Instruments of Raga | Hindustani Raga Index

Singing sculptures: Profiling the essential timbres of North Indian raga – strings, flutes, zithers, drums, drones, and more…

• Drums & Percussion •

—Tabla—

India’s most famous drum set is strikingly versatile, combining intricate, mathematical flurries with pitch-bending bass motions…

—Jori—

Popular in Sikh traditions, the larger cousin of the tabla brings a deep-toned flavour to percussive accompaniment…

—Pakhawaj—

A double-headed, even-toned precursor of the modern tabla, still regarded as Dhrupad’s premier percussion instrument…

• Zakir Hussain (tintal on tabla) •

“From the age of 2 or 3, I’ve been with my best friend: my tabla. My buddy, my best toy in the playpen. With that connection, I did not feel a void of any sort. For me, the tabla was the whole universe, the Milky Way, begging to be explored. If you’ve been doing something for 30, 40 years, you might feel bored. That moment has not arrived yet for me. I cannot imagine that we will ever tire of each other…The spirit in the instrument has accepted me as a friend, and I am eternally grateful for that privilege. But that hasn’t stopped me from absorbing and assimilating information of all sorts, from all over the planet. In that way, I have grown as a tabla player and, hopefully, made my instrument a bit more universal.” (Zakir Hussain)

• Blown •

—Bansuri—

Nothing more than a drilled stick of bamboo, India’s classical flute is fabled as the favourite instrument of Lord Krishna…

—Shehnai—

A distinctive double-reed instrument derived from the same lineage as the oboe, elevated to classical raga by Bismillah Khan…

• Rakesh Chaurasia (Jog on bansuri) •

“The bansuri is just a simple piece of bamboo. But it brings many benefits, not only for your ears, but for your entire body and soul. Pranayama [breathing meditation] happens automatically, so to play is to soothe the mind. It needs no maintenance – all you need is to be in tune internally.” (Rupak Kulkarni)

• Struck •

Santoor | Jal Tarang | Tabla Tarang | Nal Tarang

—Santoor—

A many-stringed stick-zither with an ancient lineage, recently adapted into North Indian raga via Kashmiri devotional music…

—Jal Tarang—

An array of water-filled china bowls (‘waves of water’), tuned to the raga at hand and struck with small wooden sticks…

—Tabla Tarang—

A semicircle of scale-tuned tabla dayan (‘waves of tabla’), calling for athletic upper-body rotations from the performer…

—Nal Tarang—

A curious invention of Allauddin Khan, fashioned from discarded rifle barrels and requiring three people to play fully…

• Shivkumar Sharma (Malkauns on santoor) •

“With the adoption of ‘kaleidoscopic’ patterns on the santoor…Shivkumar Sharma has substantially accelerated the process…of freeing instrumental music from the traditional reference point in vocal music…” (Deepak Raja)

• Fretted Strings •

Sitar | Surbahar | Rudra Veena | Dilruba | Taus | Esraj | Tar Shehnai | Bulbul Tarang

—Sitar—

North India’s most famous fretted lute conjures a droning sparkle, with around 20 strings arranged into multiple layers…

—Surbahar—

Revered for its physical challenges, the huge, ancestral ‘bass sitar’ allows for sweeping bends and powerful, deep-toned sustain…

—Rudra Veena—

India’s ancient 7-string ‘roaring veena’, long linked to the mythologies of Lord Shiva, offers a restrained, austere beauty…

—Dilruba—

A bowed long-neck lute combining elements of sitar and sarangi, which holds a special place in Sikh traditions…

—Taus—

The bowed tones of the dilruba’s seldom-seen ancestor are said to mimic the sound of the peacock, India’s national bird…

—Esraj—

A smaller, lighter variant of the dilruba, with perhaps the most vocalistic timbre of all Subcontinental instruments…

—Tar Shehnai—

Essentially just an esraj amplified with a metal horn, the tar shehnai also summons the timbres of violin and shehnai…

—Bulbul Tarang—

Translating as ‘waves of nightingales’, the bulbul tarang is a curious ‘plucked-keyed’ variant of the Japanese taishogoto…

• Shahid Parvez (Pilu on sitar) •

“I believe that…whatever comes into your mind, you should be able to play it on the sitar. It is now a ‘complete’ instrument – by which I mean you can replicate any aspect of vocal music on it. If this cannot be done, then it is the limitation of the artist rather than the instrument…” (Shahid Parvez)

• Fretless Strings •

Sarod | Sursingar | Sarangi | Sursagar | Rabab | Fretless Guitar

—Sarod—

India’s premier fretless lute offers a unique blend of capabilities, combining smooth glides with an emphatic plucking timbre…

—Sursingar—

The ‘bass sarod’, much rarer than its smaller sibling, is tuned several steps lower to bring greater strength in mandra saptak…

—Sarangi—

Notoriously difficult to play, the sarangi (‘hundred-coloured instrument’) is a bowed box-lute with a strikingly vocalistic sound…

