Though I have attempted to get precise information with regard to the difference between sarod gats and sitar gats, I have not succeeded. I have also heard an opinion that there is no difference. Keeping in view that though both the instruments are plucking instruments, the technique of actual music making differs as follows:
a. Whilst sitar has a fret board with frets, sarod does not have any frets and the musician is obliged to identify correct notes from the plain surface.
b. The plucking of strings in sitar is with a mizrab, while sarod players use, what is called, jawa.
c. Further, what is ‘da’ in sitar is infact ‘ra’ of the sarod. This is because the outgoing stroke of a jawa of sarod is from the inside to the outside of the string (in a sense, like the forehand of a tennis player). The inward stroke is relatively weak, hence the outward stroke in sarod is called ‘da’, while the inward stroke is called ‘ra’. On the other hand, in sitar, the inward stroke, which is the main stroke, is called as ‘da’ and the outward stroke is called ‘ra’. In other words, ‘da’ and ‘ra’ of both these instruments are different.
d. With this background, I tried to analyse the difference between the gats of these two instruments after hearing as many gats of sarod as possible. I found the following differences:
i. Sitar gats use the bol ‘dir’ extensively, while sarod gats use the bol ‘dra’ in many of the gats.
ii. I have noticed that sarod gats are relatively longer than sitar gats.
iii. Main line (mukhda) of the sarod gat takes several avartans to complete. In many of the sitar gats, the main line are completed in one avartan.
5. Whilst some gats are played both on sitar and sarod, what are the special characteristics of gats that were composed for sarod?
Whilst some gats are played both on sitar and sarod, what are the special characteristics of gats that were composed for sarod?