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title: 'How is the esraj different from the dilruba?'
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date: '2026-10-19T15:05:35+00:00'
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summary: 'The esraj has a smaller, rounder body than the dilruba, which has a flat sarangi-like body, a broader fingerboard and more sympathetic strings.'
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# How is the esraj different from the dilruba?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 The **[esraj](/instrument/esraj)** is described as a variant, some say the modern variant, of the dilruba. Its body is smaller, rounder and shallower in the middle, while the dilruba has a flat, sarangi-like body, a broader fingerboard and more sympathetic strings. The dilruba is associated with Punjab and Sikh devotional music; the esraj is used in Punjab and also in West Bengal and Bangladesh.



 

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- [   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-in/instrument/esraj)
 
  

 

 

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