Abstract

Since time immemorial, Veena has been the musical instrument of the Gods and precisely considered sacred since it is attributed to the Goddess Saraswati. Playing of veena was a common practice especially in south India and the making started during the reign of ‘Pedda rayudu’ in the 17th century. The euphonious Nada or sounds of the various musical instruments helps the sadaka (aspirant) to connect spirituality through the medium of music. This paper aims to study the Veena exhaustively by summarizing the various types of veena, the making and its various benefits unknown to man-kind. This paper also emphasizes the role of Veena which brought an era of renaissance in carnatic music through Dikshitar’s compositions by introduction of gamakas, tanams and other subtle nuances that can be only played by the perfection of Veena.