To celebrate the diversity of musical instruments and to explore their role and function in India's musical traditions, the Akademi has launched the Vadya Darshan series of programmes. The first event in the series was an exhibition of musical instruments together with lecture-demonstrations on the art and craft of making instruments which was held in New Delhi in March 2002.

The Second event was a symposium on lesser-known traditional instruments together with corresponding performances from 22 to 26 July 2002 in Delhi. Also in focus were instruments with a diminishing listenership and practice like the Sarangi, Nagaswaram and Pakhawaj. The event brought together a number of eminent scholars, academicians and musicologists. The audience had the pleasure of witnessing exhilarating performances by a number of eminent musicians. The programme follows:

22 July 2002

Asad Ali Khan : Rudra Veena

Accompanied by Dalchand Sharma : Pakhawaj

23 July 2002

Pramod Gaikwad : Sundari

Chitravina N. Ravikiran : Chitra Veena

Accompanied by Delhi Sunder Rajan : Violin

Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman : Mridangam

E.M. Subramaniam : Ghatam

24 July 2002

Anant Lal : Shehnai

Ram Ashish Pathak : Pakhawaj

25 July 2002

Thiruvizha Jayashankar : Nagaswaram

Accompanied by Valayapatti A.R. Subramaniam : Thavil

E.Gayathri : Veena

Accompanied by Madiri Mangalam Swaminathan : Mridangam

E.M.Subramaniam : Ghatam

26 July 2002

Ram Narain (Sarangi)

Accompanied by Harish Narain (Sarangi) Subhash Nirwan (Tabla)

Symposium

During the festival, a symposium was conducted at Triveni Chamber Theatre, New Delhi. The Symposium sessions focussed on:

Rudra Veena, Chaired by Prof. S.K. Saxena. Participants were Ustad Ali Khan, Shri Murari Mohan Adhikari, Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar.

Rabab and Sursingar, chaired by Shri Buddhadev Dasgupta. Participants were Shri Somjit Dasgupta, Shri Anindya Banerjee

Vichitra Veena and Chitra Veena: chaired by Shri M.G. Swaminathan. Participants: Shri Gopal Krishna, Shri N. Narasimhan Iyengar, Shri Ravi Kiran, Shri Mustafa Raza.

Veena, chaired by Shri N. Ramanathan. Participants: Shri Karaikudi Subramanyam, Shri R. Vishweshwaran, Dr. R. Kaushalya, Dr. Suma Sudhindra.

Surbahar, chaired by Pt. Debu Chaudhury. Participant: Prof. Santosh Banerjee

Nagara, Dukkad, Thavil and Gattuvadyam, chaired by Shri Umayalpuram K. Shivraman. Participants: Shri Valayapatti A. R. Subramaniam, Shri Madan Lal, Shri N. Srinivasan, Shri H. Subramaniam.

Double Reeded Instruments (Shehnai, Sundari and Nagaswaram), chaired by Shri Komal Kothari. Participants: Shri Anant Lal with Shri Dayashankar, Shri Thiruvzha Jayashankar, Shri Krishnaram Choudhury, Shri Pramod Gaikwad.

Pakhawaj, chaired by Dr. Aban E. Mistry. Participants: Ramasheesh Pathak, Shri Gopaldas, Shri Bhagwat Upreti

Sarangi, Israj, Dilruba and Sursagar, chaired by Dr. N. Rajam. Participants: Buddhadev Das Gupta, shri Allauddin Khan, Shri Mohammed Ali, Ustad Sabir Khan.

A discussion on various problems of manufacturing of musical instruments was chaired by Shri Bhaskar Chandavarkar. The participants were Shri Bishandas Sharma, Dr. Suvarnalata Rao, Shri O.P. Prahladka, Shri Loknath Sharma and Dr. Suneera Kasliwal.