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The Esraj is a bowed instrument found mostly in the Eastern part of India (Bengal).The instrument itself consists of a neck similar to a sitar insofar as both have frets, and a small gourd on the top for balance. The body is covered with goatskin. There are usually 15 taranhas (resonating strings) and 4 mainsprings. All are metal strings. Three of the mainstrings are bowed and cover a range of 3 octaves. The pitch is close to a violoncello. The instrument is made from rosewood or sometimes teak. The instrument is played either being leaned to the left shoulder, or balanced upright on the left angled knee (Vishnunur Gharana). Two fingers slide on the strings over the frets, creating the typical richly ornamented sound that echos the human voice.
The origins of the instrument are somewhat obscure. It is first mentioned around the change of century by Debendranath Tagore. Mostly high cast women were playing Esraj for their own pleasure in the house., that led to the conclusion that the reason for its occurrence may be found in the social structure of India. The sarangi, a similar and older instrument has gut strings and could therefore be played only by low casts, since no Brahmin would ever touch dead skin. Those instruments were mostly used as accompaniment for vocal music. The sarangi was to be temporarily replaced by the harmonium with the arrival of the British.
The Esrai had its high time when the famous poet and philiosopher Rabindranath Tagore ccchose is as accompaniment for his Tagore songs (Rabindra Sangeet). This situation arose out of the India liberation movement when iyt became very unpopular to use anything that was of Western influence. Santiniketan, his highly evolved artist community, could still be called the home of the Esrai.
Ashish Bandhopadhyai, an Esraj player from Vishnupur, was invited by Tagore to live and teach in Santiniketan. One of his students was Ranadhir Rov and extremely gifted muscian with an innovative mind, who started to experiment with the goal to turn the Esrai from accompaniment to a solo instrument. he built a bigger body, added another bridge and succeeded in adding volume to the sound and a stronger presence. Together with his major talent he was well on his way to become a widely recognized muscian, when he died from a heart attack aftewr a concert in 1988, being only 45 years old.