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title: 'What is a Saraswati veena?'
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summary: 'The Saraswati veena is the principal veena of Carnatic music: a jackwood lute with 24 frets set in wax, four playing strings and three drones.'
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  FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# What is a Saraswati veena?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 The **[Saraswati veena](/instrument/veena)** is a long-necked plucked lute with fixed frets and the principal veena of Carnatic music, named for the goddess Saraswati. Its main resonator is hollowed from jackfruit wood, and its 24 brass or bell-metal frets sit in a ridge of beeswax on the neck. Four playing strings pass over the frets, and three drone strings, the talam, run beside the neck.



 

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- [   Veena The Saraswati veena is the plucked lute of Carnatic music: a jackwood body, 24 fixed brass frets in wax and gamaka technique define its sound, for solo and…     ](/en-int/instrument/veena)
 
  

 

 

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