>Jacqke at 19:40, 26 June 2021

2021-06-26T19:40:59Z

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{{About|the Indian harp|the modern instrument|veena|the Tamil version|Yazh|other veenas|veena (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Plaque with a Dancer and a Vina Player 1st century B.C.jpg|thumb|250px|Plaque with a Dancer and a Vina Player 1st century B.C.]]

The '''ancient veena''' is an early Indian [[arched harp]], not to be confused with the modern Indian [[veena]] which is a type of [[lute]] or [[stick zither]]. Names of specific forms of the arched harp include the '''''chitra vīṇā''''' with seven strings, the '''''vipanchi vīṇā''''' with nine strings and the '''''mattakokila vīṇā''''' a harp or possibly board zither with 21 strings.<ref name=Vivi>{{cite journal |journal= National Security |volume= 4 |issue= 1 |date=January-March 2021 |author1= Piyal Bhattacharya |author2= Shreetama Chowdhury |title= How the Ancient Indian Vīṇā Travelled to Other Asian Countries: A Reconstruction through Scriptures, Sculptures, Paintings and Living Traditions |publisher= Vivekananda International Foundation |pages= 50-53 |url= https://www.vifindia.org/sites/default/files/national-security-vol-4-issue-1-article-pbhattachary&schowdhury.pdf}}</ref><ref name=grovesurman>{{cite encyclopedia |author = |editor-last= Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |entry= Surmandal|encyclopedia= The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |year=1984 |id= Volume 3 |page=477 |quote= in...[[Sangita Ratnakara|Sangītaratnākara]], a chordophone with 21 strings...is mentioned...does not make it clear whether this was a board zither or even whether the author had actually seen one...may have been a...harp-vīnā...}}</ref>

The instrument is attested on a gold coin of the [[Gupta Empire]] from the mid-300s CE.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=01613247029 |publisher =The British Museum |title=Coin, Samudragupta|quote=Gold coin.; Samudragupta, seated on a high back couch, facing to the left, wearing a waistcloth, ear rings and necklace. Has halo around head. Holds a lyre/vina in his lap which he plays.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=5000 years of Indian History |date= 17 October 2016 |title= The Gupta Empire : A Time of Great Prosperity and Achievement in the Elites |url= https://odrageneralknowledgeonindianhistory.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-gupta-empire-time-of-great.html?m=1 |quote= [https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5899PBhpNiA/WARpCEJ3ZOI/AAAAAAAAAkg/YK7p0UmoYQwPF1dlgjf_mjFuhA58Ox6mACLcB/s1600/Samudragupta%2Bplaying%2Bveena.jpg Photo of unworn coin, showing detail in the veena.]}}</ref><ref name=CoinIndia1>{{cite web|title=The Coin Galleries: Gupta: Samudragupta|url=http://coinindia.com/galleries-samudragupta.html|publisher=CoinIndia.com |quote=[The coin is in the 12th image down, under the title "Lyrist type."]}}</ref> The instrument was also illustrated in the oldest known [[Saraswati]]-like relief carvings, from [[Buddhist]] archaeological sites dated to 200 BCE, where she holds a harp-style veena.<ref name=ludvik227>{{cite book|author=Catherine Ludvík|title=Sarasvatī, Riverine Goddess of Knowledge: From the Manuscript-carrying Vīṇā-player to the Weapon-wielding Defender of the Dharma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lsYKIXBOK0C&pg=PA227|year=2007|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=90-04-15814-6|pages=227–229}}</ref>

==Generic meaning of veena==
[[File:Mirror Handle with a Woman Playing the Vina 6th–7th century.jpg|left|thumb|Carved decoration from a hand-mirror's handle, depicting a woman playing the vina, 6th–7th century.]]
The [[Sanskrit]] word ''[[veena]]'' (वीणा ''vīṇā'') which is attested already in the [[Rigveda]] has designated in the course of Indian history a variety of instruments of various types, as it is a generic term for all kinds of string instruments, just as the [[Tamil language|Tamil]] word ''[[yazh]]'' (யாழ் ''yaaḻ''). In the last centuries and today the instruments designated under the designation veena of which there are several kinds, have tended to be mostly instruments of the lute or cithar type, and recently the word was even applied to modified Western guitars. But the early veenas could be plucked string instruments of any type.

==Early Gupta vina==
[[File:Samudragupta Circa 335-380 CE Lyrist type.jpg|thumb |250px|Coin ca. 335-380 CE. (Front side) Samudragupta seated left on a low couch or throne, playing veena set on his knees. (Reverse side) Lakshmi seated left on wicker stool, holding diadem and cornucopia.]]
One of early veenas used in India from early times, until the Gupta period and later (this is probably the instrument referred to as ''veenaa'' in a chapter of the [[Natya Shastra|Nāṭyaśāstra]] dealing with instrumental music)<ref>Nāṭyaśāstra, XXVIII, 4-5 (the veena is also used and described in other shlokas which follow 4-5 in chapter XXVIII) </ref> was an instrument of the type of the [[harp]] and more precisely of the [[List of musical instruments by Hornbostel-Sachs number: 322.11|arched harp]]. It was played with the strings being kept parallel to the body of the player, with both hands plucking the strings, as shown on [[Samudragupta]]'s gold coins<ref name=CoinIndia>{{cite web|title=The Coin Galleries: Gupta: Samudragupta|url=http://coinindia.com/galleries-samudragupta.html|publisher=CoinIndia.com}}</ref> It is not possible to tell exactly the number of strings of the instrument on the coin, but descriptions in early literary sources of an ancient instrument called the ''saptatantree veenaa'' (7-string veenaa) seem to coincide generally with the type of instrument represented on the coin. In the Nāṭyaśāstra this 7-string veena (played with the fingers, as opposed to the 9-string vipanchi played with a plectrum) is called a citra.<ref>Nāṭyaśāstra, XXIX, 120</ref>

