Pinaki Veena

The ''pināka vīnā'' ( hi, पिनाक pinnak + hi, वीणा veena) was an Indian musical instrument, a musical bow that was itself played with a bow. It has also been transliterated ''pinaki vina'' and ''pinak''.

It appeared similar to the rudra veena (also called "''bīn''" or "''been''"), with a long bar held over the musician's shoulder and resting on the ground, with large gourds attached at each end for resonators. However, where the ''rudra veena'' has multiple strings and frets, the pinaka vina had only one string made of wire and no frets. Where the ''rudra veena'' was a stick zither (with a straight and rigid bar for the instrument's body), the ''pinaka vīnā'' was a musical bow (its body a long stick turned up at each end).

The instrument was sounded with a bow. The musician chose notes with a stick held against the strings, able to slide it up and down on the string, in the same way a bottle slides on a slide guitar's strings.

File:Ragaputra Sarang painting, from Bundi, showing "The Divine Musician playsa a pinaki vina".jpg, Ragaputra Sarang painting, from Bundi, showing "''The Divine Musician plays a pinaki vīnā''."
File:A Bin or Kuplyans by Frans Balthazar Solvyns, from A Collection of Two Hundred and Fifty Coloured Etchings (1799).gif, A ''bīn'' or ''kuplyans'' in Solvyn's 1799 publication. Plucked stick zither with two strings. The word ''kuplyans'' is "limited to Bengal."
File:Frans Balthazar Solvyns, "Qaplious ou bin, instrument de musique hindou", from "Illustrations de Les Hindous", volume 2 plate 23.jpg, 1808-1812. Illustration of a bīn, labeled "qaplious". Plucked stick zither.
File:Pinaka vina.jpg, India, 1807. Pinak, a bowed musical bow.

Origins

'' Pinaka'' was the name of the bow (arrow-shooting variety) of Shiva. The musical bow ''pināka'' made it into literature by the 12th century C.E. in the ''Saraswati Hridayalankar'' or ''Bharatbhashya'' by Nanyadeva (1097–1133 C.E.) In the mid-12th century it was considered to be a very important instrument by Haripala, a Gujarati king (son of Karna). The instrument was recorded in 1456 as having a second resonator. By 1810 the instrument was rare, and much of our knowledge about its appearance comes from drawings made by Frans Balthazar Solvyns'' stick zither. The ''pināka'' and ''ravanahatha'' are tied together in literature. As ''pināka'' was Shiva's bow, the ''ravanahatha'' was created in legend by the ascetic demon king Ravana, a devotee of Shiva.

References

{{Indian musical instruments
Indian musical instruments
Musical bows
String instruments
Chordophones