The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c11.55

c11.55

THIS plate shows the position of a player upon the Bîn or Vina¹⁰ of the North of India. The vina of the South, described in the next plate, is sometimes called the Rudra vina, in distinction to the bîn or Mahati vina. As will be seen, this is a fretted instrument, the frets being arranged at semitonic intervals. The tuning differs from that of the Southern vina, and two gourd resonators take the place of the wooden pear-shaped body. It is worthy of note that an instrument of this description was described by Mersenne in 1636.¹¹