RBSE SS Sitar cheat sheet

The sitar descends from the Persian setar and the Indian tritantri vina; Amir Khusrau (13th c.) is traditionally credited with the three-string instrument that later acquired sympathetic strings and frets.

The modern concert sitar took shape in the 18th–19th centuries in North India, replacing the rudra vina as the dominant plucked instrument of Hindustani music.

The dominant stylistic lineage is the Imdadkhani (Etawah) gharana, founded by Imdad Khan and carried by Inayat Khan, Vilayat Khan and Imrat Khan; it emphasizes gayaki (vocal) phrasing and meend.

The Maihar gharana, associated with Allauddin Khan and his disciples Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee, blends sitar with sarod and orchestral thinking and favours long, structured alap.

The Jaipur and Senia lineages (e.g., Mushtaq Ali Khan) preserve dhrupad-adjacent, bin-style playing with heavier use of the rudra-vina idiom.

Ravi Shankar's international career after 1956 (including the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival) made the sitar a global instrument and standardised the tuning to C#.

Vilayat Khan is credited with developing the gayaki ang on sitar and with the design of the Vilayatkhani sitar, which has fewer sympathetic strings and a fuller bass.

Gharanas differ in ornamentation, string setup, and repertoire emphasis rather than in basic raga grammar; a sitarist may inherit one gharana but study ragas from several.

Main parts: tumba (gourd resonator), dandi (neck), tabli (soundboard), gulu (neck-resonator joint), meru (top nut), jawari (bridge), and tarafdar (sympathetic-string pegs).

A standard concert sitar has 6 or 7 playing strings and 11–13 sympathetic (taraf) strings; the Vilayatkhani model typically has 6 playing and 11 taraf strings.

Standard tuning (Ravi Shankar style, Sa = C#): playing strings to C#, G#, C#, F#, G#, C#; the seventh string, where present, is tuned to the lower octave.

Taraf strings are tuned to the notes of the raga being performed and are adjusted before each concert; incorrect taraf tuning produces dissonant resonance.

The jawari (bridge) curve controls buzz and sustain; a flat or worn bridge causes dead tone, and jawari filing is a specialist craft passed down within maker families.

Meend is produced by pulling the string laterally across the curved fret; the depth of the fret curve determines how far a note can be bent.

Maintenance: keep the instrument away from direct heat and low humidity, loosen strings for transport, and replace taraf strings individually rather than in sets.

Sitar strings are traditionally steel and bronze; the baj (melody) string is thicker and the jod and laraj strings provide drone and rhythmic support.

That is the ten-note parent scale system codified by V. N. Bhatkhande; the ten thats are Bilaval, Khamaj, Kafi, Asavari, Bhairavi, Bhairav, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi and Todi.

Jati classifies a raga by the number of notes in aroha and avaroha: odava (5), shadava (6) and sampurna (7); a raga may be audava-sampurna, shadava-shadava, etc.

Vadi is the sonant (principal) note of a raga; samvadi is the consonant note, usually a fourth or fifth from the vadi and sounded less frequently.

Anuvadi notes are supporting notes and vivadi notes are dissonant or excluded; the vadi–samvadi pair defines the raga's gravitational centre.

Aroha (ascending) and avaroha (descending) may use different note sets; e.g., raga Bhimpalasi omits Dha and Re in aroha but includes them in avaroha.

Vakra (crooked) ragas move in non-linear order, such as raga Bageshri's characteristic phrases; varja ragas omit a note entirely in one direction.

Pakad is a short, identifying phrase that fixes a raga's identity more reliably than its full scale; it is the practical test of raga recognition.

The vadi note is emphasized at the sam and in the nyasa (resting) points of alap; landing on samvadi instead signals a different raga or an error.

Laya is tempo: vilambit (slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast); laya is measured relative to the tala cycle, not to an absolute metronome value.

Common talas: Teental (16 matras, 4 vibhags), Jhaptal (10, 2+3+2+3), Rupak (7, 3+2+2), Ektal (12), Dhamar (14) and Ada Chautal (14).

Tali (clap) marks stressed vibhags; khali (wave) marks unstressed ones; sam is the first matra and the point of resolution.

Bhatkhande notation uses sargam letters (S R G M P D N) with a dot above for tar saptak, a dot below for mandra, and horizontal lines to divide vibhags.

Vishnu Digambar Paluskar notation uses similar sargam but different symbols for octave and duration, and is still used in some Maharashtra and Indore lineages.

Bhatkhande's notation places a cross (x) for sam, numbers for tali and a zero (0) for khali in the tala line above the composition.

