Sitar The sitar is similar to the veena in several aspects although it is not as complicated to play. The sitar is called the Nibaddha Tamboora. It clearly shows a close connection between the sitar and the tamboora. The name originates from `Seh’ in Persian which means `Three’ and `tar’ which means `Strings’. So a lute having three strings is a sehtar – or sitar. Great masters like Amir Khan, Sarkatullah Khan, Bahadur Khan and Gulam Raza raised the sitar to a very respectable status. The various parts of a sitar are the tumba, which is a round or flat gourd; tabli, which is a piece of thin wood that covers the cut portion of tumba; gulu, which is the middle portion of the sitar called the shoulder; danda, which is the finger of the key board of the instrument on which there are a minimum of seventeen and a maximum of nineteen frets fitted with guts on it. These frets can be moved to the required scale. Such an arrangement of mobile frets is called chal thaat.
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