Page:The Music of India.djvu/136

 upon which, near the lower end, a parchment covered box is fixed. The bridge is placed upon this. It has three strings of gut or horsehair and five sympathetic strings of wire. The tuning of the three former, which are the main strings, is usually Sa Ma Pa (c f g) or else the same as the sarangi, and that of the sympathetic strings is Pa Dha Ni Sa Ri (g A B c^ D^).

The Tambur is perhaps the most common stringed instrument in India. It is found everywhere and its varieties are numberless. It is made both for the poor and for the rich. One sees it in the hands of the poverty-stricken beggar, and in the houses of wealthy princes. In shape it is something like the vina, without the extra gourd and without the elaborate headpiece. The bowl is usually a large one about ten inches wide, and in the best kinds it is made of wood from the jack tree and hollowed out. The cheaper kinds have a gourd in place of the wooden bowl. The bridge is placed on the bowl in the centre and is made either of wood or of ivory. The strings pass through holes in a ledge placed near the pegs. The tuning-pegs of the first and second strings are fixed at the side of the neck, and those of the third and fourth strings at right-angles to the head. The strings are all of metal, three being steel and the lowest one of brass. Little pieces of silk are placed between the bridge and the strings in order to increase the buzzing effect. The strings also have beads near their attachment in order to render perfect tuning easier. The instrument is always played on the open strings by the fingers, without any plectra. The strings are never stopped. The tuning of the tambur is as follows : Pa Sa Sa Sa (g c c Ci). The instrument is held upright with the left hand, and played by gently pulling the four strings, one after the other, from the highest to the lowest, with the fingers of the right hand. It provides a full and resonant droning accompaniment to the melody sung or played, and there is no other instrument which gives so effective a drone as this does. The effect is quite pleasing and the sound made up of the octave and fifth fits in very naturally with the music.

The best tambur are made at Lucknow and Rampur