veena" is the ancient umbrella name for Indian string instruments — the goddess Saraswati is depicted holding one. The Saraswati veena, perfected in Thanjavur, is the classical lute of Carnatic music, played seated with deep gamaka (ornamental) technique. The Rudra veena, a large tube-zither with two gourds, is the venerable instrument of dhrupad, prized for its profound sub-bass meditation. Maestros: Veena Dhanammal, S. Balachander, Chitti Babu, Emani Sankara Sastry (Saraswati veena); Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Asad Ali Khan, Bahauddin Dagar (Rudra veena).

Sarangi Hindustani

Bowed, ~40 strings totalNorth India

A short-necked bowed instrument carved from a single block of wood, with three main gut strings and dozens of sympathetic strings, played by sliding the fingernails' cuticles along the strings. Long the accompanist of vocalists and kathak dancers, it is often called the instrument closest to the human voice. Pandit Ram Narayan established it as a solo concert instrument; Ustad Sultan Khan and Ustad Bundu Khan are among its legends.

Santoor Kashmir → Hindustani

Hammered dulcimer, 100 stringsKashmir

A trapezoid hammered dulcimer of roughly a hundred strings struck with light wooden mallets, long used in Kashmir's Sufiana music. Pandit Shivkumar Sharma adapted and popularised it as a full classical concert instrument from the 1950s onward, developing techniques to sustain and glide on an instrument of struck strings; his son Rahul Sharma and Kashmir's Bhajan Sopori continued the tradition.

Violin & Tanpura adopted & foundational

Adopted from EuropeThe drone foundation

The European violin was adopted into Carnatic music around the early 19th century (Baluswami Dikshitar, brother of composer Muthuswami Dikshitar, is traditionally credited among its pioneers) and, held against the chest in Indian posture, became inseparable from the kutcheri; legends include Lalgudi Jayaraman, T. N. Krishnan, M. S. Gopalakrishnan, and in Hindustani music N. Rajam. The humble tanpura — four or more open strings plucked in cycle — provides the continuous drone upon which all Indian classical music floats; its buzzing overtone-rich timbre (shaped by the jivari bridge) is a sonic signature of the tradition.

Ancient & Rare Strings yazh, ravanhatta, surbahar & the slide veenas

Pan-IndiaHeritage & revival instruments

Behind the famous strings stands an older, rarer cabinet. The yazh, the open-stringed harp praised in Sangam-era Tamil literature, faded centuries ago as fretted lutes rose — modern makers are attempting revivals from textual and sculptural evidence. Rajasthan's ravanhatta, the spike-fiddle of the Bhopa bard-priests (its name traditionally linked to the legend of Ravana), is regarded in tradition as an ancient ancestor of bowed strings. The surbahar — the deep bass sitar — carries dhrupad-style alap in Hindustani music, famously played by Annapurna Devi and Ustad Imrat Khan; the related sursingar served similar depths for the rabab lineage. And the slide veenas — North India's fretless vichitra veena and the Carnatic chitravina (gottuvadyam), mastered by N. Ravikiran — sing pure glissando, melody with no frets at all. Bengal's esraj, bowed cousin of the dilruba, remains the tender voice of Rabindra Sangeet.

Winds — Sushira Vadya

Breath made melody — from Krishna's flute to the auspicious double-reeds of temple and wedding.

Bansuri the bamboo flute

Side-blown bamboo flutePan-India

The transverse bamboo flute is inseparable from the image of Krishna, the divine cowherd flautist, and appears in Indian art and text from antiquity. Pannalal Ghosh pioneered the large concert bansuri for classical performance in the mid-20th century, and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia carried it to world fame, including collaborations with Western musicians. In Carnatic music the smaller venu tradition boasts masters such as T. R. Mahalingam ("Mali") and N. Ramani.

Shehnai North India

Double reed — auspiciousNorth India

The North Indian double-reed oboe whose piercing-sweet tone is considered auspicious — the traditional sound of weddings and temple gateways. Ustad Bismillah Khan, who played for decades at Varanasi's temples and performed at India's first Independence Day celebrations in 1947, single-handedly raised the shehnai to classical concert stature and received the Bharat Ratna (2001). The related folk shehnai/ sundri traditions thrive across the north and west.

