The sarod is a stringed instrument used in Hindustani music from the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the most well-known and important instruments, along with the sitar. The sarod has a deep, thoughtful sound, different from the sitar’s sweet, rich tone. The sitar has strings that vibrate to create a resonant, echoing sound. The sarod has no frets, allowing it to make smooth slides between notes, called meend (glissandi), which are important in Indian music.

Origins

The word "sarod" came from Persian during the late Mughal Empire. It is older than the Indian musical instrument. The word "sarod" comes from the Persian word "sorūd," which means "song," "melody," or "hymn." This word is linked to the Persian verb "sorūdan," which means "to sing" or "to play a musical instrument."

Another possible origin is the Persian word "šāh-rūd," which combines "šāh" (meaning "king") and "rūd" (meaning "string").

The music of the sarod has roots in the rhythmic and lively melodies of the Afghani rubāb and the Indian seni rubāb. These instruments were important in Mughal royal courts. The sarod appeared in India during the early 19th century as a new version of the Afghani rubāb. It was commonly played in areas east of Delhi where Afghan communities lived. In the second half of the 19th century, the descendants of the rubāb musician and Afghan merchant Ghulam Bandagi Khan added metal strings and a metal plate to the instrument. These changes helped create longer notes and allowed for complex musical patterns used in dhrupad and khyal styles.

Some sources say the sarod was invented by ancestors of the modern sarod master Amjad Ali Khan. His ancestor, Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash, brought the Afghan rubāb to India in the mid-18th century and became a court musician for the Maharajah of Rewa (now in Madhya Pradesh). His grandson, Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash, later changed the rubāb into the sarod. Another theory credits descendants of Madar Khan, especially Niyamatullah Khan, with making the same change around 1820. The modern form of the sarod became known in places like Rewa, Shahjahanpur, Gwalior, and Lucknow by about 1820. In the 20th century, Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan improved the sarod by adding more chikari (drone) strings and tarafdar (sympathetic) strings. However, like many young and evolving instruments, the sarod still needs more work in its construction to allow for reliable customization and exact copying of successful designs. This reflects the current state of Indian instrument-making. Although the sarod is sometimes called a "bass rubāb," its range of sounds is actually much broader than the rubāb, especially in the middle and high tones.

Design

The way the instrument is made depends on the musical tradition, called a gharana. There are three clearly different types:

The traditional sarod is a lute-like instrument with 17 to 25 strings. It has four to five main strings for playing melodies, one or two drone strings, two chikari strings, and nine to eleven sympathetic strings. This early design is usually credited to Niyamatullah Khan of the Lucknow Gharana and Ghulam Ali Khan of the Gwalior-Bangash Gharana. Today, two groups of sarod players keep this basic design. Amjad Ali Khan and his students use this model, as do followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra. Both Amjad Ali Khan and Buddhadev Dasgupta made small changes to their instruments, which became the designs used by their followers. Both use teak wood for the body and a goat skin soundboard stretched over the resonator. Buddhadev Dasgupta prefers a polished stainless steel fingerboard for easier care, while Amjad Ali Khan uses a traditional chrome or nickel-plated cast steel fingerboard. Visually, the two models are similar, with six pegs in the main pegbox, two rounded chikari pegs, and 11 (Amjad) to 15 (Buddhadev) sympathetic strings. Descendants of Niyamatullah Khan, such as Irfan Khan and Ghulfam Khan, also play similar instruments. Some followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra still use a second resonator on their sarods, while Amjad Ali Khan and his followers no longer use a resonator. These instruments are usually tuned to B, the traditional setting.

Another type was designed by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan. This instrument, called the 1934 Maihar Prototype by David Trasoff, is larger and longer than the traditional sarod, though its fingerboard is the same as the traditional model. It has 25 strings total, including four main strings, four jod strings (tuned to Ni or Dha, R/r, G/g, and Sa), two chikari strings (tuned to Sa of the upper octave), and fifteen tarab strings. The main strings are tuned to Ma ("fa"), Sa ("do"), lower Pa ("so"), and lower Sa, allowing the instrument to play over three octaves. The Maihar sarod is especially good for playing alap, with the four jod strings creating a background for the raga’s mood. However, this design is not ideal for playing individual strings with clean right-hand picking. This instrument is typically tuned to C.

Sarod strings are made of steel or phosphor bronze. Most modern players use strings from Germany or the United States, such as Roslau, Pyramid, and Precision. The strings are plucked with a triangular plectrum (java) made of polished coconut shell, ebony, cocobolo wood, horn, cowbone, Delrin, or similar materials. Early players used plain wire plectrums, which produced a soft, ringing sound.

Playing technique

The sarod is a difficult instrument to play because it has no frets, and the strings are very tight. To make music, players must press the strings firmly against the fingerboard.

There are two ways to stop the strings on the sarod. One method uses the tip of the fingernail to press the string. The other method combines the fingernail and the fingertip to press the string against the fingerboard.

How musicians press the strings depends mostly on their personal choices, not on the school they belong to. For example, Radhika Mohan Maitra used the index, middle, and ring fingers of his left hand to stop the strings, similar to followers of Allauddin Khan. However, Maitra used the third fingernail more often for slides and hammers. Amjad Ali Khan, who was part of the same musical tradition as Maitra, preferred using only the index and middle fingers of his left hand. However, Amjad Ali Khan was seen around 1960 playing with all three fingers of his left hand.

Notable sarodiyas

• Mohammad Amir Khan (born 1873, died 1934), Court Musician of Darbhanga and Rajshahi
• Allauddin Khan (born 1862 (1882?), died 1972)
• Hafiz Ali Khan (born 1888, died 1972)
• Radhika Mohan Maitra (born 1917, died 1981)
• Ali Akbar Khan (born 1922, died 2009)
• Jotin Bhattacharya (born 1926, died 2016)
• Bahadur Khan (born 1931, died 1989)
• Buddhadev Das Gupta (born 1933, died 2018)
• Dhyanesh Khan (born 1942, died 1990)
• Kalyan Mukherjea (born 1943, died 2010)
• Sakhawat Hussain (born 1877, died 1955)
• Sharan Rani Backliwal (born 1929, died 2008)
• Vasant Rai (born 1942, died 1985)
• Rajeev Taranath (born 1932, died 2024)
• Shahadat Hossain Khan (born 1958, died 2020)
• Aashish Khan (born 1939, died 2024)

• Amjad Ali Khan (born 1945)
• Brij Narayan (born 1952)
• Narendra Nath Dhar (born 1954)
• Biswajit Roy Chowdhury (born 1956)
• Vikash Maharaj (born 1957)
• Tejendra Majumdar (born 1961)
• Amaan Ali Khan (born 1977)
• Ayaan Ali Khan (born 1979)
• Joydeep Mukherjee (musician) (born 1982) [1]
• Abhisek Lahiri (born 1983)
• Wajahat Khan
• Arnab Chakrabarty (born 1980)
• Soumik Datta (born 1983)
• Aayush Mohan (born 1995)
• Apratim Majumdar
• Kaushik Mukherjee
• Sura Ranjan Mukherjee
• Vishal Maharaj (born 1986)
• Rajeeb Chakraborty (born 1963)
• Shiraz Ali Khan
• Prattyush Banerjee (born 1969)
• Rajrupa Chowdhury