Pinaka vina
The pināka vīnā (Hindi: पिनाक pinnak + Hindi: वीणा veena) was an Indian musical instrument, a musical bow that was itself played with a bow. It has also been transliterated pinaki vina and pinak.
"The essential difference between this instrument and the been is that, in the place of chords it has but one string of wire, strongly stretched. To draw out the sound, a bow like that of a bass is prest upon this chord, at the same time that another part of it is struck or rubbed with a little stick.
It appeared similar to the rudra veena (also called "bīn" or "been"), with a long bar held over the musician's shoulder and resting on the ground, with large gourds attached at each end for resonators. However, where the rudra veena has multiple strings and frets, the pinaka vina had only one string made of wire and no frets. Where the rudra veena was a stick zither (with a straight and rigid bar for the instrument's body), the pinaka vīnā was a musical bow (its body a long stick turned up at each end).
The instrument was sounded with a bow. The musician chose notes with a stick held against the strings, able to slide it up and down on the string, in the same way a bottle slides on a slide guitar's strings.
- Ragaputra Sarang painting, from Bundi, showing "The Divine Musician plays a pinaki vīnā."
- A bīn or kuplyans in Solvyn's 1799 publication. Plucked stick zither with two strings. The word kuplyans is "limited to Bengal."
- 1808-1812. Illustration of a bīn, labeled "qaplious". Plucked stick zither.
- India, 1807. Pinak, a bowed musical bow.