In the later Samhitās and the Brāhmaṇas denotes a ‘lute.’ A Vīṇā-vāda, ‘lute-player,’ is included in the list of victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda, and is also mentioned elsewhere. The Aitareya Áraṇ- yaka, which states that the instrument was once covered with a hairy skin, enumerates its parts as śiras, ‘head ’ (i.e., neck); Udara, ‘cavity’; Ambhaαa, ‘sounding board’; Tantra, ‘string’; and Vādana, ‘ plectrum.’ In the śatapatha Brāhmaṇa6 the Uttaramandrā is either a tune or a kind of lute. Cf. Vāṇa.
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