The Sitar is perhaps the best-known and most popular classical instrument from India. Initially known as Tri–Tantri Veena (3–stringed instrument) in the Vedic times, the Sitar is believed to have been re-modelled and
re-christened (as “SITAR”) by Amir Khusru,
the Persian poet–musician in the middle ages.

Since then the Sitar has survived centuries, grown in popularity and gone through structural changes to assume its present form – that of a 20–stringed instrument with a wooden stem and a gourd (a vegetable grown in India) shell for its sound box.