Gottuvadhyam: India musical instrument

The chitravina, which is also known as chitra veena or mahanakata vina is a 20 or 21- stringed fretless lute that is used for Carnatic music. Around the 1800s and the early part of the 1900, the musical instrument started to be known as gotuvadyam, which was conferred upon it by Sakha Rama Rao from Thanjavur that was responsible for bringing the musical instrument back to the scene of concert. Presently, the musical instrument is performed primarily in the southern part of India, but the origin of it can be traced back to the Bharata’s Natya Shastra, where it is mentioned as a 7-stringed fretless musical instrument.

source of picture: en.wikipedia.org

The gottuvadhyam has pass through many developments and today, it is among the more popular solo musical instrument in the Carnatic music. The musical instrument is usually seen in collaborative world music concert and the north-south Indian jugalbandis. The fretless nature of the musical instrumentmakes it the closest musical instrument to vocal standards. There are six primary strings that are used for melody and that pass over the top of the musical instrument, three drone strings and about twelve sympathetic strings that are running parallel and beneath the main strings of the instrument.

The approach to tuning this instrument is in some ways analogous to the sitar, in others analogous to the Saraswati veena, though is in many distinct ways. The musical instrument is performed with a slide like a Hawaiian steel guitar and the north Indian vichitra veena. The first two fingers of the right hand of the player are normally used with the plectrum to pluck the metal melody strings while a cylindrical block produced out of hardwood, buffalo horn, glass, steel or Teflon held by the left hand of the player is used to side along the strings to differ the pitch. Sakha Rama Rao used to call the slide ‘gotu’ and hence the name ‘gotu vadyam’.

This musical instrument was made popular in the southern part of India by Sakharam Rao of Tiruvidaimarudur. The instrument was later taken up and made more popular by Gotuvadyam Narayan Iyengar that was a palace music player of the old state of Mysore. Chitravina N. Ravikiran, his grandson, plays the musical instrument and is known to be the inventor of a version of the instrument known as ‘navachitravina’.