—Sursagar—

The astonishing yet almost-extinct ‘bass sarangi’ incorporates an extra string-set, allowing for virtuosic plucking techniques…

—Rabab—

A lineage of Afghan lutes first introduced to India many centuries ago, offering a comparatively gentle plucking timbre…

—Fretless Guitar—

A rarely-heard but highly capable vehicle for Hindustani ornaments, best explored by Maihar sarodiya Vasant Rai…

• Kamal Sabri (Pilu on sarangi) •

“The sarangi is the black sheep of Indian music: the most difficult instrument, and the lowest status. It was a rural folk instrument, and came into the classical world in the 18th century as courtesans needed it to accompany singing and dance. It was the most popular instrument in the 19th-century, because every brothel had sarangi players. But in the 20th century, they became marginalised, and excluded from mainstream classical music. In the words of Ustad Abdul Latif Khan, ‘[courtesan] women have kept this music alive for the last 400 years’ – that’s something that’s been whitewashed, both in the West but specifally in India. Everyone wants to think of it as a kind of spiritual music that was played in the temples. There was court music; but in many cases male musicians who were idolised actually existed to teach the women how to sing. When India moved towards independence, it was felt that there should be a classical music tradition, and so they tried to create a ‘pure’ Hindu art…and ordnances were passed which gradually repressed the courtesan tradition. Muslims were discriminated against, and sarangi players were discriminated against by association…” (Nicolas Magriel)

• Slide Strings •

Mohan Veena | Chaturangi | Vichtra Veena | Sagar Veena | Anandi

—Mohan Veena—

A powerful 20-string lap-slide derived from the design of archtop Hawaiian guitars, devised by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt…

—Chaturangi—

A creation of Debashish Bhattacharya, replicating the sounds of sitar, sarod, violin, and veena on a 23-string slide guitar…

—Vichtra Veena—

Literally meaning ‘curious string instrument’, the vichtra veena utilises a large glass ball to slide along coconut-oiled strings…

—Sagar Veena—

A long-scale vichtra veena variant invented by Raza Kazim in the 1970s, and kept alive today by his daughter Noor Zehra…

—Anandi—

An invention of Debashish Bhattacharya, the anandi is a 4-string lap-steel instrument adapted from the Hawaiian ukulele…

• Debashish Bhattacharya (Shuddha Sarang on chaturangi) •

“I learned the Hawaiian guitar as a child, and played 1920’s European and Hawaiian compositions…and studied six-string slide and staff notation…I created [my] first Indian classical guitar in 1978 at the age of fifteen. I designed it from scratch – it wasn’t a modified Western guitar. Since then I’ve introduced new elements to global slide guitar: including new tunings, fingerpicking techniques, and over 500 compositions. I’m a student, my drive is to learn, and refine my actions. That’s the best way to live…I’m just the adventurous raga-guitar wala!” (Debashish Bhattacharya)

• Western-Import •

Violin | Harmonium | Saxophone | Cello | Mandolin | Piano | Electric Guitar | Electric Bass-Veena | Bazantar

—Violin—

While physically similar to its Western counterpart, the Hindustani violin utilises distinct tunings and a unique ‘sliding’ style…

—Harmonium—

A small hand-pumped reed organ adapted from its Western equivalent, often used to accompany khayal vocal music…

—Saxophone—

The premier melodic instrument of jazz has idiosyncratic raga possibilities, as recently explored by Jesse Bannister…

—Cello—

The cello’s unique capabilities for Hindustani raga have been amply proven via the ingenious efforts of Saskia Rao-De Haas…

—Mandolin—

The tiny double-course lute can be a surprisingly capable vessel for Hindustani raga, as demonstrated by Sajjad Hussain…

—Piano / Keyboard—

Perhaps the most constrictingly ‘Western’ instrument, nevertheless adapted to raga by artists such as Adnan Sami and Utsav Lal…

—Electric Guitar—

Despite its weighty sustain and unmatched tonal flexibilities, the electric guitar is still under-utilised in ‘pure’ classical music…

—Electric Bass-Veena—

A 16-string amalgamation of sarod, rudra veena, and fretless bass, devised by Canadian artist Justin Gray in 2010…

—Bazantar—

A huge variant of the double bass, modified by Mark Deutsch to incorporate drone strings into a powerful overtonal timbre…

• Kala Ramnath (Kafi on violin) •

“The violin is not alien to Indian culture. Asked about the adaptation of the ‘Western violin’ to Indian music, Kala Ramnath interjects: ‘I would not call it the ‘Western violin’. The violin, in its present form, is from the West – but its ancestor has been in India from the time of the Vedas, called the ‘Dhanurveena’. Later on, it was named ‘Ravanhattha’ after the demon king Ravanna, who was a master of the instrument’…Kala’s family has played the violin in both Carnatic and Hindustani formats. She says that ‘hearing us play should never make anyone feel that the violin is not a ‘native of India’: because of how we have mastered it according to our music and our tastes. In Western violin, you hear a lot of staccato notes, but for us the music is inbetween the notes. We created techniques for glides and gamaks, to hit the right microtones.’ Kala has innovated to create new sounds and depths, bringing down the pitch by using viola strings, ‘So that the violin is pleasing to the ears when heard as a solo instrument’…” (Aparna Sridhar)

