.

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

–Raga instruments (full list)–

• Home | Megalist | Search •

—Joydeep Ghosh (Shyam Kalyan)—

“A traditional legend of Benares is that of the sursingar’s evolution. Two descendents of Tansen – Jaffar Khan and Nirmal Shah – had to perform the senia rabab before the Maharaja of Kashi, with the timing of the performance to be during the monsoon season. The rabab’s soundbox was covered with animal hide, with strings mostly made from animal guts, which, due to the humid weather, would reduce in tension, leaving a very dull sound. Jaffar Khan felt extremely disadvantaged…due to the limitations of his rabab. He sought a few months’ time from the Maharaja, promising that he would return with a much better instrument. During this time, he evolved a new instrument based on the rabab, which came to be known as ‘sursingar’: adding a metal fingerboard, and replacing the gut strings with metal and the small wooden resonator with a large gourd, and the goatskin with wood. It won the critical appreciation of the Maharaja, and soon became very popular…But unfortunately, today, the sursingar has ceased to exist. An instrument once widely played across durbars and mehfils has become almost extinct. A glory of the past, now hiding in museums! I have worked to revive the instrument, not to recreate it…” (Joydeep Mukherjee)

—More Info—

• Sa pitch: Joydeep Mukherjee’s recordings, originally the only ones I could find, are split between D# and E [see my Survey of Sa Tunings for more]. Thankfully, sarod player Dana Akbarinassab kindly sent in valuable information in Oct 2025, based on his own survey of known renditions: “Sursringar was originally developed for performing Dhrupad; this was a very large instrument with no sympathetic strings and tuned quite low. Later on, Radhika Mohan Maitra and his disciples developed a smaller sursringar, tuned higher and with sympathetic strings added to be able to play repertoire outside of the Dhrupad alap, e.g. faster taans. Regarding the tuning, there is no universal for such a non-standard instrument with varying scale lengths, however I have compiled a list based on available recordings of well-known artists: Old Dhrupad Sursringar: Somjit Dasgupta (G: he owns possibly the oldest sursringar); Birendra Kishore (F: old recording); Jody Stecher (F#: a disciple of the late Dagar brothers): Allauddin Khan (C#/D#: old recording). Modern Sursringar: Joydeep Mukherjee (D#/E); Joydeep Ghosh (E).”

[COMING SOON: click here to hasten the project’s expansion, so all articles & pages can eventually look more like these]

• 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–

—Hindustani Raga Index—

An open-ended project seeking to bring North Indian raga closer to all who approach with open ears. Combines direct input from dozens of leading Hindustani artists with in-depth insights from music history, global theory, performance practice, cognitive science, and much more besides!

–Megalist (365+ ragas)–

• Search: Find your new favourite •
• Tags: Classifying the ragascape •
• Glossary: Raga jargon demystified •
• Murchanas: Swara-set rotations •
• Thaat: Bhatkhande’s base scales •
• Ragatable: Analytical connections •
• Tanpuras: Divine overtonal drones •
• Quotes: Musings from raga artists •
• Talas: Hindustani rhythm cycles •
• Instruments: Singing sculptures •
• Masterlist: 1000+ ragas profiled •

Sa | Re | Ga | Ma | Pa | Dha | Ni

¡Random Raga!

—Search the Raga Index—

Search for:Search Button

(NEW: search by swaras/varjits)

• Feedback / Contact •

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!

• Projects & articles: full list •

—Join the Patreon!—

• My Music | ‘Guitaragas’ (2025) •

(Get in touch for Zoom lessons!)

my site is ad-free, AI-free, & open-access

Facebook Instagram Youtube Twitter