Sitar: A Timeless Instrument of Beauty and Expression

Along with music and ragas in the subcontinent, many fine instruments also catered the tastes of the audience. Instruments are those which after the invention proved to be more fascinating and enjoyable with the innovation of expert makers in different periods. Sitar is an instrument that every classical music lover is familiar with, but when was it invented, by what name was it known in the subcontinent and is the sitar a form of any other instrument? Once it was known as “SehTar” which later came to be called Sitar. Sitar is actually a simple form of an old Hindi instrument, the Veena. In the world of classical music in the subcontinent and among its fans, this instrument is now known as the sitar. Until a few decades ago it was listened to with great passion and interest and even today sitar is a must in music concerts. 

This instrument was invented by Amir Khusraw, but it is also said that Amir Khusraw himself did not mention this instrument in his writings. A group of experts has also written after their discovery that this instrument was originally popular in Persia or Caucasia and came to India from there, but in reliable and authentic sources, the inventor of this instrument was articulated to Amir Khusraw. From the Mughal period to the present era, this instrument received many accomplished artists. Ustad Wilayat Khan was one of the founders of Indian classical music and was one of the first sitar players to take Indian music abroad. Wilayat Khan was born in Bangladesh, his father Ustad Inayat Khan was also a famous sitar player. He performed for the first time at the age of six and made his first recording two years later. A special style of sitar playing known as Wilayat Khani became known from him. His sons Shujaat Khan and Hidayat Khan are also sitar players. 

In addition to his sons, the prominent students of Wilayat Khan Sahib are Kalyani Rai, Kashinath Makarji and Arvind Parekh.  In an interview, he says: 

"Though I was orphaned at the age of ten, my father, Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan, who himself was a legend in sitar playing, gave me basic sitar lessons. It started with finger balance, position and release, holding and playing the sitar from different angles. And above all, not by hours or days, but all the time; all these things were taught to me by my father at an early age.” Ustad Ravi Shankar was a renowned Indian classical musician known for his mastery of stringed instruments, especially the Sahatar and Sarangi. He was born in 1920 in Delhi, India. His father, Ustad Ram Shankar, was a famous Sahatar player, and his mother, Ustad Ram Lal was a famous sarangi player. Ravi Shankar learned music from his father and mother. After his death, his daughter Anushka Shankar is representing this art all over the world. 

After the partition of India, there were many great sitar players in Pakistan, among them Ustad Sharif Khan, Ustad Kabir Khan and Ustad Fateh Khan are particularly noteworthy. After these teachers, their descendants and their students worked very hard to keep this art alive and promote it despite the difficult conditions and kept the art of their ancestors close to their chests. 

The name of Ustad Rais Khan is a self-introduction in the context of sitar playing in the subcontinent. Ustad Rais Khan was born in Indore, India in 1939 in a family of musicians where he received his early music education from his maternal grandfather Ustad Inayat Ali Khan. Ustad Rais Khan, who belonged to the Mewati family established during the Mughal era, got the title of 'Ustad' at the age of 15 and in 1955 he represented India at the age of 16 at the International Youth Festival. In an interview given to Dawn newspaper in 2012, he said that in 1972, he played sitar for 18 hours continuously with three tabla players and set a new record. Ustad Raees Khan performed in two songs in the seventh season of the popular music show Coke Studio, out of which the song 'Main Sufi Hoon' with Abida Parveen became very popular. One of his sons, Farhan Raees Khan, also followed in his father's footsteps and became a sitar Nawaz. 

In the words of classical music connoisseurs and musicians, you will know that the gourd of the sitar is called Tunba, while its long hollow wood is called Daand. On the roof of the Tunba there are two bridges of bone called Jawarian, over which the wires pass. The shafts are made of iron or brass arcs which are called pardy or sundriyan. One end of the wire is tied to a nail behind the pole and the other is tied to pegs in the daand. In modern times, the number of strings of the sitar is not fixed, but mostly it has four strings, two chikaris and thirteen trumpets. 

Nowadays, there are many sitar players in India and Pakistan who are keeping this art alive among them, Rupa Panesar, Niladri Kumar, Pandit Buddhatiya Mukherjee, Ustad Shahid Pervez, Dr. Anhindta Mitra, Anupama Bhagwat, Shabbi Sen and Vijih Nizami are important names. The sitar is undoubtedly a fascinating and unique instrument that has been presenting the distinctive romanticism of the subcontinent in its own unique style for centuries. It is not easy to learn it either, but the given lines of Iqbal gives us direction in this regard.

ہیں ساز پہ موقُوف نوا ہائے جگر سوز
ڈھِیلے ہوں اگر تار تو بے کار ہے مِضراب