Ekatara Veena is a single stringed musical instrument used
by Hindu saints and devotees especially of the Bhakti tradition. It is a
musical instrument widely used by Bauls and Warkaris of Maharashtra.
History of Ekatara Veena in Hindu Religion
In the history of the evolution of Hindu musical
instruments, the ekatara is without doubt, the first among the stringed
instruments. Its forerunner was perhaps the bow.
In India, the antiquity of the bow dates back at least ten
thousand years, as it appears in the Mesolithic paintings in the caves and rock
shelters of the Narmada valley in Central India.
It is inferred that the people of the Indus Valley Civilization
probably also used a stringed instrument because there is a letter in the Indus
script which looks like the shaft of a stringed instrument.
It is further argued that considering the flourishing
trading contacts between India and West Asia in the third millennium, it is
highly likely that the Harappans too had stringed instruments.
The Veena was used by the saints of the Vedic period for
singing Sama Veda.
Parts and Form of Ekatara Veena
Ekantantri Veena, the single stringed lute, is the most
important of all veenas. It is extremely simple in construction.
It consists of a short wooden rod of the khair wood that is
quite tough and long lasting. Khair wood is known as Acacia Catecu.
The wooden rod should be of a round cross-section and smooth
without any knot or any other flaw.
From seventeen fingers from one end of the wooden rod of Ekatara
veena musical instrument is fixed a round dried pumpkin. The pumpkin has a
diameter of sixty fingers.
The other end known as kakubha and metal plate of the shape
of a tortoise is fitted here.
The metal string is tightly attached to both these ends. At one
end of the string, a small bamboo piece known as jiva or jawari is fixed between
the string and the metal plate.
The kona, plectrum, also of bamboo, is used for playing the
instrument.
This simple vina is widely used in India especially by
wandering monks and in folk performances.
The Warkari saints (followers of Sant Tukaram and Sant
Jnaneshwar) carry the Ekatara.
Notes taken from – Deva, Chaitanya, 2000. Musical
Instruments of India: Their History and Development. New Delhi: Mushiram
Manoharlal Publishers.
Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Volume IV – India Heritage Research Foundation – Page no 23 – 24.