Six and half strings

How one of the strings of the Bhutanese lute was lowered
The Dramnyen The Bhutanese dramnyen or lute has the distinction of having six and half strings, referred to as drays, which denote seven different scales.

How one of the strings got lowered is recorded in an oral folklore, which master traditional musician, Ap Dawpey (85), is familiar with.

Once there lived seven dakinis.  In spring, they would descend to earth and bathe in a pool in the middle of a lush meadow bordered by snow peaked mountains.

Near the meadow lived an orphan.  The young shepherd used this idyllic land as pastures for his sheep.

One day, after taking a nap under a willow tree, the shepherd woke up to find a lute next to him.  He plucked a string and a beautiful melody flowed forth.  Enthralled he plucked more strings and enjoyed the sound it produced.

Excited with his new toy, the shepherd immediately rounded up the sheep to take them to the barn.  On the way home, he crossed the pool and saw seven beautiful women bathing in the pool, but showed no interest in them.

After putting the sheeps in the barn, the shepherd hid his new possession in the attic.  Every night, he climbed to the attic to play the lute at midnight.

The youngest dakini allowed the orphan boy to keep the lute, on the condition that under no circumstances was he to play the instrument or show it to other people.  Every night he was to play it only for her, and beckon her by strumming the lute.

So every night the dakini would sneak to the attic and spend the night, listening to the young boy play the lute.  At the sound of the rooster, she would disappear.

As the story goes, the blessings of the lute made the poor boy rich.  He became as rich as the king in his valley.  In the same valley, but across the river, lived a powerful king, who fathered the most beautiful women in the kingdom.

Every night, the music flowed into the air, and the wind carried it to the kingdom.  Soon the music enveloped the princess and she would spend the whole night listening to the music.

On her 21st birthday, the king wanted the musician to play for his daughter, and sent men across the river to look for the musician.  The king built a bridge over the river, and the princess started visiting the musician and called him uncle.

The princess also arranged archery matches for the man, who loved to sing and dance.  The princess inspected his house, opening and closing the door several times, and noticed a lute behind the door.

In her joyful mood, she strummed the lute and the dakini appeared.  Realizing the presence of other people the dakini immediately cut all seven strings of the lute and disappeared.

That night, at the stroke of midnight, the shepherd picked up his lute and noticed that all the strings had been cut.  Before he knew it, he started to become poor and, in a short time, had nothing.

The next spring, he hid in the meadow and waited for the dakinis to take their bath.  The young man confronted the youngest dakini and pleaded, “Please put back the strings,” to which she replied, no.

The young boy was adamant and persistently pleaded.  The dakini reasoned, “If I hadn’t cut the strings that day, I’d have died because of the impurity caused by betrayal.”  Later, the dakini consented to string the lute, but lowered one to indicate a breach of trust.

Why Crocodile?

All the old lutes in the country have a crocodile carved as the head.  Ap Dawpey explained why traditional lutes have this animal.

In the old days, all lute players went insane.  No one knew why, so they consulted Sha Gyalp (King of the East).

According to Bhutanese myth, each direction has a king, whose responsibility is to protect the kingdom.

For example, the king of the east is known as the Sha Gyalp’s and it is said that his voice was so powerful that every time he spoke it would destroy anything that came its way.  As a result, he had to remain silent until he discovered that he could convey his information through the lute.

So the Sha Gyalp used the dramnyen to relay his messages, even though he was neither a great musician nor a singer.

Through the lute, the Sha Gyalp explained the melody of the lute had attracted demons.  Like the people, the demons also became enthralled by the music, and they would come as close as the knees of the lute players.

Since they were invisible, the lute players never noticed but, because of the negative energy anyone in their proximity, would go insane.

As a remedial measure, the Sha Gyalp instructed that all lute to have the head of the crocodile with horns and beaks as a figurehead to ward off negative forces.

This way, even if the melody of the lute would attract demons, the sight of the crocodile would keep them at a safe distance.

Today, however any of the modern lutes have heads of different animals that has Ap Dawpey very concerned.

Source Kuensel