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title: 'How old is the esraj?'
author:
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  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-gb/user/0f961cccc99524ed'
date: '2026-10-19T15:05:26+00:00'
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summary: "The esraj's age is disputed; the earliest dated instruments are from Calcutta in 1877 and Bengal in 1898."
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  FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# How old is the esraj?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 The age of the **[esraj](/instrument/esraj)** is disputed. Popular and community sources say about 300 years, while Bengal sources tie its spread to the mid to late 19th century, when the Gaya gharana took up esraj playing. The earliest dated instruments found are an esraj made in Calcutta in 1877, now in Berlin, and a Bengal esraj the Horniman Museum acquired in 1898.



 

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 ###  Instruments (1) 

- [   Esraj The esraj is a bowed, fretted lute with sympathetic strings, played upright with a horsehair bow in Hindustani music, Rabindra Sangeet and Bengali devotional…     ](/en-gb/instrument/esraj)
 
  

 

 

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