Alapini Vina

rdf:langString Alapini Vina

rdf:langString right

rdf:langString Saraswati holding an Eka-tantri vina, ca. 1000 C.E.

rdf:langString Kinnari veena or tingadee

rdf:langString Sarasvati with fretted Eka-tantri vina

rdf:langString Saraswati with an ālāpiṇī vīṇā

rdf:langString India, Ellora Caves, cave 21, 7th-8th century C.E. Shiva with an ālāpiṇī vīṇā.

rdf:langString Madras, 1876. Kinnari vina labeled "tingadee." The spike is a bridge, directing string energy to resonator. In later kinnari vinas a third gourd was added in the center, which was pressed into the chest, similar to the alapini vina.

rdf:langString Bangladesh, Pala period 10th–12th century C.E. Saraswati with a tube zither, an ālāpiṇī vīṇā or eka-tantrī vīṇā.

rdf:langString Sarasvati with a fretted kinnari vina, with an apparent makara or yali on the top. Fretted tube-zither vinas are mentioned in literature by 800 C.E., coexisting with the non-fretted vinas. The rudra veena descends from the kinnari veena. The square at the bottom of the instrument is a stylized version of the bridge from the eka-tantri vina.

rdf:langString India, Ellora Caves, cave 21, 7th-8th century C.E. Shiva with an ālāpiṇī vīṇā.

rdf:langString Saraswati holding an Eka-tantri vina, ca. 1000 C.E. This image clearly shows the bridge which would sustain the string's note and create a buzzing quality.

rdf:langString center

rdf:langString The ālāpiṇī vīṇā, eka-tantri vina and kinnari vina were all mentioned in the 12th-13th century book Sangita Ratnakara by Śārṅgadeva. The 19th-century kinnari vina appears to have traits of both the alapini vina and the eka-tantri vina. The gourd of the kinnari vina pressed into the musician's chest is similar to the alapini vina. The gourd high enough to go over the shoulder is a trait of the eka-tantri vina. Eka-tantri means single string. The alapini vina may have developed into a multi-stringed instrument. The kinnari veena had two strings in the early to mid-19th century; the early 20th century kinnari vina in the Metropolitan Museum of Art has two main strings, and like the rudra veena that came from it, three side strings. The kinnari vina had waxed on frets, and the alapini vina may also have developed frets.

rdf:langString The alapini vina is represented in sculpture with two thickness of tube or stick. Earliest images show a much thinner stick. By the 10th—12th century C.E., the larger tube zither form was common as well.

rdf:langString Development of fretted instrument

rdf:langString Ālāpiṇī vīṇā and eka-tantrī vīṇā

rdf:langString center

rdf:langString Alapini vina @ Art Institute of Chicago - detail of black schist of God Vishnu with His Consorts Lakshmi and Sarasvati - Bangladesh or Eastern India, Pala period, 10th-12th century.jpg

rdf:langString Saraswati holding an Eka-tantri vina, ca. 1000 C.E.jpg

rdf:langString Ellora, cave 21, Shiva with vina.jpg

rdf:langString Sarasvati with fretted Eka-tantri vina.jpg

rdf:langString A 19th century strolling singer musician playing Tingadee instrument, Madras.jpg

rdf:langString The ālāpiṇī vīṇā was a medieval stick-zither veena in India, with a single string and a gourd resonator. Later forms added more strings. The instruments became prominent in Indian music after 500 C.E. as instruments of court music. Alongside the eka-tantri vina and kinnari vina it replaced the harp-style veenas and lute-style veenas. The instruments were used in Southeast Asia, both mainland and island nations, and were recorded in sculpture and relief sculpture. Although the stick zithers and tube zithers are very similar, it is possible that they have different origins. Early paintings of stick zithers in India date back at least to the 5th century C.E. The earliest currently known stick zither is in the Caves of Ajanta at the end of the 5th century. After a period of assuming that tube zithers spread from India to Southeast Asia, modern scholars have been trying to decide if the tube zithers might have originated in Southeast Asia and spread to India. Whatever the origins, Indian influence on musical culture in Southeast Asia is recorded in the archaeological remains of past civilizations. Similar instruments today include the Cambodian kse diev and Thai phin namtao.