Esraj: India musical instrument

The esraj is a string musical instrument found in two different forms throughout the north, east and central regions of India. This is a young musical instrument by Indian terms, being just about 200 years old. The dilruba is seen in the northern region of the country, where it is used in religious music and light classical music in the urban regions. The name of the instrument is translated as robber of the heat, the esraj is seen in the eastern and central region of the country, especially Bengal and the instrument is used in wider variety of musical genre than the dilruba.

source of picture: kksongs.org

The dilruba originates from the taus and some debate is the work of the 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, like that of the Taus was the work of Guru Hargobind. The musical instrument was then manufactured to replace the former heavy instrument, the taus. This attempt was meant to scale down the weight of the taus into what is now called dilruba. This made it more convenient for the Sikh to carry the musical instrument on the horseback.

The structures of both musical instruments are analogous, each having a medium sized neck like that of the sitar, with twenty metal frets. The neck of the musical instrument holds on a long wooden rack of about 12 to 15 sympathetic strings. While the dilruba has more sympathetic strings and an inversely shaped body than the esraj, they both have 4 main strings which are bowed. All strings of the musical instruments are metal. The soundboard of the instruments is a spread piece of goatskin analogous to what is seen on the sarangi. The instrument sometimes has a gourd attached to the top for balance or for tone enhancement.

The musical instrument can be rested the knees of the player who kneels down or could be made to rest on the knee of the player who is sitting down, with the neck of the instrument leaning on the shoulder of the player. The musical instrument is performed with the use of a bow, with the other hand of the player moving along the strings above the frets of the instrument. The player of the musical instrument may slide the note up or down to gain the portamento, or meend, characteristic of the Indian music.

The musical instrument is mostly used as an accompaniment musical instrument of choice for Rabindra Sangeet singing. Meanwhile, the esraj also has been used as a solo musical instrument to interpret Hindustani classical music, mainly in the Vishnupur tradition. The musical instrument is a more modern invention than the dilruba that was fabricated and promoted by the Namdharis.

The two musical instruments had been declining in popularity for many years. By the 1980s, the musical instrument was almost discarded. Meanwhile, with the rising influence of the Gurmat Sangeet movement, these two instruments are once again gaining the attention of many people.