It is said that Shiva, or Mahadeva, was the first inventor of a musical instrument. When he was wandering about in the forest, engrossed in his spiritual attainment, he wanted to have some source of amusement, a change in his meditative life; and so ne took a piece of bamboo and two gourds, which he attached to the bamboo; and the strings he made out of animal guts. When, ne had fixed these on the instrument he had invented the vina; mat is why the Hindus call the vina a sacred instrument, and for many years they did not allow any strings except gut-strings to used. Afterwards this instrument was improved and made more refined, and now steel strings are mostly used; but the reason why gut-string is appealing to the human soul, is that it comes from a living body", and even after being separated from the body it still cried out, "I am alive!" Thus the violin gives out a more living sound than the piano. The piano may drown the violin, but the life that comes from the gut-string manifests as a voice.