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Veena (also spelled vina and veene) is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family.

The design of the veena has evolved over the years, probably from the form seen in Indian Medieval paintings and temple sculpture: a string instrument with two gourd resonators connected by a central shaft, possibly of bamboo, and held diagonally from lap to shoulder. The North Indian rudra veena and vichitra veena, technically zithers, demonstrate this genealogy. The South Indian or Sarswati veena was developed in the 1600s. About four feet in length, its design consists of a large resonator (kudam) carved and hollowed out of a log (usually of jackwood), a tapering hollow neck (dandi) topped with 24 brass or bell-metal frets set in scalloped black wax on wooden tracks, and a tuning box culminating in a downward curve and an ornamental dragon's head (yali). A small table-like wooden bridge (kudurai)--c. 2x2 1/2x 2 inches--is topped by a convex brass plate glued in place with resin. Two rosettes, formerly of ivory, now of plastic or horn, are on the top board (palakai) of the resonator. Four main playing strings tuned to the tonic and the fifth in two octaves (for example Bþ - Eþ (below bass clef) - Bþ - Eþ (in bass clef) stretch from fine tuning connectors attached to the end of the resonator. across the bridge and above the fretboard to four large-headed pegs in the tuning box.Three subsidiary drone strings tuned to tonic, fifth, and upper tonic (Eb - Bb- Eb in the tuning given above) cross a curving side bridge leaning against the main bridge and stretch on the player's side of the neck to three pegs matching those of the main playing strings. All seven strings today are of music wire, the lower strings often wound like those of the lower strings of a guitar.

The veena is played by sitting cross-legged with the instrument held tilted slightly away from the player. The small gourd on the left rests on the player's left thigh, the left arm passing beneath the neck with the hand curving up and around so that the fingers rest upon the frets. The palm of the right hand rests on the edge of the top plank so that the fingers (usually index and middle) can pluck the strings. The drone strings are played with the little finger. The veena's large resonator is placed on the floor, beyond the the right thigh. The photo of Veena Dhanammal more accurately illustrates how the veena is held than the more fanciful Ravi Varma painting.

Like the sitar the left hand technique involves playing on the frets, controlled pulling on the strings to achieve higher tones and glissandi through increased tension, and finger flicks, all to reflect the characteristics of various ragas and their ornamentation (gamaka). Modern innovations include a circular sound hole (like that of the guitar), substitution of machineheads for pegs for easier tuning, and the widespread use of contact microphones in performance. Unfortunately, contact mikes (often combined with poor amplification systems) greatly distort the remarkable acoustics of the veena and its rich mix of overtones.

The chromatic distribution of frets (12 to the octave) points to a possible adoption of the fretting of the guitar, which had certainly been brought to India by the 17th century by the Portuguese.

The patron Hindu goddess of learning and the arts, Sri Saraswati, is often depicted seated upon a swan or peacock playing a veena. According to legend the demon-king Ravana and the monkey-god Hanuman were great veena players.

Some other variations of the veena are the Rudra veena, Mahanataka veena, Vichitra veena, and Gottuvadhyam veena (also called the Chitra veena). Mohana veena is the name given to a modified form of guitar, invented and pouplarised by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and often confused with ancient Indian musical instruments.

• Chitti Babu
• S. Balachander
• Pappu Chandrasekhar
• Veena Dhanammal
• Ranganayaki Rajagopalan
• Kalpakam Swaminathan
• E. Gayathri
• Devakottai Narayana Iyengar
• Doraiswamy Iyengar
• Veena Julapalli
• Karaikkudi Brothers - Sambasiva Iyer & Subbarama Iyer
• Jayanthi Kumaresh
• Emani Kalyani Lakshminarayana
• N. Muralikrishnan
• R. Pichchumani
• Dr. Krishna Raghavendra
• Ayyagari Someswara Rao
• Pappu Someswara Rao
• N. Ravikiran
• M. K. Saraswathi
• Emani Sankara Shastri
• Veene Sheshanna
• Tanjavur K. P. Sivanandam
• Veena Subbanna
• Ayyagari Syamasundaram
• Anandapadmanabhan Thampi
• Rajesh Vaidhya
• Veena Venkatagiriappa
• Veena Venkatakrishnappa
• R. Vishweshwaran

• Various versions of the veena
• Entry on Musical Nirvana
• Detailed article on the veena
• Online Music Education- Article on Shruti Veena, theories and discussion
• Online Music Education- Article on Other Veena-s, theories and discussion
• Beenkar Suvir Misra - A Versatile Vainika from the Hindustani Khayal Tradition.

• Veena video from Robert Garfias site
• Online Music Education - Video clip of Vichitra veena
• Saraswati Veena in Hindustani Khayal Video of Beenkar Suvir Misra playing Saraswati Veena in Hindustani Khayal Style.
• Rudra Veena Video A Rudra Veena Concert - Raga Malgunji.