Editing Sitar (section)

== History ==

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| image2            = Painting of a woman with a sitar.jpg
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| caption2          = 19th-century sitar with 4 strings
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| alt3              = 19th-century sitar with 6 strings
| caption3          = 19th-century sitar. This instrument does not have sympathetic strings.
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It was theorized that the sitar was invented, or rather developed by [[Amir Khusrow]] ({{c.}}&nbsp;1253–1325), a famous [[Sufi]] inventor, poet and pioneer of [[Khyal]], [[Tarana]] and [[Qawwali]], during the 13th century.<ref name="grove">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments |publisher=MacMillan Press Limited |place=London |date=1984 |editor=Stanley Sadie |pages=392–400 |isbn=0-943818-05-2 |entry=Setār |author1=Alastair Dick}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Kapoor |first1=Subodh |title=The Indian Encyclopaedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__uUoaurFisC&pg=PA2988 |page=2988 |year=2002 |publisher=Cosmo Publications |isbn=9788177552676}}.</ref><ref name="calcutta" /><ref name=":2">{{cite book |author=Allyn Miner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nPHTCS8vfUC&dq=Tritantri+vina&pg=PA17 |title=Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=2004 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |pages=17–24 |isbn=9788120814936}}</ref> However, the tradition of Amir Khusrow is considered discredited by scholars.<ref>{{cite book |author=Allyn Miner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nPHTCS8vfUC&dq=Tritantri+vina&pg=PA17 |title=Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=2004 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |pages=17–24 |isbn=9788120814936 |quote=Popular books on music nearly all recount this story. Admit Khusrau's role in the creation of the sitar in India has gradually been discredited by historians, but social motivations and the tenacity of the tradition cause the idea to persist...}}</ref> Whatever instruments he might have played, no record exists from this period using the name "sitar".<ref name="calcutta">{{cite book |author=James Sadler Hamilton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JP5Wzqq7I80C |title=Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1994 |isbn=9788120812109 |page=50 |quote=Due to the absence of any mention of the sitar in the writings of Amir Khusrau (1285-1351) or in those of his contemporaries it is unlikely that any musical instrument with this name existed at that time.}}</ref> An ambiguous statement made in a 19th century work by Captain N. Augustus Willard may have resulted in the incorrect association of the renowned poet Amir Khusrau with a later individual, potentially named Khusrau Khan, who lived during the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miner |first=Allyn |url=http://archive.org/details/sitarsarodin18th00mine |title=Sitar and sarod in the 18th and 19th centuries |date=1997 |publisher=Delhi : Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |others=The Archive of Contemporary Music |isbn=978-81-208-1299-4}}</ref>

