Yazh: India musical instrument

The yazh is a direct ancestor of the modern veena instrument and lute. The instrument was named so because the tip of the stem of the musical instrument was constructed into the head of the animal named Yali. The yazh was an open –stringed polyphonic musical instrument, with a wooden boat-shaped skin-covered resonator and an ebony stem. In Tamil, the gut strings of the musical instrument are known as Narambu. The celebrated Tamil poet from 200BC, Thiruvalluvar, stated thee musical instrument in his work Thirukkural. Many classical masterpieces of the Tamil written during the Sangam period traced back to the 200 BC have called the yazh. Silappatikaram written by a Jain monk called Ilango Adigal mentioned four kinds of this musical instrument; the Periyazh with 21 strings, Makarayazh with 19 strings, Cakotayazh with 14 strings, Cenkottiyazh with 7 strings. Other types of Yazh's are Mayil Yazh - resembling peacock, Vil Yazh - resembling Bow.

source of picture: en.wikipedia.org

Perumpāṇāṟṟuppaṭai, the Tamil literature says that the strings of the musical instrument should not have any twists in them.