The depiction of king [[Samudragupta]] holding such an instrument on his gold coins testifies of the popularity of the instrument, and also of the interest in music and the arts of a king who was also one of the greatest military conquerors in Indian history.<ref>"The fact that the king wanted to publicize an image of himself as a musician is remarkable and a window into the value system of the Gupta state" ''Coin India'' site [http://coinindia.com/galleries-samudragupta.html Catalog] and description of the gold coins minted during Samudragupta's reign (Web page)</ref>

==Descendants==
[[File:Khmer harp (pin).jpg|thumb|7th century Khmer depiction of harp (pin). [[National Museum of Cambodia]]]]

From India this type of instrument was introduced into [[Burma]] at an early period (by the 8th century CE and possibly as early as 500 CE,<ref>Judith Becker, ''The Migration of the Arched Harp from India to Burma'', The Galpin Society Journal, vol. 20, pp. 17–23</ref> where, while instruments of this type have disappeared from India itself, it is still played, generally with 15 strings, under the name of ''[[saung]]'' (known in the West also as the ''Burmese harp'').<ref name="Goyala1992">{{cite book|author=Śrīrāma Goyala|title=Reappraising Gupta History: For S.R. Goyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkVuAAAAMAAJ|date=1 August 1992|publisher=Aditya Prakashan|isbn=978-81-85179-78-0|page=237}} - ''...yazh resembles this old vina... however it is the Burmese harp which seems to have been handed down in almost unchanged form since ancient times''</ref><ref>According to the site [http://www.harphistory.info Harp History] a similar instrument is played in Thailand. A photograph of the Thai harp is shown on that site.</ref><ref>Ank van Campen, [http://www.harphistory.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=187&Itemid=31&lang=en Iconography]: ''Pictures Existing instruments'' on the ''Harp History'' site (Web page)</ref>

The Cambodians have recreated their ancient harp, the [[Pin (harp)|pin]]. The instrument appeared in Hindu religious art in Khmer temples dating back between the 7th and 13th centuries A.D.<ref>{{cite news |title = The living sound of Angkor |date=10 May 2013 |author = Rosa Ellen |url= https://m.phnompenhpost.com/7days/living-sound-angkor |quote=Like a bass relief coming to life, the boat-like pin has been recreated purely from 12th century images carved on the walls of Angkor Wat and Bayon... [https://m.phnompenhpost.com/sites/default/files/styles/full-screen_watermarked/public/joomla_import/images/stories/7-days/2013/130510/8_keo_sonan_kavei_Snguon_Kavei_Sereyroth.jpg?itok=OhfZlawS Image of pin, played by Snguon Kavei with luthier Keo Sonan Kavei (the musician's father.]}}</ref><ref name=phnompenvid>{{cite AV media |people= Koam Chanrasmey |date=8 July 2013 |title= Pin, the Sound of Angkor|trans-title= Pin, the Sound of Angkor|medium= |language= |url= https://www.phnompenhpost.com/video/angkorian-harp-reborn|access-date= 27 October 2018|archive-url= |archive-date= |format= |time= |location=Phnom Penh, Cambodia |publisher=Phnom Penh Post |id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= |ref= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wmc.org.kh/%E1%9E%94%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%9A%E1%9E%9C%E1%9E%8F%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%8F%E1%9E%B7%E2%80%8B%E1%9E%96%E1%9E%B7%E1%9E%8E%E2%80%8B%E1%9E%81%E1%9F%92%E1%9E%98%E1%9F%82%E1%9E%9A%E2%80%8B/|title= Cambodian folk Music|author= |date= |website= |publisher=Women's Media Center of Cambodia |access-date= 27 October 2018|quote=According to experts, the "harp" is a kind of traditional Khmer instrument from native to India. " Harp "has existed in Cambodia since the 7th century and disappeared in the late 12th century or early in the 13th century, according to Keo Sorunwy, professor of the Faculty of Education, Trei Royal University of Fine Arts.}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Coins from Gupta Era - National Museum - New Delhi.jpg
File:Lady Playing on Veena - Gopalpur - ACCN G-48 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6191.JPG|Harp-style ''vina''
File:Saraswati with an alapini vina, from a larger image God Vishnu with Goddesses Lakshmi and Sarasvati.jpg|A medieval form of the veena, the [[ālāpiṇī vīṇā]], from Bangladesh, 10th - 12th century C.E. This was a one-string [[tube zither]] or [[stick zither]], possibly related to the modern [[rudra veena]].

</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Judith Becker, ''The Migration of the Arched Harp from India to Burma'', The Galpin Society Journal, vol. 20, pp. 17–23
* Terry E. Miller and [[Sean Williams (ethnomusicologist)|Sean Williams]]. ''The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music''. Routledge, 2008. {{ISBN|0-415-96075-4}}
* Muriel C. Williamson ''The Burmese Harp: Its Classical Music, Tunings, and Modes'', Northern Illinois University Center For Southeast Asian Studies, 2000
* [[Arthur Llewellyn Basham]], ''The Wonder That Was India'', Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan, 2008, 696 pp.
* The Natyasastra (Vol. 2): A treatise on Hindu dramaturgy and histrionics (Chapters 28-36) (translated by Manomohan Ghosh), 1961, Calcutta, Asiatic Society of Bengal (Biblioteca Indica); reprint: Chaukhamba Surbharati Prakashan, 2016, Varanasi

[[Category:Ancient Indian culture]]
[[Category:Arched harps]]
[[Category:Indian musical instruments]]

Ancient veena - Revision history

>Jacqke at 19:40, 26 June 2021