The sarod, played by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, is believed to have been developed from which instrument?

Explanation

The sarod is believed to have developed from the Afghan rabab, a plucked string instrument with a skin-covered body, which was brought to India by Afghan soldiers and musicians. The ancestors of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who belonged to the Bangash family of Afghan origin, are credited with shaping the rabab into the modern sarod.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was born in 1945 in Gwalior. He is the son and disciple of Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, a great sarod player and court musician of Gwalior. His family belongs to the Senia-Bangash gharana and has played the sarod for several generations. Amjad Ali Khan began performing as a child and became one of the most celebrated sarod players in the world. He is known for his sweet and lyrical style, in which the sarod sings like a human voice, and he has created several new ragas. He has performed at major concert halls across the world and has worked with Western musicians and orchestras. He founded the Sarod Ghar, a museum of musical instruments, in his ancestral home in Gwalior. He received the Padma Shri (1975), the Padma Bhushan (1991) and the Padma Vibhushan (2001). His sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, are also sarod players.

The sarod is a fretless string instrument. It has a wooden body covered with goatskin, a metal fingerboard and sympathetic strings, and it is played with a plectrum made of coconut shell (java). Because it has no frets, the player can glide smoothly between notes. Other famous sarod players include Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Pandit Radhika Mohan Maitra and Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Sarangi is a bowed string instrument, linked with Ram Narayan.
• ✗Santoor is a hammered string instrument from Kashmir, linked with Shivkumar Sharma.
• ✗Veena is the ancient stringed instrument of India, linked especially with Carnatic music.