ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017

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A beginner’s guide to Veena

Kuwait National English School celebrates Friendship

The Early Years Children recently held two evening concerts of music and dance to entertain family and friends! The concerts were the first held in the newly renovated School Theatre and were a great success. The themes of

the evenings were “Friendship”, building on the school’s long held mission of being part of a “Human Family” and building positive relationships, which will last a lifetime. KNES is very proud of our Early Years children and the

positive roles they have developed with their friends and classmates. We hope they will continue throughout their lives to be good Global Citizens.

Well KNES Early Years!

Indian Veena: Queen of musical instrumentsBy Tulasi Ramachandran*

Carnatic Vocalist

Have you ever been to an Indian classical music show and enchanted by the perfor-

mance? Or been mesmerized by melodious music flowing out from a stringed instrument, which transported you to a blissful happy world instantly? And you then simply adored the musician?

If you answered yes, then chances are you have already seen the ‘Veena’ and a ‘Vainika’ in action.

For starters, the Veena is a stringed musical instrument (or chordophone) that allows you to play all the delicate quartertones and the subtle

nuances accurately. Be-cause the bass resonance of the Veena comes closest to the human voice, performers use this instrument ranging from classical to contemporary pop to folk to film music.

Classical vocalists relied on the Veena for their melodic accompani-ment, referred to as ‘the

Queen of Instruments’, before the Western violin

was introduced into classical music of South India.

A Vainika is a practitioner of the Veena musi-cal instrument.

Did you know that the Veena is inspired from the hunter’s bow string?

Modern Veena that you see is vastly different, having undergone an interesting evolution.

You can trace the origin of this oldest and the most authentic of all Indian instruments, back to 1500 BCE. And find its mention in the ancient Vedic scriptures, particularly the Sama Veda, which is specifically about music.

As you further trace history, you will observe that origins of the Veena are from the Yazh (a harp used in ancient Tamil music). The ‘twang’ sound (or the tone vibrating from a hunter’s bow string, as he shot an arrow) inspired the creation of the Vil Yazh (mentioned in the ancient Athar-va Veda). Historians say that first creations were called Akasa — a harp-like instrument. When tied to the tree-top, Akasa’s strings produced a sound vibrating in the wind. Evolved later was the Audumbari Veena — generally played by wives of Vedic priests during the course of their Yagnas (sacrificial rituals).

The most popular, Saraswati Veena is named after Saraswati — the Goddess of Knowledge and Arts. Considered to be evolved in Thanjavur of Tamil Nadu, during the reign of King Raghu-natha Nayak, other names include Raghunatha Veena or the Thanjavur Veena.

The Veena has several variants — Chitra Veena, Vichitra Veena, Rudra Veena, Mohan Veena, Kacchapi Veena and so on. While the Saraswati Veena belongs to the lute family, other Veenas such as the Rudra Veena and the Vichitra Veena were technically considered to be zithers (Zithers is the German rendering of the Latin word cithara, from which the modern word “guitar” derives).

Vertical to Horizontal PositioningThis is another interesting aspect. If you scan

the Temple sculptures and books, you will notice that the Veena was played vertically in the olden times. It is believed that after the advent of great Vainikas such as Muthuswamy Dikshitar (one of the Trinity of Carnatic Music), the Veena began to be played horizontally.

Divinity and the VeenaThere is a long list of tales associated with the

Veena that are mostly religious and mythologi-

cal in nature. Just to stir your curiosity, here are a few: ■ Saraswati is almost always portrayed holding the Veena. ■ Lord Shiva (also called ‘Veena Gana Priya’) is

shown as holding a Veena, in his manifestation as Dakshinamoorthy. ■ Sage Narada, a maestro of the Veena, always carried around his own instrument, known as Mahati.

■ Legend has it that sage Agastya was adept at playing the Veena.■ The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Vedas and the Puranas, all speak of the greatness of the Veena.

■ Veena features in several works of early Tamil literature too.

It is believed that just listening or touching the Veena bestowed great good on people be-cause, various forms of Almighty are presumed to be residing in the different parts of the Veena. For example, Shiva resides in the body, while Parvati is in the strings. Vishnu lives in the bridge, Lakshmi is in the main resonator. Brahma resides within the secondary kudam, Saraswati in the nabhi (center of the board which gives out maximum sound), Vasuki in the pegs and Surya in the Jeevala. When you play the Veena, it is assumed you invoke all these different forms of Almighty.

How to play the Veena? Revered Vainika’s recommend that you

should play the Saraswati Veena sitting cross-legged — holding the instrument slightly tilted, away from the body. The smaller kudam that gives balance and stability to the instrument should rest on your left lap. Your left arm should move from under the neck and over the fretboard, with the left index and middle fingers coming in contact with the strings. The resonator is placed on the ground, near your right thigh. While your index and middle fingers of the right hand pluck the main playing strings, your little finger is used to play the sympathetic strings as and when required. Subtle positioning and flick-ing of fingers on the frets helps you to manipu-late the sound, thus producing the right type of gamakas for the melodies.

I recommend you to approach a guru to learn right because a merely academic approach to the Veena cannot help you in any way; be it spiritual or worldly.

Yoga and Spirituality Experts articulate that the Veena is considered

as one of the highest ever forms of Yoga and has a spiritual connection with Human Body. As a practitioner, if you play the Veena with a spiritu-al intent in mind, you then handle the instrument through the sheer force of his prana shakti (life-breath). In such a position, the Vainika in you is in perfect control of your thoughts and breathing. You then attain a meditative, trance-like state while playing the Veena.

A regular practice with this attitude, it’s believed, ultimately leads to the rising of the Kundalini Shakti, and you attain salvation through the practice of naada yoga.

Nobel Prize winner, Sir C.V.Raman, was a great lover of the Veena and fascinated by its unique construction. Sage Yagnavalkya has aptly put, “One who is adept at playing the Veena, with proper control of Sruti (pitch) and Jati (melody) and has good knowledge of Sound and Rhythm, attains Moksha (liberation) without effort.”

Concluding, the Veena is no ordinary lute. The National Musical Instrument of India epitomises knowledge, spirituality and divinity. When an expert Vainika plays the Veena, you can feel the notes echoing around, radiating music all around.

PS: I am eagerly looking forward to meeting the legend and maestro, well-known Vainika, Shri Anantha Padmanabhan, who is visiting Kuwait during the second week of Febraury. Conferred with Sangeeta Nataka Akademi Award in 2006, he strongly believes that ‘Music is One’ irrespective of the multiple genres. Ac-cording to him, music has 7 swaras, 12 notes. There is no music outside these 12 notes — be it Classical, Pop, Jazz or any other. It is just the different systems and styles that make music sound different.

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Tulasi Ramachandran is a Carnatic Vo-calist residing in Mahbula, Kuwait. She can be reached on tulasiramachandran1981@gmail.com

Photos from the event.

Shri Anantha Padmanabhan

Veena – design and construction

Tulasi