Four instruments · Web Audio · no samples

स्वरSwara

Every sound here is synthesised in the browser — the strings, the reed, the breath, the drums. Move across an instrument to sound it, hold on to keep a swara under your hand, or let each one play its own thirty seconds.

Sound on. Headphones recommended.

सितारSitar

Raag Bhairavi/Rasa karuna — melancholy

Move across the strings to strum Hold a string to keep it Pull along the neck to bend it Click away to let go

Plucked. Struck once, the tarab strings behind the frets answer on their own.

बाँसुरीBansuri

Raag Yaman/Rasa shanta — stillness

Move along the bamboo to sound it Hold to keep the swara Pull across it for fuller breath Click away to let go

One length of bamboo, six holes, no keys. Closed at the foot it sounds Sa; the last stop before the lip is overblown to the octave.

सारंगीSarangi

Raag Bhairav/Rasa bhakti — devotion

Move along the strings to bow Hold to keep the swara Pull across for a heavier bow Click away to let go

Bowed, fretless, stopped with the fingernails. Of all these, the one said to come closest to the human voice.

शहनाईShehnai

Raag Bilawal/Rasa mangal — rejoicing

Move along the pipe to sound it Hold to keep the swara Pull across to lean on the reed Click away to let go

Double reed, played at weddings and at dawn. A mangal vadya: an instrument of good omen.

Move across the instrument