Swarmandal
स्वरमण्डल
The raga-tuned box zither that Hindustani singers play to accompany their own voice
The swarmandal is a plucked box zither of North India that Hindustani classical singers play to accompany their own voice, its strings tuned to the notes of each raga.
History & Evolution
Accounts of where the swarmandal came from disagree, and none settles the question. Charles Russell Day, writing in 1891, treated it as an Indian form of the qanun, a plucked zither, and placed it among the dulcimers found in Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, Egypt and Arabia, judging that the Indian and Arab forms differed little. He also reported a Hindu tradition that credits the sage Katyayana with such an instrument, called the Katyayana vina or Shatatantri (hundred-stringed) vina in Sanskrit treatises.
The Mughal and 19th-century sources place it in the hands of instrumentalists. Akbar's court had its own sarmandal player, and Day heard skilled solo playing. Neither source mentions singers. No source dates when singers took it up, and the earliest firm evidence of vocal use comes from the 20th century.
- Late 16th century
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Recorded at Akbar's court
Abu'l-Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari lists a sarmandal of 21 strings of steel, brass and gut among the stringed instruments, likens it to the qanun, and names Bir Mandal Khan of Gwalior as a court player. - 19th century
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Described as the Indian dulcimer
Sourindro Mohun Tagore's 1875 lexicon lists the suramandala or swaramandala as the Indian dulcimer. In 1891 Charles Russell Day finds it seldom met with, seen most among Punjabi musicians, with 21 strings tuned to the raga's scale; he blames its difficulty and high cost. - 20th century
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Heard on record
Bade Ghulam Ali Khan's thumri in raga Sohni, recorded for a 78 rpm disc and later issued by Odeon, lists surmandal, sarangi, tanpura and tabla among the accompaniment. The record is undated; the singer died in 1968. - 21st century
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On the concert stage
Concert photographs from Bhopal show Rashid Khan in 2015 and one of Rajan and Sajan Mishra in 2020 singing with a swarmandal, a tanpura on stage behind them. Darbar Festival reports Kaushiki Chakraborty accompanying her khayal on it in 2021.
Technical Aspects
Construction
String counts vary: 21 in the Ain-i-Akbari and Day's 1891 survey, 36 on catalogued instruments at the Horniman Museum and Tokyo University of the Arts. Each string runs from a pin row over fixed bridges to a wrest pin, a metal tuning pin turned with a key. Tuning beads threaded on the strings allow fine correction of pitch.
Playing Technique
Singers hold it on the lap, steadying it with one hand. Jasraj, photographed in 2008, held his upright against the chest; Rashid Khan, in 2015, laid his almost flat across crossed legs. A gentle sweep sounds the raga's notes as an arpeggio, one after another, often at the start of a piece. In 1891 C. R. Day described soloists who wore two wire plectra, small picks, on the fingertips and pressed an iron ring on the strings for ornaments.
Swarmandal and Tanpura
The tanpura holds a steady drone, a sustained background pitch, through the performance. The swarmandal sounds only when the singer strums it. Sources differ on its role: the Tokyo University of the Arts catalogue says it gives a drone for vocal music, while SwarGanga describes a raga-specific colour distinct from the tanpura's steady sound.
Journey to Mastery
Follow this structured journey to master this discipline
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Parts and Strings
Get to know your own instrument before you tune it. Count its strings, since the number differs from one swarmandal to the next, and find the wrest pins and the key or hammer that turns them. Check whether it carries sliding beads for fine tuning; many modern instruments do, and they change how you correct pitch.
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Raga Tuning
Tuning changes with every raga. No standard tuning exists: choose the raga's notes, repeat them across the octaves, set each string with the key and slide the beads for small corrections. Jasraj described tuning his swarmandal in the green room for a raga suited to the hour, so plan to tune before you sit down to sing.
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Hold and Strokes
Practise the sweep and the single pluck on their own, before you add the voice. Aim for a sweep that sounds each string of the raga in turn and a pluck that lands on the one string you mean. Keep both quiet enough to sit beneath a singing voice, and try the instrument both upright and flat on the lap.
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Playing while you sing
Now bring in the voice with a khayal. Open with a sweep before your first phrase, return to the strings softly as you sing, and pluck the note you are holding when you want to check your pitch against the string. Practise with a tanpura sounding as well, so you learn to place the swarmandal over its drone.
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Personal Style
Kishori Amonkar opened her concerts by striking her swarmandal to find the right note before the raga took hold. Jasraj sometimes set his aside on reaching the stage and sang a different raga from the one he had tuned. Listen to singers who used it, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan among them, and decide where it serves your own singing.