There is a shloka you hear during academic discussions of the sanctity attached to classical music by sages in Sanatana Dharma.
This shloka is stated by Sage Yajnavalkya in his Smriti, a seminal work covering almost all aspects of the circle of human life. Important ceremonies like Upnayanam, wedding and last rites that we conduct follow the edicts of Yajnavalkya. He is the most famous rishi of Upanishads as the central preceptor of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. He also features in the all-important Taittariya Upanishad.
What does Yajnavalkya say about music and veena in particular? The commentator refers to Bharatamuni's Natya Shastra and states what Yajnavalkya proclaims as his own insight:
vīṇāvādana-tattvajñaḥ śruti-jāti-viśāradaḥ ।
tālajñaśca aprayāsena mokṣa-mārgaṃ niyacchati॥
(Shloka 115, 4. Yatidharmaprakaranam, 3. Prayaschittaadhyaayah).
Translation:
The one adept in the art of playing the veena, who knows the musical notes/microtones (Shruti), raagas (Jaati) and taalas (rhythmic cycle) masters the path to spiritual liberation without much toil.
No wonder we see veena associated with Shiva, Sarasvati, Narada, Tumburu, even Ravana, and we have developed our classical musical structures by working with the veena.
Veena is an ancient stringed instrument and takes many forms. The western violin is traced to Ravanastra, a type of veena. Indian variations like sitar, sarod, sarangi, rudra veena, chitra veena, vichitra veena and sarasvati veena are all variants.
The current form of the south Indian veena (often called Sarasvati Veena) is called Raghunatha Veena. It was developed by Sri. Govinda Dikshita in the Tanjore court of king Raghunatha Nayaka. Govinda Dikshita hailed from the Mysore region and had migrated to Tanjore for better prospects.
He, his son Venkatamakhi (72 Mela Raga system) and future descendant who later became the Kanchi Paramacharya, spoke Kannada at home.