The earliest mention of Sitar dates back to 1739 AD. The "''Muraqqa-i-Dehli''", written by Dargah Quli Khan during the reign of [[Muhammad Shah Rangila]], gives the earliest reference to the sitar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kasliwal |first=Suneera |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVsUAQAAIAAJ&q=sitar+1739+earliest+reference |title=Classical Musical Instruments |date=2001 |publisher=Rupa |isbn=978-81-291-0425-0 |language=en}}</ref> Oral and textual evidence analysed by historians indicate that an eighteenth-century figure of the Mughal court, named Khusrau Khan originated the sitar from the small persian three-stringed [[setar]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miner |first=Allyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nPHTCS8vfUC&dq=khusrau+khan+sitar&pg=PA21 |title=Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=2004 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1493-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vedabala |first=Samidha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhwzEAAAQBAJ&dq=khusrau+khan+sitar&pg=PA11 |title=Sitar Music: The Dynamics of Structure and its playing Techniques |date=2021-06-14 |publisher=Wizard Publisher |isbn=978-93-91013-13-4 |language=en}}</ref> In the late Mughal Empire, the instrument began to take on its modern shape. The neck got wider. The bowl, which had been made of glued lathes of wood was now made of gourd, with metal frets and a bone [[nut (instrument)|nut]] on the neck.<ref name=grove/> Masid Khan added two more strings to the sitar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caudhurī |first=Vimalakānta Rôya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQWLa--IHjIC&q=%22who+throughly+renovated+the%22&pg=PA64 |title=The Dictionary of Hindustani Classical Music |date=2000 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1708-1 |language=en}}</ref> The modern seven string sitar was created by [[Allauddin Khan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lavezzoli |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSZKCXtx-wEC&q=%22stringed+model+was+created+by%22&pg=PA30 |title=The Dawn of Indian Music in the West |date=2006-04-24 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-1815-9 |language=en}}</ref> Sympathetic strings on sitar were first added by [[Ustad Imdad Khan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vedabala |first=Samidha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhwzEAAAQBAJ&q=sympathetic+string+imdad+khan&pg=PA78 |title=Sitar Music: The Dynamics of Structure and its playing Techniques |date=2021-06-14 |publisher=Wizard Publisher |isbn=978-93-91013-13-4 |language=en}}</ref> The earliest compositional style specifically for the sitar emerged in the mid-eighteenth century, attributed to Firoz Khan, who was either the son or nephew of Khusrau Khan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raja |first=Deepak S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xUg6EAAAQBAJ&dq=khusrau+khan+amir+Khusraw+sitar&pg=PT58 |title=Hindustani Music Today |date=2021-02-01 |publisher=DK Printworld (P) Ltd |isbn=978-81-246-1126-5 |language=en}}</ref>

Another, discredited hypothesis is that the sitar is derived from locally developed Indian instruments, such as the [[veena]], prior to the arrival of Islam. Proponents of this hypothesis claim that Indian temple sculptures from the 9th and 10th centuries feature sitar-like instruments.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miner |first=Allyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nPHTCS8vfUC&dq=sitar+representing+19th+century+ideas+that&pg=PA18 |title=Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=April 2004 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1493-6 |language=en}}</ref> However, according to author Samidha Vedabala, a researcher and professor of music at Sikkim University, none of the instruments depicted in these sculptures precisely resemble the sitar, and neither the word "sitar" nor any local equivalent appears in any texts referring to these instruments. So its authenticity is in the absolute dark.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vedabala |first=Samidha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhwzEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22So+its+authenticity+is+in+the+absolute+dark%22&pg=PA9 |title=Sitar Music: The Dynamics of Structure and its playing Techniques |date=2021-06-14 |publisher=Wizard Publisher |isbn=978-93-91013-13-4 |language=en}}</ref> According to Allyn Miner, the evidence for this hypothesis is too weak for any conclusion and these hypotheses represent a prominent yet obsolete late 19th-century idea: that many of India's modern cultural innovations are actually products of pre-Muslim Sanskritic traditions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Miner |first=Allyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nPHTCS8vfUC&q=Too+weak+conclusion |title=Sitar and Sarod in the 18th and 19th Centuries |date=April 2004 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=978-81-208-1493-6 |language=en}}</ref> According to Alastair Dick, the "modern view that&nbsp;... invading Muslims simply changed into Persian the name of an existing Hindu instrument&nbsp;... has no historical or musical foundation".<ref name="grove" /> Other scholars have contested the veena origin hypotheses of the sitar by pointing out that proponents of these hypotheses select the number of strings as the primary criterion in coming to their conclusions. Additionally, they attempt to trace the sitar back to a known Indian musical instrument with a Sanskrit name, while acknowledging that there is no evidence for the existence of long-necked lutes in the Indian subcontinent prior to the era of Muslim expansion into the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=James Sadler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JP5Wzqq7I80C&dq=The+information+above%2C+confirms+the+statement+made+earlier%2C+that+there+is+no+evidence+for+the+existence+of+long-necked+lutes+in+the+Indian+sub-continent+prior+to+the+era+of+Muslim+expansion&pg=PA51 |title=Sitar Music in Calcutta: An Ethnomusicological Study |date=1994 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publisher |isbn=978-81-208-1210-9 |language=en}}</ref>