Abstract:
The string instrument, the Kandyan vina (Uḍaraṭa Vīṇā), once
portrayed in the book by John Davy as “Venah”, shares close
resemblance with the Coconut shell fiddle instruments in India, in
terms of their inherent form, structure, cultural peculiarities and
playing posture. Such similarities serve to confirm that the
prototypic musical instrument – the Kandyan vina, originated
from the Coconut shell fiddle instruments of India. According to
sources, the prototype instrument of the Kandyan vina arrived
with the gypsy groups who migrated to Sri Lanka from Andhra
Pradesh or Tamil Nadu during the Kandy period of 1600-1750 AD.
Since then, until 1980-1990 AD, the prototype instrument was
developed by the influence of the Western musical instruments
and musical intelligence, available material, creative methods
inherent in the aristocratic, villagers, beggars, Veddas, and gypsy
communities. Therefore, the rise of the Kandyan vina is proven to
have originated within Sri Lanka as a unique native string
instrument. Research objectives of this study are: firstly, to reintroduce a native string instrument according to its true historic
trails; secondly, a modern Kandyan vina is constructed using the
modified knowledge discovered through exploring the ancient
Kandyan vina instruments; and thirdly, to assimilate knowledge of
a musical instrument based on its historical literature and
archaeological data from an Archaeomusicological perspective.
With this in mind, Frescoes/murals, artefacts, legal documents
and primary books were used as the primary sources, while
journal articles and secondary books were used as secondary
sources.
