Matang first installed the frets on which Veena?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

The correct answer is the **Kinnari Veena**. This question addresses a foundational moment in the history of Indian music theory and instrumental music. Acharya Matang Muni, the illustrious musicologist and author of the *Brihaddeshi* (circa 9th century AD), is historically credited with the pivotal innovation of installing *parda* or frets on a Veena. Prior Veenas were fretless, relying on the musician's microtonal precision. Matang purposefully placed fixed metallic frets on the Kinnari Veena to establish the precise, fixed positions of the seven *Shuddha* (natural) and seven *Vikrit* (altered) notes within an octave. This monumental change provided a tangible, physical method for musicians to demonstrate the concept of *Mela* (parent scales or Thaat), making the Kinnari Veena the first definitively fretted instrument in the classical tradition.

The incorrect option is 2:
Chitra Veena is incorrect because it was a well-known ancient instrument that was fundamentally **unfretted**. It was typically a seven-stringed stick zither played by pressing the strings directly against the wooden fingerboard. The Chitra Veena was instrumental in the practice of the ancient *Shruti* system, where subtle microtonal variations were paramount, and thus the fixed nature of frets would have been counterproductive to its use. Its design represents the older, purely fretless tradition that Matang's innovation sought to modernize.

The incorrect option is 3:
Ghoshwati Veena is incorrect. This name is highly revered, often associated with the *Saptatantri Veena* and believed to be the instrument played by Goddess Saraswati. As an instrument of divine and early music practice, the Ghoshwati Veena was, like the Chitra Veena, generally **fretless** in the ancient and early medieval periods. It was designed to produce the subtle notes of the *Gramas* and *Murchhanas* through direct finger pressure and was therefore not the canvas for Matang's new system of fixed fretting.

The incorrect option is 4:
Nishank Veena is incorrect. This name does not feature prominently in the seminal musicological texts of the early medieval period when Matang lived and wrote. The term is generally considered to be a later development or an alternate name associated with the Rudra Veena or similar fretted instruments that came into vogue *after* the initial innovation. Thus, the Nishank Veena was a beneficiary of the fretting principle, but not the original instrument on which the frets were first installed by Matang Muni.