Talk:Ravanahatha

Proposed merger with Ravanastron
I don't think the idea can be considered until this article gets some verifiable references. Bob Burkhardt (talk) 18:02, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

material from Ravanastron before redirecting.
material from Ravanastron before redirecting.

Ravanastron or ravanahatha is an Indian stringed instrument played with a bow, used by wandering pilgrims, particularly in Gujarat and Rajasthan. A Hindu tradition affirms that the musical bow was invented before 3000 BC by Ravanon, king of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and that the instrument for which he invented it was named after him: Ravanastron.

Judging from precedent, it is probable that the ravanastron of the present day has changed little, if at all, for many centuries. It consists of half a round coconut shell or gourd, over which is fixed a sound-board of skin or parchment; to this primitive body without incurvation is attached a neck about twice the length of the body. The strings are either one or four in number, the pegs being set in the sides of the neck. The bridge is primitive and either straight or slightly arched, so that in bowing more than one string sounds at once, The ravanastron is regarded by some writers as the first ancestor of the violin, on account of the alleged invention of the bow for use with it. This theory can only be accepted by those who consider the bow, which after all was common to such inferior instruments as the rebec, as of paramount importance, and the structural features of the instrument itself, the box sound-chest with ribs, which have always belonged to the most artistic types of instruments, such as the cithara and the guitar fiddle, as of secondary importance.

Music Lanka request
on google when you type Dinesh subasinghe Ravanahatha https://www.google.lk/webhp?source=search_app#safe=off&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=dinesh+subasinghe+ravanahatha&oq=dinesh+subasinghe+ravan&gs_l=hp.1.0.35i39.2175.8692.1.10900.23.23.0.0.0.0.369.5476.0j4j17j2.23.0...0.0...1c.1.12.hp.dwpu6eVRuJ8&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.46340616,d.bmk&fp=85cea3a5b3d6e174&biw=1280&bih=605

subasinghe has introduced it back in 2007, and acording to many searchs many say he is the only modern composer who use it for commercial works, and he has done a change to it,sri lankan rawvana foloowers are witnessing about dinesh subasinghe's voyage on ravanahatha, so please insert a paragraph about this composer,

i have met this composer few times and watch his musical voyage,please help me to write his two main projects he has done on Ravanahatha and Oratorio,please send me an answer,regards  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Musiclanka (talk • contribs) 16:58, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * I have added a one-sentence mention of his use of the instrument, appropriately referenced, and without the extravagant claims, many of them obviously derived from the same press release(s). Readers who are interested in Subasinghe and his compositions can click on the links in the article. Any further elaboration in this article would be giving undue weight to this particular composer. Musiclanka, you have obviously met him more than "a few times". There are multiple photographs of this composer and images of his publicity posters in Wikimedia Commons, all of them uploaded by you in which you claim to have been the photographer/creator. Voceditenore (talk) 06:55, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

Engraved image on this page is mis-labeled. It's a Huqin or similar Chinese instrument.
Engraving from 19th century source shows a Chinese Huqin, not a Ravanastron. It has been mislabeled since first publication. Haploidavey (talk) 11:16, 27 August 2021 (UTC)