Cikara; fiddle

Cikara (chikara), made in Awadh, circa 1870. The waisted body is carved from a single piece of wood, tapering towards the peg-box. The back has a double groove cut into it. The square pegbox carries three lateral pegs, and a flat rounded finial. The finial, pegbox and fingerboard are edged with barber's pole stringing in black wood and bone. The neck has 11 pegs, tipped with bone, for wire sympathetic strings. There are incised lines around the edges of the neck and pegbox. A parchment membrane is glued over the front of the body. The bridge is slightly arched, and the strings are attached to an integral pierced tailpiece that extends from the end of the body.