Sarod

The sarod is one of the leading instruments of Hindustani music today. The origin of the sarod like that of the sitar is undocumented and surrounded by ambiguity. Repeated efforts at modifications has brought the instrument to its present state of sophistication. Written and oral evidences suggest that the sarod is an adapted and improved version of the rabab, but since the antecedents of the rabab itself are extremely confused and unclear.

The term sarod, meaning song or melody is of Persian origin. Some scholars suggest that the word might also be used to denote some type of musical instrument of the medieval period. However, there is no consensus on this point. According to Allyn Miner, one scholar has suggested that in order to distinguish the Afghani rabab from the Seniya rabab the players of Afghani rabab started calling it sarod.

The peg box is almost one foot long and about seven inches in diameter. This part is solid from inside. Tuning pegs of the main playing strings are put on either side. In some sarods a metal resonator is fixed at the bottom of the peg box. The fingerboard is about one-and-a-half feet long. It is hollow from the inside and narrower near the peg box, but gradually becomes broader near the resonator. The finger- board is covered first with a thin, wooden board and then with a thin metal sheet. On the right side of the fingerboard pegs of sympathetic strings are fixed in two rows.