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A bansuri is a transverse flute cut from a single length of seasoned bamboo. It has no keys and no moving parts, only six or eight finger holes. The maker burns or drills the blow hole and the finger holes. The player controls pitch through the lips at the blow hole, breath pressure and half-holing, covering a finger hole in part, which gives the slides and bends of a raga. Until the 1940s it was not thought a concert instrument; Pannalal Ghosh made a larger bansuri for the classical stage.

Pannalal Ghosh (1911 to 1960) is generally credited with popularising the bamboo flute, the bansuri, in modern Hindustani classical music. No Hindustani classical bansuri tradition appears to have existed in the 1930s and 1940s. Ghosh lengthened the flute, added a seventh finger hole and devised a bass flute for exploring the lower octave in ragas such as Darbari.

A Hindustani bansuri has six finger holes in line with the blow hole. Pannalal Ghosh added a seventh, played with the little finger of the lower hand, which his circle uses for tivra Ma in the lower octave. Britannica describes six or seven finger holes.

Sources give different figures for the bansuri's range. A six-hole bansuri covers about two and a half octaves and a seven-hole about three, while an enthusiast reference gives about two octaves as the working range. On the flute as Pannalal Ghosh used it, the comfortable range was just over two octaves, and the upper register projects strongly.

Anubodh, the flute maker, says finding a well-tuned bansuri "has been more a thing of chance than routine", so check the tuning of each flute. An Acoustical Society of America paper notes that hole position and diameter set each note's pitch, and wall thickness affects tone, range and octave tuning. Look for cracks too: Anubodh says they come mostly from extreme temperatures, humidity and knocks, and can spread along the bamboo.

Anubodh, the bansuri maker, says bamboo flutes such as the bansuri crack mostly from extreme temperatures, humidity and hard knocks, and a small crack can spread along the bamboo. Anubodh advises bringing the flute to room temperature before playing, avoiding cold outdoor playing, and wiping the bore dry after each session. It also advises storing a played flute upright, out of a case or bag while it dries.

Anubodh, the bansuri maker, repairs a cracked bansuri early, on a cold flute, by running low-viscosity cyanoacrylate glue along the crack and pressing it closed for about 30 seconds. After about five minutes it wipes off the excess and rebinds the section with thread. Anubodh keeps bindings at both ends and in the middle of its flutes.

Yes, the bansuri remains a folk instrument as well as a classical one. A five-hole bamboo bansuri from Rajasthan, 210 mm long and collected in 1987 for a Cambridge museum, is played at seasonal dances and at Holi. In Assam the murali serves dance and song in several communities, and a Horniman example is made of bijuli bamboo. Museums file both as side-blown flutes.