---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/faq/instruments-artforms/what-is-a-sarangi'
title: 'What is a sarangi?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/user/0f961cccc99524ed'
date: '2026-09-04T15:21:19+00:00'
updated: '2026-10-19T21:52:10+00:00'
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summary: 'The sarangi is a short bowed instrument with three gut playing strings, which players stop with their fingernails, and around 35 sympathetic strings.'
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  FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# What is a sarangi?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 The [**sarangi**](/instrument/sarangi) is a short bowed instrument with three gut playing strings and around 35 **sympathetic strings** that resonate beneath them.

Players stop the strings from the side with the backs of their **fingernails**. Many musicians hold that, of all Indian instruments, the sarangi sits closest to the human voice.



 

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 ## Related pages

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 ###  Artists (1) 

- [   Satwinder Pal Singh Satwinder Pal Singh is a London-based sarangi player from Moga, Punjab. He and his father are the first father-son Top Grade sarangi players in the Sikh Panth.     ](/en-in/artist/satwinder-pal-singh)
 
  ###  Events (1) 

- [   Reading Raga Resonance: Bow, Beat, and Breath Experience a magical musical conversation exploring the vocal nature of the Sarangi and the driving energy of the Tabla in alternating solos at the Great Hall,…     ](/en-in/event/reading-raga-resonance-bow-beat-and-breath)
 
  ###  Instruments (1) 

- [   Sarangi The sarangi is a short-necked bowed instrument of North India, close to the human voice. It has three gut strings and up to 37 sympathetic strings that ring…     ](/en-in/instrument/sarangi)
 
  

 

 

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