[1] About 3.5 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long to fit the measurements of the musician, it has a hollow body and two large resonating gourds, one under each end.

[6] The Sanskrit word veena (वीणा) in ancient and medieval Indian literature is a generic term for plucked string musical instruments.

[15] The Natya Shastra by Bharata Muni, the oldest surviving ancient Hindu text on classical music and performance arts, discusses the veena.

[16] This Sanskrit text, probably complete between 200 BCE and 200 CE,[17] begins its discussion by stating that "the human throat is a sareer veena, or a body's musical string instrument" when it is perfected, and that the source of gandharva music is such a throat, a string instrument and flute.

[11][21] The technique of performance suggests that the veena in Bharata Muni's time was quite different than the zither or the lute that became popular after the Natya Shastra was complete.

The earliest lute and zither style veena playing musicians are evidenced in Hindu and Buddhist cave temple reliefs in the early centuries of the common era.

[11] By about the 6th century CE, the goddess Saraswati sculptures are predominantly with veena of the zither-style, similar to modern styles.

[1][3][5] The instrument's end is generally tastefully shaped such as a swan and the external surfaces colorfully decorated with traditional Indian designs.

The drones are typically used to create rhythmic tanams of Indian classical music and to express harmony with clapped tala of the piece.

[29] One of the earliest description of the terminology currently used for veena construction, modification and operation appears in Sangita Cudamani by Govinda.