RUDRA VEENA

Rudra Veena is an ancient instrument. A long tubular body made of teak wood or bamboo, attached to two hollow resonators/gourds of about fourteen inches in diameter on both sides. The gourds are made of dried or hollowed pumpkins. Twenty-four brass frets (in all the three octaves: mandra, madhya and tara) are fitted on the fingerboard and made immovable with the help of wax. Thin sharp-edged plates of brass are fixed on top of these frets called sara. It has 4 main strings and 3 chikari /rhythm (two on the right and one on the left) strings. All of these strings are tied with 3 nails called kakubha on one corner of the tube which has 8 regulators on either side to adjust the strings. Four main strings pass through the main bridge and before being tied up into their respective pegs, they pass through an upper bridge called meru. Chikari strings are mounted upon two side bridges, one on either side to meet their respective pegs. A fingerboard with a length of about three and a half feet holds the frets and strings together.