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

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–Raga instruments (full list)–

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—Shahid Parvez (Pilu)—

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“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)

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—Sitar Basics—

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Full of deep drones and sweeping bends, the sitar’s many-stringed sparkle has found global fame. The long-neck lute’s extraordinary melodic capabilities arise from its intricate design: around 20 strings are arranged into three groups set across two ‘layers’ – with different lengths, tensions, and alloys combining into a hyper-resonant whole. It can produce a dazzling array of timbres, spanning delicate vibratos to strident rhythmic sequences and kaleidoscopic multi-step ornaments.

 

A large pumpkin gourd acts as a resonating chamber, onto which a long neck is attached. The neck is hollow, allowing the whole instrument to vibrate, and fitted with around 20 brass frets, which can be shifted to suit the sruti of the raga in question. Despite its visual complexity, almost all melodic activity happens on just one of string (the baaj tar) – with those lying alongside it used to add percussive texture (chikari), and another set running underneath the frets (taraf) vibrating ‘sympathetically’ with the tones of the main string to conjure ‘trails’ of its melody.

 

Musicians fit a metal plectrum (mizrab) onto their index finger, and make the most of the low string tension with elaborate melismatic bends of over half an octave (more than three times that of a steel-string acoustic guitar). In the hands of a master, the sitar can simultaneously evoke melody (from the baaj tar), rhythm (from the chikari), and harmony (from the taraf). Few sounds are more idiosyncratically Subcontinental.

 

(Ravi Shankar / Nikhil Banerjee / Vilayat Khan)

Its roots lie in Persian folk instruments imported to India during the Islamic conquests of the 17th and 18th centuries (the name comes from the Persian sehtar – ‘3-stringed instrument’ – only 17 short of the modern form) – although the design also integrated elements from India’s own long lineage of droning lutes. A popular-but-fanciful origin myth holds that that Sufi mystic-musician Amir Khusrau created it in the 13th century (n.b. Khusrau also is variously claimed, again with scant evidence, to have invented khayal, qawwali, tarana, tabla, and Yaman).

 

The instrument’s stylistic development is interwoven with the history of the Imdadkhani lineage: named after its fountainhead, Ustad Imdad Khan (1848-1920), who helped to liberate its repertoire from the then-dominant Senia style – a slower, Dhrupad-rooted approach linked to legendary 16th-century composer Miyan Tansen. Khan added fresh energy with colourful ornaments drawn from khayal vocal music, also fortifying the design to enable greater volume, sustain, and dexterity (hear his 1904 Bihag rendition here: one of the earliest Hindustani recordings).

 

Into the 20th century, the sitar continued its rise to the forefront of raga, soon supplanting the surbahar as North Indian classical’s predominant string instrument. In particular, three legendary masters emerged in the post-WW2 period: Ravi Shankar (1920-2012), Vilayat Khan (c.1924-2004), and Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986). All brought their own distinct styles and sonic philosophies: Shankar gained renown for his mastery of rhythmic phrasings and rare ragas, Khan for his astonishing mimicry of khayal vocal music, and Banerjee for his ability to blend elements from both his peers into a uniquely balanced whole.

 

Today, the sitar remains India’s best-known instrument. Indeed, its characteristic sparkle is probably the world’s foremost ‘instant sonic signifier’ for all things Indian, immediately conjuring up an essence of the Subcontinent in countless films, adverts, travel documentaries, and so forth. A plethora of dedicated exponents continue to reinvent its repertoire and stretch its technical bounds (see Notable Performers below), drawing on an ever-expanding range of sonic source material in their quest. In the words of Nikhil Banerjee, “If you keep something from any touch of the outside world, it is like stagnant water…North Indian music is always flowing…very crystalline, and still full of power today. Indian musicians have tried to take something from other [kinds of] music. If you do not expand, that means death and stagnation…”.

