The sitar (English: /ˈsɪtɑːr/ or /sɪˈtɑːr/; IAST: sitāra) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music.

[1][2][3][4] Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

[5] The advent of psychedelic culture during the mid-to-late 1960s set a trend for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Metallica and many others.

[8] It was theorized that the sitar was invented, or rather developed by Amir Khusrow (c. 1253–1325), a famous Sufi inventor, poet and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, during the 13th century.

The "Muraqqa-i-Dehli", written by Dargah Quli Khan during the reign of Muhammad Shah Rangila, gives the earliest reference to the sitar.

[15] Oral and textual evidence analysed by historians indicate that an eighteenth-century figure of the Mughal court, named Khusrau Khan originated the sitar from the small persian three-stringed setar.

[21] Another, discredited hypothesis is that the sitar is derived from locally developed Indian instruments, such as the veena, prior to the arrival of Islam.

[23] According to Allyn Miner, the evidence for this hypothesis is too weak for any conclusion and these hypotheses represent a prominent yet obsolete late 19th-century idea: that many of India’s modern cultural innovations are actually products of pre-Muslim Sanskritic traditions.

[24] According to Alastair Dick, the "modern view that ... invading Muslims simply changed into Persian the name of an existing Hindu instrument ... has no historical or musical foundation".

As a string vibrates, its length changes slightly as one edge moves along the rounded bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone.

[30] In the late 1950s and early 1960s Ravi Shankar, along with his tabla player, Alla Rakha, began a further introduction of Indian classical music to Western culture.

The sitar saw use in Western popular music when, guided by David Crosby's championing of Shankar,[31] George Harrison played it on the Beatles' songs "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You", recorded between 1965 and 1967.

The Beatles' association with the instrument helped popularise Indian classical music among Western youth,[32][33] particularly once Harrison began receiving tutelage from Shankar and the latter's protégé Shambhu Das in 1966.

[34] That same year, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones used a sitar on "Paint It Black",[35] while another English guitarist, Dave Mason, played it on Traffic's 1967 hits "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe".

[36] These and other examples marked a trend of featuring the instrument in pop songs, which Shankar later described as "the great sitar explosion".

I wouldn't say I played it as well as he did, though..."[40] Robbie Krieger's guitar part on the Doors' 1967 track "The End" was heavily influenced by Indian ragas and features melodic and rhythmic qualities that suggest a sitar or veena.

[5] Crosby's band, the Byrds, had similarly incorporated elements of Indian music,[31] using "only Western instrumentation", on their songs "Eight Miles High" and "Why" in 1966.

Starting in the late 1970s, Pakistan International Airlines in-flight music featured the sitar to evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland among the Pakistani diaspora.

Paul Young’s 1985 #1 Hit cover of Hall & Oates’s song Everytime You Go Away included an electric sitar played by John Turnbull.