Scan 181
Catalogue of the Stearns collection of musical instruments, 1921
24 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 155. See the scan on archive.org.
11027. TARAFFEDAR SITAR ………………………………………India
2Gourd body, with wooden belly and neck, both elaborately decorated.
3Six tuning-pegS. Six wire strings, and ten sympathetic strings.
4The name assigned to this instrument is given by Capt. Day (p. 118) and been assumed because this example does not correspond in essentials to any other of the East Indian instruments.
5Length, 142.8 cm.; circumference of gourd, 76 cm.; depth, 34 cm.
71028. PRASANARI-VINA ………………………………………India
8Shallow gourd body. A neck of usual form carries five strings. A shorter neck, also carrying five strings, is attached to the longer.
9Length, 113.5 cm.; of short neck, 67.9 cm.; of body, 25.4 cm.; depth, 29 cm.
111029. RANJANI-VINA. The colorful vina ………………………..India
12Body of wood resting on two large gourds. Five strings running over sixteen frets. Same type as the mahati-vina.
13Length, 121.6 cm.; height, 31.4 cm.; circumference of gourds, 101.2 cm.
14This form of vina is placed over the shoulder when played, and is the instrument most frequently illustrated in accounts of Indian music.
161030. RUDRA-VINA, or RABABA ……………………………….India
17Body and neck carved from a single piece of hard brown wood. Parchment belly. Six strings. Length, 77 cm.; width, 25.2 cm.; depth, 13 cm.
18There is a decided difference of opinion regarding this instrument, which is listed as above on the authority of Mahillon. The terms "Vina of the god Rudra" and "howling vina," applied to the instrument, seem to indicate an extra-European dissension.
201031. COMPOSITE SITAR ………………………………………India
21Were one inclined to follow the modern fad and create a composite name, the fact that this trinitarian instrument is made up of an esra, a sitar, and a tambura, might suggest es-si-tam. It is a modern contrivance invented by Surpiar Ashraf Ali, from whom it was bought by Mr. Stearns in 1892, presumably under the name given above.
22The body rests on three thin gourd resonators, and the necks are united by a plate surmounted by a group of three birds carved in wood. A multi-colored portrait of some East Indian beauty, in style quite prophetic of the modern cigarette picture, affixed to one side, attests the modernity of this instrument.
23Height, 133.9 cm.; circumference at base, 91.2 cm.; at plate, 50 cm.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.