 

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• Notable performers: Mita Nag (1969-), Kushal Das (1959-), Shahid Parvez (1958-), Budhaditya Mukherjee (1955-), Shivnath Mishra (1943-), Manilal Nag (1939-), Rais Khan (1939-2017), Imrat Khan (1935-2018), Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986), Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (1927-2017), Vilayat Khan (c.1924-2004), Ravi Shankar (1920-2012), Enayet Khan (1894-1938), Imdad Khan (1848-1920)

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—Mita Nag (Bhatiyar)—

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• Get started with learning raga! •

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—Classifiers—

• Form: 20-string fretted lute, plucked with a wire plectrum
• Origin: 18th-century fusion of Persian lute designs with Indian concepts, modified by 19th-century Imdadkhani musicians
• Scale length: ~880mm (~34.5”)
• Range: ~36 semitones (~3 oct.), depending on stringing
• Sa pitch: Usually closest to C# – although many tune up to D, and some go down to C – e.g. Ravi Shankar (C#), Nikhil Banerjee (C#), Vilayat Khan (C/C#), Shahid Parvez (C#/D), Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan (C#), Budhaditya Mukherjee (C#), Manilal Nag (D), Kushal Das (D) [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more].

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—Setup—

• Tuning: In most situations, the sitar is tuned as below – with the sympathetic strings set to the srutis of the raga at hand, the main string tuned to shuddha ma, and the rest of the top layer tuned to either Sa or Pa for percussive purposes. However, when playing ragas with an absent Pa and/or strong ma, the top-layer Pa strings are set to ma instead – and some make further alterations too (notably, Vilayat Khan sometimes tuned his chikari to a Sa-Ga-Pa major triad, in part to accentuate his lack of a tanpura). The tuning process can be awkward (trust me…), but, if carried out with finesse, can sound melodious enough to be mistaken for an actual performance by uninitiates (Ravi Shankar once received a warm ovation from an 1971 American audience just for tuning up!):

(a common Maihar configuration)

• More Info •

• The sitar: For a broader overview of its role in raga history, see my Sitar from Different Angles article for Darbar (Pt. 1 & 2) – as well as luthiery resources from Sitar Factory, and Aysha Imtiaz’ fascinating interview with Zakir Mulla, a hereditary sitarmaker from Miraj (“These aren’t the typical pumpkins you’re used to eating…this type of gourd is so bitter that even animals don’t consume it. We make a yearly visit to the special fields in Pandharpur to get them…and classify them by circumference: 40-44” inch are used for the sitar, 47-48” for the female tanpura, 50-51” for the surbahar, and 54-60” for the gents’ tanpura. We suspend the pumpkins after sorting them, and leave them for 4-5 months to dry. We never put them on the floor…”).
• Legendary sitarists: To learn more about how top sitarists relate to their instrument, read the musings of Nikhil Banerjee, Ravi Shankar, & Vilayat Khan – as well as my in-depth 2018 interview with Shahid Parvez (“New ideas can be added to any art…This does not make them impure. I always explore within certain boundaries, but find that they are vast…Like a great ocean, you can spend a lifetime exploring it, and will not run out of space…”), and a Shailaja Khanna article on Nikhil Banerjee’s legacy (“Banerjee used to say, ‘It’s like I was in a box: with the first wall being Ustad Vilayat Khan and his overpowering style, the second wall Ravi Shankar, the third wall Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and the fourth wall Ustad Amir Khan. How am I to get out of these powerful influences and escape from the box?”).

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—Ravi Shankar demo—

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“Once I played for ten-and-a-half hours continuously, with only one intermission…Very tiring, but so inspiring: the audience was so good, and I came to such a mood that it just happened…” (Ravi Shankar) 

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• Hindustani Instruments: Anandi | Bansuri | Bass-Veena | Bazantar | Bulbul Tarang | Cello | Chaturangi | Dilruba | Electric Guitar | Esraj | Fretless Guitar | Harmonium | Jal Tarang | Jori | Mandolin | Mohan Veena | Nal Tarang | Pakhawaj | Piano | Rabab | Rudra Veena | Sagar Veena | Santoor | Sarangi | Sarod | Saxophone | Shehnai | Sitar | Surbahar | Sursagar | Sursingar | Swarmandal | Tabla | Tabla Tarang | Tanpura | Tar Shehnai | Taus | Vichtra Veena | Violin

–Survey of Sa tunings–