Bansuri

A bansuri is an ancient side blown flute. It comes from India and Nepal. The flute is an aerophone created from bamboo and a material similar to metal. It is used in many nepali songs.

Bansuri

Other names	Baanhi, Baashi, Bansi, Basari, Murali
Classification	woodwind instrument
Playing range
2.5 octaves (six-hole), 3 octaves (seven-hole)
Musicians
List of Indian flautists

Krishna with a bansuri is sometimes referred to as Venugopal.

A bansuri is traditionally made from a single piece of bamboo. The piece is hollow and has seven finger holes. Modern bansuri can be made with ivory, fiberglass and different metals. A bansuri with six holes cab play two and a half octaves of music. The flute is normally between 30–75 cm (12–30 in) in length. It is about as thick as a person's thumb.^[1][2] One end of the flute is closed. The blowhole is a few centimeters from the closed end. Longer bansuris play deeper tones and lower pitches.^[1] The early designs have no mechanical keys. The musician makes the notes they want by covering and uncovering finger holes.^[1][3]

The bansuri-like flute is seen in paintings in very old Buddhist,^[4] Hindu^[5] and Jain temples. They are common in the iconography of the Hindu god Krishna.^[6][7] The bansuri is the divine instrument of Lord Krishna. The instrument is also common among other traditions such as Shaivism.^[8]

References

1. Ashok Damodar Ranade 2006, pp. 284–286. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAshok_Damodar_Ranade2006 (help)
2. Bettina Bäumer; Kapila Vatsyayan (1988). Kalatattvakosa: A Lexicon of Fundamental Concepts of the Indian Arts. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 181. ISBN 978-81-208-1402-8.
3. Dorothea E. Hast; James R. Cowdery; Stanley Arnold Scott (1999). Exploring the World of Music: An Introduction to Music from a World Music Perspective. Kendall Hunt. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-7872-7154-1.
4. Patricia E. Karetzky (2000). Early Buddhist Narrative Art: Illustrations of the Life of the Buddha from Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan. University Press of America. pp. 44, 60. ISBN 978-1-4617-4027-8.
5. Alice Boner (1990). Principles of Composition in Hindu Sculpture: Cave Temple Period. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 157–163, 186–187. ISBN 978-81-208-0705-1.
6. Pratapaditya Pal; Stephen P. Huyler; John E. Cort; et al. (2016). Puja and Piety: Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Art from the Indian Subcontinent. Univ of California Press. pp. 37–38, 47–49, 59–60. ISBN 978-0-520-28847-8.
7. Martinez 2001, pp. xxvii–xxviii, 325, 342. sfn error: no target: CITEREFMartinez2001 (help)
8. Dalal 2014, p. 28, see entry for Shiva-dedicated saint Anaya. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDalal2014 (help)
9. Jaap Kunst (2013). Hindu-Javanese Musical Instruments. Springer. pp. 25–26. ISBN 978-94-011-9185-2.