Lalit Vistara

Author(s): Rajendralala Mitra
Publisher: Asiatic Society

Page 93

CHAPTER Y.
every detail to the Váñyá, except the shape, which, instead of being like a Dhatura flower, is elongated and globular.
घरकुसुमाकारः पणवा धातुजाऽथवा । मृण्मयोऽपि भवेडन प्रमाणो वा तदन्यथा ॥ साईहर्स मखस्यास्य वेष्टमं परिकीर्तितम् । नन्मुखं वनचाँण कुर्यादाच्छादितं पमः ॥ सचर्म पट्टसूचेण बद्धं वा चर्मरज्जना। सरलिं मध्यभागेऽस्य प्रदेयच मदङ्गवत् ॥ माति सूचक म च स्थूलं ध्वभिगाम्भौर्यरेतवे ।
बाद्यते वामहस्तस्य मध्यमाजुलिना अयम् ॥ 10. Tunava, p. 75. I know of no musical instrument of this name, but I take it to be a variant of Tuntaví, which was a onestringed lute of which the modern Ekatára is the representative. It bad for sounding board a gourd-shell mounted with skin, a staff of lamboo, a wooden bridge, and a key at the end of the staff for tuning the chord. The following is its description as given in the Sangita-nóráyana.
तुम्नवौलक्षणं प्रोक्तं पूर्वसङ्गीतकोविदः । साईहस्तमितो दण्डः सूझावंशेन निर्मितः ॥ चर्मणाच्छादिताना दडमले नियन्त्रिता। दण्डाको कोलकथैकः संयता तब तन्त्रिका । दारजां पदिकां कृत्वा ककुभापरि विन्यसेत् ।
कृत्वा तां दक्षहसन वादयेतेन पाणिना ॥ 11. Tallaka, p. 76. This is a fully developed lute, and is the same with the modern sitúr. The Sangita-narayana calls it villaki, and gives a full description of it. According to it the staff should be made of wood or bamboo well polished. - Its longth should be 10 fists or about 80 inches, and its breadth by fingers. Eighteen fingers at the top should constitute the head, and here the keys, made of hor, should be attached. Between the head and the body of the staff tuero should be a bridge of an arched form. The sounding boarri or the body of the instrument should be 18 Angers wide and sufficiently decp. There should be a bridge, made of horn, on the body, and the chords should be of pure brass and steel. The instrument should be held by the left hand and the chords pressed with the fingers of that hand on the stops, and played with the right hand.