The Chitravina

The chitravīṇā (‘the wondrous lute’) is a rare and ancient south Indian classical instrument. It is fretless and played with a slide, something like a long-necked lap steel guitar or a fretless slide sitar/vīṇā.

The Instrument

With a smooth, mellifluous, and rich sound akin to that of the human voice, the chitravīṇā is at once both simple and challenging to play: six main strings are plucked with the right hand while the left manipulates a smooth rod across them, offering immense scope for fine melodic nuances and detail so characteristic of Carnatic music. Three side strings can also be strummed create rhythmic accents, and a layer of twelve sympathetic strings beneath the main six vibrate automatically to the melody played on top.

The chitravīṇā also features a unique dual-octave tone - the main strings are grouped such that one can play the same melody in multiple octaves at the same time, resulting in a sound that is at once bright and deep.

Past & Present

The chitravīṇā has been mentioned in classical Indian literature, notably Bharata's "Nāṭyashāstra" (c. 200 BC – AD 200). In the Hindu tradition, it is associated with the great devotee Hanumān and is the instrument of his expression of complete devotion to the Lord through sublime music.

In the 19th to mid-20th centuries, the chitravīṇā was referred to as the ‘gōṭṭuvādyam’ and was taken to great heights by the illustrious Tiruviḍaimarudūr Sakhārāma Rāo (guru of the icon Semmaṅguḍi Shrīnivāsa Ayyar) and his disciple Gōṭṭuvādyam Nārāyaṇa Ayyaṅgār, a maverick musician who was perhaps the first chitravīṇā artiste to perform outside India and who endlessly innovated upon the instrument and devised the string arrangement described earlier. The instrument's legacy continued into the hands of the contemporary legend, Nārāyaṇa Ayyaṅgār’s grandson ‘Chitravīṇā’ N  Ravikiran, who rediscovered its ancient name and took it to global prominence as an instrument of both Indian classical and world music, while also passing it on to a new generation of disciples.