Layakari is the art of deliberately varying laya against the tala while keeping the cycle intact; it is a mark of advanced accompaniment and solo work.

Tihai is a phrase repeated three times so that the final note lands on sam; it is the standard cadential device in sitar gat playing.

Yaman (Kalyan that): aroha S R G M(tivra) P D N S; vadi G, samvadi N; the tivra Ma and the phrase N R G R S are defining.

Bhairav (Bhairav that): komal Re and komal Dha in both directions; vadi Dha, samvadi Re; the slow oscillation (andolan) on komal Re is characteristic.

Bhoopali (Bilaval that, audava-audava): S R G P D S; vadi G, samvadi D; no Ma or Ni, and the phrase G P D P G R S identifies it.

Bhimpalasi (Kafi that): aroha N S G M P N S omitting Re and Dha; avaroha includes them; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; the phrase M P N S is typical.

Bageshri (Kafi that): komal Ga and komal Ni; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; the vakra phrase D N S G M G R S distinguishes it from Bhimpalasi.

Malkauns (Bhairavi that, audava-audava): S G M D N S with komal Ga, Dha and Ni; vadi Ma, samvadi Sa; the phrase G M D N S is the pakad.

Darbari Kanada (Asavari that): komal Ga, Dha and Ni with vakra avaroha; vadi Re, samvadi Pa; the phrase S R G M R S with a heavy komal Ga is characteristic.

Chalan is the practical melodic movement of a raga in performance, which may differ from the bare aroha-avaroha printed in textbooks.

Gat is the instrumental fixed composition in a tala, played after alap-jod-jhala; it has a sthayi and an antara and is expanded with improvisation.

Masitkhani gat is in vilambit laya, usually Teental, and is named after Masit Khan (18th c.); it uses long, sustained strokes and a slow, spacious gait.

Razakhani gat is in drut laya, attributed to Raza Khan, and uses fast strokes, dense bol patterns and frequent tihai.

Firozkhani gat, associated with Firoz Khan, is a medium-tempo variant that sits between masitkhani and razakhani.

Gat bols on sitar are derived from stroke names: da, ra, dir, dra, and the drone strings are struck on specific matras to mark the tala.

Tarana is a composition using meaningless syllables (nom, tom, dere, na, dim) rather than poetry; it is set in drut laya and often follows a gat.

Sargam gat sets the composition in sargam syllables instead of bols; it is used to display raga grammar and is common in the Maihar lineage.

A gat's antara typically moves into the upper octave and returns to sam; the return point is where tihai and layakari are placed.

Alap is unmetered, improvised raga exposition beginning in the mandra saptak and gradually ascending; it establishes the vadi and pakad before any tala enters.

Jod introduces a pulse without a tala cycle, using regular strokes on the jod string; it is the bridge between alap and jhala.

Jhala is the fast, rhythmic climax played on the laraj string with alternating strokes, usually in drut laya and often before the gat.

In the Imdadkhani and Maihar traditions the order is alap–jod–jhala–gat; some players begin with a short alap then move directly to gat.

Tala accompaniment on tabla requires the sitarist to signal sam clearly; the tabla player follows the gat's theka and fills the gaps with laggi and tihai.

The sitarist marks sam by landing on the vadi or a resolution note; missing sam in vilambit is the most audible ensemble error.

Layakari in performance includes barabar (equal), dugun (double), tigun (triple) and chaugun (quadruple) subdivisions of the tala matra.

In jugalbandi the sitar and tabla (or a second melody instrument) alternate phrases; the sitarist must leave space and re-enter on sam.

Imdad Khan (1848–1920) founded the Imdadkhani gharana and is credited with transferring the gayaki style to the sitar.

Inayat Khan (1894–1938) spread the sitar to the West through recordings and tours; his brother Vilayat Khan became the leading sitarist of the 20th century.

Vilayat Khan (1928–2004) developed gayaki ang on sitar, designed the Vilayatkhani sitar, and composed gats widely used by later players.

Ravi Shankar (1920–2012) popularised the sitar globally, composed film scores and concertos, and standardised tuning to C#.

Nikhil Banerjee (1931–1986) was known for long, meditative alap and a distinctive jawari tone; he was a disciple of Allauddin Khan.

Mushtaq Ali Khan (1911–1989) preserved the Senia bin-style sitar idiom and resisted commercial simplification of the instrument.

Budhaditya Mukherjee and Shahid Parvez are contemporary players carrying the Imdadkhani lineage into the present.

Anoushka Shankar, a disciple of Ravi Shankar, extended the sitar into crossover and film music in the 21st century.