---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-int/faq/instruments-artforms/is-the-chitraveena-an-ancient-instrument'
title: 'Is the chitraveena an ancient instrument?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-int/user/0f961cccc99524ed'
date: '2026-10-19T15:12:06+00:00'
updated: '2026-10-25T18:55:51+00:00'
type: website
summary: 'The chitraveena takes its name from the chitra vina of the Natya Shastra; the modern slide instrument dates from around 1900.'
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  FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# Is the chitraveena an ancient instrument?

 Updated 25 October 2026

 Bharata's Natya Shastra describes a seven-stringed chitra vina played with the fingers and a cylindrical device called kona, and the 13th-century Sangita Ratnakara describes it in similar terms; the **[chitraveena](/instrument/chitraveena)** takes that name. B. Chaitanya Deva, writing in 1978, calls the early instrument a harp. The modern slide instrument took shape with Sakha Rama Rao in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.



 

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