At the heart of many of the world’s musical instruments is the same, simple component—a string stretched tight between two points. Plucked, bowed, or struck, each of an instrument’s strings creates ...

Perumpanattrupadai, a Sangam work by Kadiyalur Uruttirankannanar, narrates a scene in which a shepherd (Idayan) plays a bow-shaped instrument, made of the branches of Kumizh, known as Gmelina asiatica ...