तौस

The taus is a bowed, fretted long-necked lute that emerged from the Punjab region. Its wooden resonator, covered with a skin membrane, is carved as a peacock, with wings, legs, beak and real feathers at the tail, and a horsehair bow sounds its metal strings. It accompanied courtly nautch dance and is associated with Sikh devotional music.

KalaSudha teaches the taus online and in workshops, and beginners start at Foundation level. You sit on the floor with the taus against your left shoulder and learn even strokes along the whole bow on the main string. Children learn with us as well as adults; ask us about a starting age and about a size for a younger learner.

A long break need not send you back to the beginning. Our courses run in levels, so your teacher reviews where you stand and you start again where you left off.

Five 19th-century taus examples in museums measure about 97 to 118 cm overall. They measure 103.5 cm at the V&A, 115.5 cm at the Met and 118 cm in Edinburgh and Würzburg. The resonator is small and shallow: 166 mm wide on the Edinburgh example, and 13 to 15 cm deep on the V&A and Met instruments.

A taus has a wooden resonator covered with a skin membrane, metal strings and metal frets. The body is carved from a single piece of wood and topped with goatskin. Museum examples are painted and lacquered, with carved wings, legs and beak, bone or ivory inlay, and real peacock feathers at the tail.

Most sources give a taus four main strings and 14 to 17 sympathetic strings. Drone strings vary: none on one example, three on the Edinburgh instrument and five secondary strings on the Würzburg one. Metal frets number about 20 to 24; one example has a fret for each semitone across two octaves.

To play the taus, the player sits on the floor, with the instrument resting on the ground and its upper end on the left shoulder. The bow is wood strung with horsehair, and the left hand stops the strings on metal frets. Darbar describes the tone as deep and resonant, close to the sarangi; another source says it resembles the peacock's cry.

The taus is played in Sikh kirtan again, though rarely. Darbar says the dilruba largely replaced it, and another source places that change in the early 20th century. Bhai Baldeep Singh researched older ragis across Punjab and Pakistan and worked to bring the taus back into Gurbani kirtan, and Darbar documents contemporary performances by Kirpal Panesar and Sandeep Singh.

The name taus is the Persian word for peacock, and the instrument takes the bird's shape, with carved wings, legs and beak and real feathers at the tail. Its other name, mayuri or mayuri veena, comes from the Sanskrit mayura, which also means peacock. The Würzburg collection places it in the vina group, and the instrument emerged from the Punjab region.

Sikh tradition credits Guru Hargobind, the sixth Guru, with the taus, but this is a traditional attribution, and written records of the Gurus' instruments are lacking. Other sources name Guru Gobind Singh instead. Bhai Avtar Singh told how a peacock's cry set instrument strings resonating, and Guru Hargobind asked for an instrument joining that resonance with the bird's call.

The mayuri vina, or taus, is a larger variant of the dilruba and esraj with a lower range. Tradition credits Guru Gobind Singh with the dilruba, a lighter version of the taus that the Khalsa could carry on horseback, though researchers doubt the story. Darbar says the dilruba largely replaced the taus.

Before buying a taus, compare it with documented instruments. Museum examples have metal frets, four main strings and about 15 sympathetic strings, and a wooden resonator covered with skin. They measure about 97 to 118 cm overall, and the bridge on the Edinburgh example is curved ivory.

You can buy a taus from KalaSudha anywhere outside India: we sell it by quote or made to order and deliver worldwide. For international shipping, we pack every instrument; ask us about cases and insurance too.

We also service and repair any taus, wherever you bought it, worldwide. Strings and spare parts come from us as well. For help with your taus after the sale, ask us through the chat on any page or at [email protected]. For a gift voucher, a class set for a school or a flight case for travel, ask us too.

You can ask KalaSudha to book a taus player for a concert, event or recording. The taus belongs to Gurbani kirtan, the sung hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib, and carries over voices without amplification. Make your request on our page to book Indian classical musicians. Hear our artists first in KalaSudha's recordings and concert videos.