Although it may seem new, the Chitraveena has very ancient origins which are cemented in a myth created a long time ago.
The story goes that the god Narada, a mischievous meddler and messenger, and Tumburu, a celestial virtuoso, were quarreling over who was the better musician. They decided to settle this bet by competing in a concert.
Narada and Tumburu played the Veena over several days. Still, no winner emerged. Even Saraswathi, the goddess of learning could not decide who was more skilled. They summoned Hanuman, the monkey god, to settle this duel.
Hanuman proceeded to rip the frets out of the veena. This enraged the two musicians, who mocked him for being a crude ignoramus, essentially, “just a monkey” unappreciative of the grand instrument in front of him. Hanuman then ripped a branch off a nearby tree and began to play his newfound instrument by sliding a piece of wood over its fretless body.
The sound emitted from the instrument was so melodious and emotionally affecting that the very rock the Chitraveena was resting on melted. The fretless Chitraveena was invented.
Hanuman challenged different people to come and play the instrument, but they could not match his skill. The arrogance of Narada and Tumburu was tamed, and they humbly accepted Hanuman as the greatest musician of all time.
A more realistic explanation for this is that Sakaram Rao, a renowned musician decided to take a piece of glass and slide it along the strings of the Tanpura which is a background instrument in concerts. He then decided to do the same thing with a fretless veena and used a buffalo horn instead of glass. And hence, the Chitraveena was born.
