It is wonderful that you have acquired an interesting instrument. The ancient Tri-tantri Veena (literally  three-stringed) is precursor to modern Sitar. But  for almost a millennium now it has not been in use. The three-stringed instrument may be one of the several folk instruments used by Indian folk-artistes like Chikara of Meo or a variant of Sarangi -- Jogiya Sarangi -- or perhaps Surinda. Veena is a generic term used for stringed instruments; it may denote Saraswati Veena after the goddess of learning. If you send us top-view and close-up of bridge, bow etc. it may be possible to identify the instrument.

Dear Rupak, you are one of the fortunate ones who have been blessed by Saraswati, on whom Muses shine from all directions. You have not allowed your talent to be blunted by by your study and work. We look forward to one of the rare persons in Indian classical music -- a brilliant sun rather than a twinkling star. This involves great strength of spirit along with natural talent. As an electronics engineer you are sure to affect the stream of Indian music without deflecting its tradition. You should pursue academic courses in Indian Music through distance studies. Bhoj University may offer you one. Else you can seek admission to some college in your city. In case formal education is not possible you should take up musical texts available in regional language and translate them into English and other languages. Such studious activities would keep you secure and protected from the lure of using your talent to other ends. Peace like music is within; you don't have to leave your immediate life to find them. One sublimates oneself in his art; expresses the universal truth without being personal. It is with such constancy that Indian music has been served.

Am deeply moved by the way this website is organised. Am a beginner in sitar. Have learnt a year of sitar. Will getting myself trained voclly in hindustani contribute to my development in sitar?

Thanks for your appraisal. An art-form involves understanding of the form and appreciation of the content. You learn the required material of Hindustani music along with techniques of sitar. When a person learns vocal music, she learns techniques to control voice along with similar material, i.e. bandishes in different Raga-s etc. While previous training in vocal music might be of some help, the time taken to master technique of Sitar or other musical instrument remains the same. Listening to vocal and instrumental rendition of the same Raga while one continues to practice on instrument is conducive to learning. If you drop instrument in favour of another or take up vocal, on picking it up again the initial learning blocks would have to be surmounted a second time.

I’m 27 and working. I would like to learn Odissi. Is it too late for me to start? Could you please let me know the details of your institute as to where it is situated and the charges too.

You can learn this art form at any age; however your learning would be limited by physical agility and time available for practice. There are several teachers and institutions for Odissi. You can contact those in your city or ones at convenient locations.

I am doing Ph. D. on the musical instruments of the Indian subcontinent. In this regard, I express my gratitude for providing such an informative site on music.
I am aware that Pt. Lalmani Misra has done a classical research in the field of the classification of the musical instruments with regard to Hindustani classical music. being a blind person, I cannot read his great research but but my PC can read all text for me. I therefore request you to kindly provide the e-text of the relevant material if possible. I have learnt that a translation work is under progress for all works of Dr. Misra. Please do let me know which of the books have been translated and are for sale.

Dear Vedprakash, It is a pleasure to learn that this website is able to help you with your doctoral research. It has always been the aim of this website to make available writings of music scholars of modern India so that Indian Classical Music can be studied in proper perspective.

A series on Misrabani compositions for strings planned by Dr. Misra is ready for publication. The translation of Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya and other works is in progress; soon as any book is available it shall be announced on this website. Meanwhile, it shall be our endeavor to post articles and research papers. You may check books listed in the reference section.

Si, I need to find some bandishes for Sitar.

There are not many books which deal specifically with compositions for Sitar. Tantri Nad by Dr. Lalmani Misra was the first exhaustive work on style of Indian strings and compostions. Patrick Moutal's Comparative Study of Indian Raga-s and Hindustani Raga-s Index may be helpful. However, Dr. Pushpa Basu's Raga Rupanjali carries almost 300 compositions of Dr. Lalmani Misra specifically meant for Sitar, Sarod, Vichitra Veena etc.

Dear Ome Nad,
I would like to receive some information about the nomination procedure for The Sangeetendu Pandit Lalmani Misra Bal Adhyeta Award as well as the Sangeetendu Pandit Lalmani Misra Yuva Sadhak Award. I think that this is a great idea, and a wonderful tribute to Panditji.

The nomination procedure is simple. Details of the artiste along with supporting documents are forwarded by senior artistes, music scholars, critics or enthusiasts giving reason for their recommendation to the Madhukali Board. To contact Madhukali click here or visit http://www.opchourasiya.com

There are several kinds of grants and fellowships for conducting research activites in music. Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India gives junior and senior fellowships apart from several other grants /scholarships. Tehre are international agencies which also award grants for research in some particular aspect of music. To know more click here.

