european musical instruments in India

[jacob.baltuch at infoboard.be]

Max Langley wrote:

>The ancestor of both the violin and sarod was the
>rebab, an Afghani one-stringed fiddle.

As far the violin is concerned, the filiation is:

rabAb (probably introduced thru Muslim Spain. Central Asian, not native
       Arabic instrument?)
  |
  V
rebec (a 3-stringed Medieval pear shaped fiddle of W. Europe. Name also
       comes from the rabAb, obviously)
  |
  V
viola (da braccio), in other words the viola (not directly the violin)

The violin (Ital. violino is a diminutive of viola) is a "dessus" (soprano)
of viola. The original instrument is the viola (called "alto" in French,
from "alto de viola" and "Bratsche" in German, from "(da) braccio").

Re: early (1800s) violin "technology" found in Carnatic violin. Is the
bow different from the usual bow? Bow type changed radically in Europe
around 1820.