[1] The traditional design features no mechanical keys, and the musician creates the notes they want by covering and uncovering the various finger holes.

[13] Other regional names of bansuri-style, six to eight play holes, bamboo flutes in India include bansi, baashi, eloo, kolakkuzhal, kulal, kulalu, kukhl, lingbufeniam, murali, murli, nadi, nar, odakkuzhal, pawa, pullankuzhal, pillana grovi, pulangoil, vansi, vasdanda, sipung, and venuvu.

Its size, style, bindings, mounts on ends and playing style in medieval Europe artworks has led scholars, such as Liane Ehlich, a flute scholar at the music school in the University of Lucerne, to state that the bansuri (venu) migrated from India into the Byzantine Empire by the 10th century and from there on to medieval Europe where it became popular.

[22] The flute (Venu or Vamsa) is mentioned in many Hindu texts on music and singing, as complementary to the human voice and Veena (vaani-veena-venu).

[27] According to Bruno Nettl, a music historian and ethnomusicologist, the ancient surviving sculptures and paintings in the temples and archaeological sites of India predominantly show transverse flutes being played horizontally (with a downward tilt).

[29] A bansuri is traditionally produced from a special type of bamboo, that naturally grows to long lengths between its nodes (knots).

These are particularly found in the northeastern (near Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura) and Western Ghats (near Kerala) states of India where numerous bamboo species grow with internodal lengths greater than 40 centimetres (16 in).

[30][31] The harvested bamboo with a desired diameter is cut, dried and treated with natural oils and resins to strengthen it.

Drilling and other methods of hole making are avoided as it is believed they damage the fiber orientation and the splits affect the music quality.

The burnt-in holes are then finished by sanding, one end plugged, the flute ringed at various positions to stabilize its form and shape over time and the unit tested for its musical performance.

Once all the holes have reached their performance range, the bansuri is steeped in natural oils, cleaned, dried and decorated or bound with silk or nylon threads.

[citation needed] Six holes are sufficient to produce seven basic swaras: sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni.

Every bansuri by its design and construction has a specific key and tonal center, corresponding to sa (shadja, natural tonic) of the swara scale.

[35] This key is achieved by variations in length, inner diameter of the instrument and the relative size and placement of the finger holes.

The bansuri is supported by the thumb and little finger, while the airhole is positioned near the lips and air blown over it at various speeds to reach the desired octave.