Nadaswaram South India

World's loudest non-brass acoustic reed (traditional claim)Tamil Nadu

The long southern double-reed, grander and deeper than the shehnai, played with the barrel-drum thavil at Tamil temple festivals and weddings — together called mangala vadyam, "auspicious instruments." Its open-air power (often described, traditionally, as the loudest non-brass acoustic instrument) suits processions around temple streets. T. N. Rajarathinam Pillai is revered as its supreme modern master; Sheik Chinna Moulana's lineage continues at Srirangam.

Percussion — Avanaddha & Ghana Vadya

India's drumming is a spoken art: every stroke has a syllable (bol / solkattu), and drummers recite compositions before playing them.

Tabla Hindustani

Paired hand drumsNorth India

The paired drums of North India — the wooden treble dayan and metal bass bayan — whose black tuning paste (syahi) enables precise pitch and a vast palette of strokes. Its origin is debated (legend credits Amir Khusrau; scholars generally date its rise to the 18th century, with Delhi's Sidhar Khan cited as a foundational figure). Six main gharanas (Delhi, Ajrara, Lucknow, Farrukhabad, Banaras, Punjab) developed distinct styles. Ustad Alla Rakha and his son Ustad Zakir Hussain made tabla a global concert phenomenon; Pandit Kishan Maharaj and Pandit Anindo Chatterjee are among its other greats.

Mridangam & Pakhawaj Carnatic & Dhrupad

Double-headed barrel drumsSouth & North India

The mridangam is the principal drum of Carnatic music — a two-headed barrel drum of jackwood whose intricate mathematics of korvais and teermanams crowns every kutcheri with the percussion dialogue of the tani avartanam. Legends include Palghat Mani Iyer, Palani Subramania Pillai, Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman and Karaikudi Mani. Its northern cousin the pakhawaj partners dhrupad singing and Odissi dance with deep, dignified strokes.

Ghatam, Kanjira & Morsing Carnatic percussion ensemble

Clay pot, lizard-skin tambourine, jaw harpSouth India

Carnatic concerts often feature an entire percussion section: the ghatam, a fired clay pot played with fingers, palms and even tossed in display — made world-famous by "Vikku" Vinayakram, who performed with the global fusion group Shakti; the kanjira, a small tambourine of surprising depth; and the morsing, a jaw harp that hums the tala. Their interplay in the tani avartanam is a highlight of southern concerts.

Chenda, Dhol, Dholak & the drum map of India temple & folk drums

Pan-IndiaRitual & festival

Kerala's cylindrical chenda powers Kathakali and the temple drum orchestras of Thrissur Pooram; the ensemble form Panchavadyam and the massed chenda melam are art forms in themselves. Punjab's dhol drives bhangra; the dholak is the heartbeat of folk song, qawwali and film rhythm; Manipur's pung, Bengal's khol, Rajasthan's nagara kettledrums and the tribal frame drums of central India each anchor their own traditions — a reminder that in India, rhythm is regional dialect.

Jal Tarang, Algoza, Pena, Khartal & Dotara rarities across the families

Pan-IndiaRare & folk voices

Some of India's most magical sounds come from its rarest instruments. The jal tarang — a crescent of porcelain bowls tuned with water and struck with light sticks — is today played by only a handful of artists. Punjab, Sindh and Rajasthan's algoza pairs two flutes played at once with circular breathing, one droning while the other dances. Manipur's pena, a one-string fiddle of bamboo and shell, opens the Lai Haraoba ritual and is the Meitei community's oldest musical voice. The khartal — wooden clappers flashing sixteenth-notes in Manganiyar hands — and Bengal's two-string dotara, companion of Baul and Bhawaiya song, complete a cabinet every listener should meet at least once.

A note on accuracy: Instrument origin stories (sitar, tabla) mix legend with documented history; where debated, this page says so. Descriptive superlatives reported from tradition (e.g., about the nadaswaram's loudness) are flagged as traditional claims rather than measured facts. Content last reviewed: July 2026 · See Sources & References.