The new solution to mental impairments, by Pragathi Murthy, Newstead Wood School

Made in around 1000BC and therefore seen as one of the oldest instruments, still played worldwide is the veena, said to be made by the Hindu God Narada himself, the son of Lord Brahma and Goddess Saraswati, the sage who possesses enlightening wisdom and carries forecasting news. Nowadays, the veena has been proved to have healing powers, through its immense sounds created through the unique vibrations, and research into these sounds show that when played properly can calm people down and improve their mental wellbeing. 

To begin with, the veena is a 7-stringed instrument made of hollow jack wood, and brass strings. It has 24 frets that are placed on top of a hardened beeswax and then an ornate wooden casing, usually decorated with florals or divine images and an intimidating dragon at the tip of the instrument to reeligiously ward-off evil.  

The instrument is usually seen in pictures with Goddess Saraswati the Goddess of wisdom, she holds the veena as a symbol of her wisdom and knowledge in music. Here the veena symbolises serenity as well as a hard skill to learn and master. The veena is one of the hardest instruments to play, as there is a lot of vibratos from different notes and must be delicately pulled to the correct extent which only comes from intense practise and sharp and accurate listening skills. 

Learning to play the veena from ages, has proved to improve the memory of students as well as their abilities to cope under pressure. In Orpington, we have a small group of students learning veena and improving their performance skills through the various performances throughout the year and their experiences are absolutely phenomenal. Brhaddvani, founded by my own ninth generation veena teacher, has done much research and have begun something known as music theory. They have found that ‘Ragas of Indian music are known to have therapeutic effects, but we have also found that the emotional impact of certain ragas on some subjects could be disturbing too. We have worked with subjects with multiple sclerosis, ASD, dyslexia, spastics, stammer and other mental impairments. These interactions have been enlightening’. This shows the intense power the veena has after being experimented with. 

Overall, this instrument made by God 1000s of years ago has been scientifically proved as a way to heal many mind related medical issues in this modern world. This means with further research there is a chance that this ancient music could be a way to improve conditions like dyslexia and stammers. Could this instrument become the next generations medicine?