When was the bansuri invented?

Answer 1

Bansuri is certainly a primordial instrument and to arrive at an exact date when it was invented does not seem possible. But we can take some educated guesses at this.

Krishna who is considered to be the 9th avatar of Vishnu, is the most famous player of bansuri in history. As a youth he used to be a cowherd and it is said that by his mesmerizing Flute playing he not only used to bring back lost cows but used to enchant the whole town of Braj, especially the milk women folk.

Krishna's birth is dated by historian to be anywhere between 1400 B.C. to 5800 B.C.. By deduction, bansuri has to have been invented much before the time of Krishna. So we are talking about the date of 'invention' older than 3400 years or may be even older than 7800 years!

Apart from the story of Krishna, there are many references to bansuri in the old scriptural text of India. In one of the most important books on Indian Music Theory, Sangeeta Ratnakara (13th century), Sarangadeva refers to 13 different sizes of flute. Also, the Buddhist caves of Ajanta (2nd century B.C.) have murals depicting bansuri players.

The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts in the world dating from 1500-500 B.C. The vedic texts refer to the flute as venu. It was used as accompaniment to vedic recitations along with veena.