What is a Saraswati veena?

The Saraswati veena is a long-necked plucked lute with fixed frets and the principal veena of Carnatic music, named for the goddess Saraswati. Its main resonator is hollowed from jackfruit wood, and its 24 brass or bell-metal frets sit in a ridge of beeswax on the neck. Four playing strings pass over the frets, and three drone strings, the talam, run beside the neck.

The sitar of Hindustani music differs: its resonator is a gourd, its arched frets are tied on rather than set in wax, and it carries sympathetic strings, which the Saraswati veena does not.