yazh (Ancient south-Indian harp)

~ String instrument

Description

Used by Dravidian Tamil from at least 2200 years ago, by the 7th century it had come into disuse. It had a curved ebony neck with gut strings above the skin covered resonator shaped like a boat, but there are versions shaped like peacocks, fish and even the monster Makara.

Annotation

there are many subforms of yazh catalogued in art and sculptures, for example:
peri yazh (21-29 stringed)
sakoda yazh (14 stringed) (boat)
makara yazh (19 stringed) (monster)
senkottu yazh (7 stringed)
Additionally there exists vil yazh (bow shaped), matsya yazh (fish shaped) and mayil yazh (peacock shaped).

Annotation last modified on 2025-10-11 21:56 UTC.

Relationships

from:South India
type of:harp
picture:https://static.metabrainz.org/irombook/yazh/yazh.png [info]
Wikidata:Q7083206 [info]
information page:https://chandrakantha.com/music-and-dance/instrumental-music/indian-instruments/yazh/ [info]
other databases:https://saisaibatake.ame-zaiku.com/musical_instrument/gakki_jiten_yazh_play.html [info]
https://saisaibatake.ame-zaiku.com/musical_instrument/gakki_jiten_yazh.html [info]