Is the chitraveena the same instrument as the gottuvadyam?

Yes: chitravina, chitraveena and gottuvadyam name the same instrument, also spelt gotuvadyam and gottuvadhyam. Sakha Rama Rao coined gottuvadyam from his habit of calling the slide gotu; vadyam means instrument. Chitravina is the older textual name, which N. Ravikiran and other scholars restored to modern use, and mahanataka vina is a further recorded name.