Thanjavur Veena to be first Indian instrument to get 'made in Thanjavur' tag

For long, musicians playing the Thanjavur veena made news. Now the veena and the artisans of Tamil Nadu have a chance. According to The Hindu, the veena is likely to get a ‘Geographical Indication’ registration, making it the first musical instrument to get such a registration in the country. Goods having specific geographical origin and possessing “distinct qualities, reputation or characteristics essentially attributable to that place of origin” are usually given the GI tag. The registration will help the famous veena get the tag ‘Made in Thanjavur’. [caption id=“attachment_545961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The body of the Thanjavur Veena is painted and engraved with delicate wood work, which usually consists of picture of god and goddess, motifs of flowers or birds.[/caption] Such a recognition would prevent the misuse of its name/reputation. Chinnaraja G Naidu, Assistant Registrar of Trade Marks and GI Registry told The Hindu that for the first time his registry had received application for registration of a musical instrument. According to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) attorney P Sanjay Gandhi, who has obtained GI tags for a record 10 products unique to the state, the GI protection for Thanjavur Veena is to be given in favour of the Thanjavur Musical Instruments Workers Cooperative Cottage Industrial Society Limited, reported Times of India. The veena’s history records back to the Vedic times. Identified with goddess Saraswati, the veena also finds mention in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.  But the current form of the Saraswathi Veena with 24 fixed frets evolved in Thanjavur during the reign of Raghunath Nayak. The veena is about four feet in length consisting of a large resonator (kudam), a wooden bridge (kudurai), a tapering hollow neck (dandi) and a small resonator. And is it unique to Thanjavur because the instrument is made from a particular strain of matured jack fruit tree found only in that area. In Chennai, the creation of sabhas attracted a lot of musicians. But with the disintegration of feudalism in Thanjavur, temples there fell on bad days and lack of patronage forced musicians to migrate to cities in search of career avenues Today, there are few musicians in the district, and only festivals and concerts serve as reminders of the days when music flourished in every village. The only link between music and Thanjavur was carried forward by the makers of the musical instruments. The craftsmanship in making the instrument was handed over from one generation to the other of Viswakarmas. But gradually, the younger generation stopped coming forward. And today, even less than 100 artisans in Thanjavur are involved in the profession. If granted, Thanjavur Veena would become the 19th product to obtain GI recognition from Tamil Nadu. And maybe, this would encourage many many craftsmen across the country.