sitar

"The Sitar (three-string, on the left) is the favorite instrument of Upper India, and was re-introduced and perfected by the poet-musician Amir Khusru of Delhi in the thirteenth century. The Sitar in the center, with fiddle-shaped body, is the Sursanga, or Esrar without symphatetic strings, a bowed instrument combining the sitar with the Sarungi. The third instrument on the right, attached to two Gourds, is the Mahati or great Vina - known now as the "Been." It is the most ancient and finest Indian instrument.

A young Bengali woman playing a sitar; a photogravure by Martin Hurlimann, 1928