Dear Omenad,
I have found in several ancient tamil texts like Silappadikaram the instrument yal. But I am not able to find any picture from this instrument. In Silappadikaram there is also written how the girl tuned her yal. I didn`t find any tamil text on music like in sanskrit. Do you know any text and do you know a picture of this instrument? In an book from 1914 there is written the existence of 4 different yals- for each region neydal, kurinci..- on thhis fact the writer built the existenz of 96 srutis in south indian music. After him each yal had 24 strings. If you know any idea where I will find a picture or if possible a yal player today, who play today yal it would be very helpful.

The period of Tamil music ranges approximately between 300 BC and 3rd AD. Anceint texts like Tolkappiam and Silappadikaram presuemd to be written 2nd century AD or later, talk about music of that period. Tolkappier (author of Tolkappiam) categorized the country into four main regions - Kurinji (hills), Marudam (arable lands), Mullai (pastoral regions) and Neithal (coastal belts). Wasteland or Palai was added later. Each region had its Pann (song), Parai (percussion) and Yazh (harp). Lewis Rowell notes that Yal was sometimes used for Yazh. In the past two millenium the diferent yal-s of these regions evolved as musical instruments . Silappadikaram too uses Yazh as generic name for stringed instrument. The yazh was greatly respected as Madhavi salutes the yazh taking it from Kovalan in the Kanalvari of Silappadikaram. The yazh was played on open strings which were tuned to the notes of absolute pitch. The term “Narambu” indicates that in addition to different types of strings, thick guts must have also been used. Periyazh of 21, Siriyazh with 7 strings are supposedly the most ancient yazh-s. Makarayazh with 17 or 19 strings and Sagodayazh with 14 strings also find mention in ancient texts.

These ancient instruments have evolved differently over the two millenium. Yal or Yazh may be a name given to several folk string instruments but it is not employed for classical music today. Click here to know about evolution of musical instruments.

Dear OME administrators,
I recently came across you web site, and I just wanted to tell you how impressed I am with your collection of resources. I haven't gone through everything yet, but I really am enjoying your site, and the contribution it is making as an online academic resource for Indian classical music. Thank you for this resource, and I look forward to future updates!

I have a question concerning tuning of instruments. I have read that different pitches affect the chakras differently, and that SA RE GA etc. are associated with the chakras. Are those pitches particularly frequencies, i.e. is a sitar or tambura always tuned to a specific frequency in order to have that effect? Esoteric traditions seem to point to B or C# as having profound effects on the physiology, but I cannot get a straight answer on this from any of the Indian musicians I have spoken with.  

I have a hard question for you, but it is also a fun one. Is the ancient Rag Hindol the equivalent of  the carnatic rag Amritavarshini? Or of Rag MalaShree? 

Basis for question: 

Rag Hindol in the Rag-Ragini system was known as the main Rag of the Spring season.  This is stated by the school of thought known as the Hanuman Mata and the Bharat Mata.  And these old system decided when to play the Rags by seasons and it seems not by time of day yet ( correct me if I am wrong).  In one book called "Raga Guide", it talks of the ancient Rag Hindol as "an ancient spring raga in which both Re and Dha were omitted. However, from the 16th century onwards, Hindol omits Re and Pa."  So if you take this fact to be true then the old Raga structure matches that of Raga AmritaVarshini.  I really wanted to play the ancient way of playing Rag Hindol, they way it was given by the devotion of Shri Hanuman and Sage Bharat or Bharat the brother of Rama.

Is there any universal system for Samay or timing that is used in Indian classical music? The carnatic system of music doesn't seem to have a Samay system and many of the gharanas have different opinions about the timing of Ragas. Also the Vadi and Samvadi for a Raga seems to differ between Gharanas and North and South Indian Music. Is there a universal system for Vadi and Samvadi? Sage Narada, who is well respected in the field on Indian classical music says that "who sings knowing the proper time remains happy. By singing ragas at the wrong time one ill-treats them. Listening to them, one becomes impoverished and sees the length of one's life reduced."

Please tell me your feelings on the Vadi, Samvadi, and Samay system. I am doing research on this topic for a Performing Arts class at Evergreen State College.

I often hear in Gandharva channel on worldspace radio that such and such raga belongs to xyz thhat. I have learnt the same raga in the announced ang. Is there no difference in thaat and ang?

Where can I get advanced lessons in Misrabani?

What is the difference between the 4 types of lyric in Drupad. Gauharbani, Khandarbani, Dagurbani and Naoharbani. Were can I find an explanation and examples for this typs of lyric? If you are able to give me some help if would be very kind of you.

Col. R.J Singh