Eka-tantri Vina

The eka-tantrī vīṇā was a medieval tube-zither veena in India, with a single string and one or more gourd resonators. The instrument became prominent in Indian music in about the 10th century C.E. as instruments of court music. Alongside the alapini vina and kinnari vina it replaced the harp-style veenas and lute-style veenas in sculpture. It was possibly a forerunner of the rudra vina. It shares its name with the modern single-string drone lute, the ektara.

Eka-tantrī vīṇā

Eka-tantrī vīṇā at Mukteshvara Temple of Bhubaneswar, ca. 10th century C.E.

India, 10th century C.E. Image of Saraswati holding an eka-tantri vina, a type of tube zither.

The far-right image shows many details missing from depictions of the eka-tantri vina: the longer length of the instrument, thick tube, the large gourd at the top, the playing style over the shoulder, the stylized mouth at the bottom of the instrument, a bridge on the rectangle just above the mouth.

The instrument is very closely related to the one-stringed alapini vina, an instrument which started out a stick zither but became a tube zither like the eka-tantri vina.

Although the tube zithers and stick 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.

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