What is another name for an Indian lute?

Answer 1

There are many instruments of the lute family in India. There's the vina, thought to be the oldest musical instrument in southern India, but this is more of a Zither than a lute. It is long, thin and usually has two gourd resonators underneath it, with 2-4 melodic strings and three unstopped drone strings. Next is the sarod, the most lute-like of Indian instruments. It is descended from the Arabic rabab and is unfretted. It has 4 melodic, 2 drone and 11-16 sympathetis strings. The next two are the most widely known and heard, the tanpura and sitar. These are the traditional instruments of an Indian ensemble. The tanpura has four strings and a long fretless neck. Its sole puropse is to unify the ensemble (tabla, sitar and tanpura) with a drone. The sitar is a large instrument like a bigger tanpura, but with moveable frets and 8-13 sympathetic strings. It also has five melodic and two drone strings. The repertory for the sitar is huge, made known by virtuosos such as Ravi Shankar. There are other lute-based instruments in India, such as the mayuri or surbahar, but these are much lesser known deviants of the main instruments mentioned.

Answer 2

sarod

-edit: not according to YouTube

Answer 3

An Indian lute that is played with a bow is called a sarod. It is similar to a lute, but it has more strings, and it is from northern India.

Answer 4

sitars