• Textural / Drones •

—Tanpura—

India’s idiosyncratic drone provides a stable vibrational context, refracting the overtones of the harmonic series…

—Swarmandal—

A small scale-tuned zither, periodically strummed by khayal singers to add washes of harmonic colour to their melodies…

• Tanpura Sa–Pa drone (~138.6Hz) •

“The drone holds within itself the very essence of Indian classical music. So unobtrusive is this instrument, so self-effacing in its positioning on the stage, and so tender of nature, that it is almost taken for granted. But it is the life-giver, the soul of our music…In the internal absorption of the tanpura’s resonance, music happens.” (T.M. Krishna)

• Other Instruments •

More designs: rare, ancient, mythic, etc…

Boro Esraj: a large, double-gourd esraj variant associated with “the lineage of Ranadhir Roy, a musician from Santiniketan”
Datta Veena: invented by mystic-ascetic beenkar D.R. Parvatikar, “blending the sitar, swarmandal, & vichtra veena“
Gandharvi: a 14-string blend of lap-slide guitar, veena, santoor, and sarangi, invented by Debashish Bhattacharya
Ghungru Tarang: string-rows of pitched ankle bells, used as the lead instrument on a curious recording by Manhar Barve
Kanch Tarang: a jal tarang variant involving small glass plates or discs (also a general term for any ‘glass-based’ idiophone)
Kashta Tarang: “Having wooden resonating bars, this is considered an Indian version of the marimba…”
Loh Tarang: a large array of circular iron plates, with each pitched to a different swara and struck with wooden sticks
Orchestral Sarangi: a bafflingly huge sarangi model constructed over a century ago (which may now reside at BHU)
Pinaka Veena: an influential but long-extinct one-string slide-zither from of the veena lineage, named for Lord Shiva’s bow
Pushpa Veena: a sarod-shaped blend of lap-slide, banjo, and shamisen, unveiled by Debashish Bhattacharya in 2019
Radhika Mohanveena: a sursingar-like creation of Radhika Mohan Maitra in 1948 (unrelated to V.M. Bhatt’s mohan veena)
Ranjan Veena: Niranjan Haldar’s mix of concepts from sitar, guitar, and vichtra veena, offering great strumming fluency
Sarinda: a sarangi-like fiddle popular in Sikh sonic traditions for centuries, also used in Baul, Bodo, and Punjabi folk music
Shata Tantri Veena: a ‘hundred-stringed instrument’ mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts, speculated to be a ‘proto-santoor’
Sitanpura/Surtanpura: sitar-to-tanpura and surbahar-to-tanpura mods made to recycle low-grade instruments
Sitar Been: an extinct rudra veena–sitar hybrid from Pune, often decorated with intricate mythologies of Lord Vishnu
Sitarla: a highly playable amalgamation of sitar and electric guitar devised by Japanese fusion artist Hideki Ishima
Sundari: a rare double-reed instrument sometimes called the ‘younger sister of shehnai’ (nevertheless pitched similarly)
Tritantri Veena: a small ‘practice sitar’ associated with 19th-century musicologist S.M. Tagore, carved from a single log
Triveni Veena: a concise lap-slide designed by Niranjan Haldar, intended to blend the tones of sarod, veena, and guitar
Udaka Vadya: posited as an ancient jal tarang (listed in the 64 kalas as ‘the art of playing on music in water’)
Also see the curious collection of Tagore’s instruments on Sanjoy Bandopadhyay’s site: featuring some strange one-offs…

• Recent Raga Index Updates (Nov 2025): Added new ragas: e.g. Asa, Basant Bahar, Badhans Sarang, Bayati, Chandni Todi, Chandraprabha, Deepavali, Firozkhani Todi, Gaud, Japaniya, Kaushiki, Kokilapriya, Latangi, Maru, Palas, Sarangkauns, Shanmukhpriya, Shivanjali, Shrutivardhini • Analysed the overlap of DoGa Kalyan and the Beatles’ Blue Jay Way • Amir Khan’s ‘168 merukhands’ • Uncovered Prabhateshwari‘s origins • Transcribed Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar’s ‘Amodini‘ lec-dems • Experiments (e.g overtonal Bhairav, jazz Malkauns) • Survey of Sa Tunings • More Masterlist ragas (1000+)

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George Howlett is a London-based musician, writer, and teacher (guitars, sitar, tabla, & santoor). Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the voices, cultures, and passions behind them. See Homepage for more, and hit me up for Lessons!

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