Taus
ताऊस
Bowed strings in a carved peacock body, heard in Sikh kirtan and raga music
The taus, or mayuri veena, is a bowed, fretted instrument from North India with a peacock-shaped body, played in Sikh Gurmat Sangeet and in Hindustani raga music.
History & Evolution
Sikh tradition credits the taus to Guru Hargobind (1595-1644), the sixth Guru. The best-documented telling comes from the taus player Avtar Singh (1925-2006): a peacock cried while the Guru and his Sikhs sang outdoors, the resting stringed instruments resonated with it, and the Guru asked for an instrument that joined the two sounds. No written record from the Gurus' period documents the invention, and some sources name Guru Gobind Singh instead.
The oldest dated instruments come from the 19th century, and European museums were acquiring them by the 1880s. The Victoria and Albert Museum states that the taus emerged from the Punjab region and became popular in northern and central India, where it accompanied courtly dance. At the Patiala court, Gajja Singh (c. 1850-1914) made his name on the taus with alap and with jhala, a pattern of fast repeated strokes.
A common account, told as tradition, says Guru Gobind Singh had the lighter dilruba made so soldiers could carry it on horseback.
- 17th Century
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Traditional Origin
In Sikh tradition Guru Hargobind (1595-1644) asked for an instrument that would join the resonance of strings with a peacock's call. The account was given by the taus player Avtar Singh in an oral history recorded in 2003.
- Late 17th Century
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Dilruba Development
Sikh tradition holds that Guru Gobind Singh had the smaller dilruba made from the taus, light enough for mounted soldiers to carry.
- 19th Century
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Court and Concert Use
The oldest dated taus come from the 19th century, when the instrument was played at Indian courts. Gajja Singh (c. 1850-1914), a Sikh devotional and classical musician at the Patiala court, became famous for his taus playing. - 20th century to present
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Rarity and Preservation
In the early 20th century the dilruba and esraj took over most of the taus's role, and taus making almost stopped after 1949. Avtar Singh took it up again in 2005, and in 2024 it entered a UK eight-grade exam syllabus.
Technical Aspects
Peacock Resonator
A taus is built of carved wood, painted and lacquered in the form of a peacock, with peacock feathers set into the tail. A skin membrane stretched over the top of the bird's body forms the soundboard: museum records list it as parchment or animal skin, and the Gurmat Sangeet Academy in Birmingham specifies goatskin. A bridge of bone or ivory stands on this skin and carries the strings. One teaching source says the body is carved from a single piece of wood.
The fingerboard neck rises from the bird's back. The peacock's own head and neck form a separate piece at the front of the body. On some instruments this piece lifts off, and on others, such as the example at Yale, it is hinged and swings forward to give access to the strings.
Western museum catalogues read the peacock as the bird of Sarasvati, goddess of music and learning. That reading belongs to the museums; the Sikh origin story told in the history section ties the bird to the instrument's sound.
Fretted Neck
The taus has curved metal frets tied to a long neck, and players move them to adjust pitch. Surviving instruments carry between 14 and 22 frets: 14 on the Yale example, 15 at the Penn Museum, 20 in the Hartenberger collection and 22 on an Edinburgh instrument, which clamps its frets with wing bolts. The movable frets follow the pattern of the sitar.
The left hand stops the strings at the frets with the forefinger and middle finger and slides along the neck to glide between notes, a technique called meend. The same fretted, bowed design runs through the dilruba and the esraj, and playing technique is similar across the three. The taus is the larger instrument, with a lower range than either.
Sympathetic Strings
A taus has four main metal strings and a set of metal sympathetic strings, which the player does not bow. They vibrate in response to the bowed melody. Catalogued instruments carry between 14 and 20: 14 at Yale, 15 at Würzburg, in the Hartenberger collection and on one Horniman example, and 20 on a second Horniman instrument. The Würzburg taus also has five auxiliary strings.
The sympathetic strings pass through holes in the bridge and run to pegs set along the side of the neck, often on a separate batten. Players retune them to suit the raga they are about to perform.
Journey to Mastery
Follow this structured journey to master this discipline
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Posture and basic technique
The player sits cross-legged on the floor, with the base of the taus on the ground and the neck over the left shoulder; one teaching source describes it resting between the knees. The right hand draws a horsehair bow across the main strings. Start with long, slow strokes on one note and listen for the deep tone, with the sympathetic strings ringing in answer.
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Frets and Intonation
Set the movable frets for the raga you are learning, then stop each note at its fret with the forefinger and middle finger, sliding along the neck between positions. Retune the sympathetic strings for each raga you play.
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Meend and Jhala
Learners work on meend, glides between notes, towards the voice-like raga line that Darbar hears in the taus. Then they try jhala, the fast rhythmic figure of sitar and vina playing. Gajja Singh (c. 1850-1914) produced it on the taus, adapting technique from his teacher's vina, surbahar and sitar.
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Gurmat sangeet repertoire
Learners accompany a singer in shabad kirtan, the singing of hymns (shabads) from the Guru Granth Sahib, following the raga set for each hymn. The scripture specifies 31 ragas for its verses. Most tanti saaz players, among them the Jalandhar taus player Sandeep Singh, work both as soloists and as accompanists to ragis, the professional kirtan singers.
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Alap and solo raga
The learner now plays a raga alone, opening with alap and developing it without a singer to follow. Listen first to a solo model, such as Sandeep Singh's recording of the early-morning Raag Ahir Bhairav, made on location in India, then shape your own alap.