Chitravina for dummies

The Chitravina is an instrument exclusive to south India where the instrumentalists use a cylindrical piece of teflon (gottu) to produce notes that resemble those of Carnatic music. The instrument, like its north Indian sister, the vichitravina is a fretless instrument unlike its cousin, the Veena where the instrumentalist uses finger movements to produce notes in a more restricted environment. Its fretless nature allows the user to produce a variety of sounds which can be formed in different octaves. Each Chitravina is different and has a set octave where the user can experiment with the instrument. The Chitravina has 21 strings of which, 11 are vibration strings which resonate when a certain note is played, 3 are tala strings which are strummed together when a shasabdakriye occurs in the tala sequence. The other 7 strings are the main strings which are strummed to produce the notes you hear. The main strings consist of two types of strings which include the thicker, mandram and the thinner strings which are more in number.

The Chitravina and the gottu

      The instrument was pioneered by Gottuvadhyam Narayana Iyengar who also invented the tala strings which are placed under the main strings. Since his time, the Chitravina has come a long way and the bison horn has been replaced by teflon and a new, portable version of the Chitravina has been created by Chitravina Ravikiran who has called it, the Navachitravina.

I hope the Chitravina continues its evolution and makes a bigger mark on the musical world.