Gottuvadyam

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Chitraveena

N. Ravikiran (center) playing the navachitravina.
String instrument
Other names	gottuvadyam, chitravina, chitra veena, chitraveena
Classification	String instruments
Related instruments
Vichitra veena Sagar Veena Surbahar Rudra veena Saraswati veena Sarod Sursingar Tambura

The gottuvadyam is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music from around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, named by Sakha Rama Rao^[1] from Tiruvidaimarudur, who was responsible for bringing it back to the concert scene.

It is also known as chitravina (Sanskrit: चित्रवीणा), chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina and mahanataka vina.

Today it is played mainly in South India, though its origins can be traced back to Bharata's Natya Shastra (200 BCE-200 CE), where it is mentioned as a seven string fretless instrument. Sarangadeva (1210–47) also made a similar reference to the chitravina in his work, Sangita Ratnakara.