---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-int/faq/instruments-artforms/what-is-the-chitraveena-slide-made-of'
title: 'What is the chitraveena slide made of?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-int/user/fce96177fd193d3a'
date: '2026-10-19T15:11:14+00:00'
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summary: 'The chitraveena slide, the gottu, is a block of hardwood, horn, glass or steel; N. Ravikiran adopted Teflon in the late 1980s.'
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---
 

 FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# What is the chitraveena slide made of?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 

The **[chitraveena](/en-int/instrument/chitraveena)** slide, the gottu, is a cylindrical block held in the left hand and glided over the melody strings. Reported materials include ebony or other hardwood, bison or buffalo horn, glass and steel. In the late 1980s N. Ravikiran adopted Teflon slides, on the advice of the scientist Hemmige D. Varadarajan, to cut slide noise.



 

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