Page:The Music of India.djvu/139

 instrument is found in the Punjab and in Afghanistan, but one rarely sees it to-day. One of the few expert players still in India is in the Rampur State. The great Tan Sen played this instrument. It is a handsome instrument and has a very pleasing tone, somewhat fuller than that of the Sarangi. It lends itself to the graces better than the sitar, as it has no frets.

The Sur-Sringara is the modern descendant of the rabab. It was first made by Syed Kalb Ali Khan Bahadur, the late Nawab of Rampur. It is a little longer than the rabab, and the finger-board below the strings is made of metal so that the fingers can easily slide over it. It has a double belly of wood, instead of parchment, as in the rabab, and is played in the same way as the latter. There are eight strings tuned as follows : — Sa Sa Pa Sa Ga Sa Ri Pa (c C Gi Ci Ei C D g). The tuning of the seventh and eighth strings varies according to the raga. The first two or three only are used for playing on, and the others are used as the side strings of the vina. It often has a number of sympathetic strings placed underneath, tuned to the intervals of the raga which is being played. Its tone is rich and mellow.

The Svaramandala is the ancient Indian dulcimer. It is said to be the same as the Katyayana-vina, which was invented by the rishi Katyayana, and was also called the Sata-tantri-vina, because it had originally hundred strings. Kallinatha, the commentator of Ratnakara, says that the Mattakokila-vina, mentioned by Sarngadeva, is really the svaramandala. The svaramandala is generally made of jackwood and is three feet in length, one and a half feet in breadth and seven inches in height, and it stands on four legs like a piano. Wire strings are used and are attached to round pieces of wood shaped like small chess-pods. The tuning pins are made of wood and are tuned with a key in a similar manner to the pianoforte, that is in semitones.

'There are two methods of playing the svaramandala; one, with a mizrab and a shell, the other with two sticks like a xylophone. In the former method, it is played with two plectrums worn upon the first and second fingers of the performer's right hand, while the little finger plays