Rubab (instrument)
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Rubab, Robab, or Rabab is a lute-like musical instrument.The rubab is the national musical instruments of Afghanistan, is also commonly played in Pakistan and India mostly by Pashtuns and Balochis, Sindhis, Kashmiris and Punjabis. Variants of the rubab include the Kabuli rebab of Afghanistan, the Rawap of Xinjiang, the Pamiri rubab of Tajikistan and the seni rebab of northern India. The instrument and its variants spread throughout West, Central, South and Southeast Asia. The Kabuli rebab from Afghanistan derives its name from the Arabic rebab and is played with a bow while in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the instrument is plucked and is distinctly different in construction.
Rubab (instrument)
Iranian style rubab from the 13th century C.E., found in Rayy (near Tehran, Iran).
Kushan Empire, 1st to 3rd century. Lute or vina, from the Yusufzai district near Peshawar. Greco Buddhist (Gandhara School). Resembles rubab, sarod and tungna.
Mongolian lute, circa 1297, Tomb of Wang Qing, China
Lute
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A lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
Renaissance lute in 2013
Ancient Egyptian tomb painting depicting players with long-necked lutes, 18th Dynasty (c. 1350 BC).
Hellenistic banquet scene from 1st century A.D., Hadda, Gandhara. Lute player with short-necked lute, far right.
Lute in Pakistan, Gandhara, probably Butkara in Swat, Kushan Period (1st century-320)