The Four Strings of the Ud

The four-strained lute stands for a wide array of fourfold divisions in the world around us. Its highest and lowest strings have Persian names, zir and balm,. The two middle strings are called mathna and mathlath which simply come from the Arabic for second and third. Despite this widespread rule of four, not all cultures adopt four strings. For instance, in India, they had a one-strained instrument reflecting their belief in monism. By creating a harmonious or discordant proportion in the ud, one can induce corresponding proportions to arise sympathetically in the body.