Making of the South Indian Veena

          The Carnatic Music natural geographic area, like the one of the South Indian Veena making, is constituted by the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Since it’s possible to spot noticeable differences in the style of playing of musicians belonging to different regional traditions, each state, and even each manufacturing town will have its own school of making, easily recognizable by an expert. Yet, these differences lie much more in the importance and in the making of the decoration, or in the use of specific woods, than in a change of the main structure of the instrument. I’ll first describe the making as it is done in Tanjavur (or in Tiruchchirappalli), but most of this description is also relevant for other areas. The clickable map on the right links to pages describing the specificities of the making in each of the four states more extensively.

          The Saraswati Veena is made out of more than 70 pieces, of different sizes, put together with great care. The main pieces, making up what I call the « structure », are the bowl-shaped body or « kudam », the neck, and the pegbox. This structure is then covered up by the soundboard, and by a long wooden plank, the « dandipalakka », closing the hollowed stem and on which the 24 frets are fixed. The pegbox most of the time is decorated with a dragon sculpture, the Yali, which is a very specific South Indian ornament.

        To this main structure, many other pieces are added, all very important for the instrument’s final quality : the bridge, the nut (Meru), the tailpiece, the « fingerboard » made out of 2 long rails of black wax supporting the frets, the various pegs, etc.