The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the originator of Sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin. Another view supported by a minority of scholars is that Khusrau Khan developed it from Veena. 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. The advent of Psychedelic culture during the mid- to late 1960s created 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 Doors, the Rolling Stones and others. Etymology The word Sitar is derived from the Hindi words sat tär, for seven strings. History The book "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" suggests possibility of the sitar's origin as that evolved from one or more instruments of the tanbūr family, long necked lutes which it argues were introduced and popularised during the period of Mughal rule. Allyn Miner, a concert performer and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania suggests that the evidence of indigenous long-necked lutes in India is particularly lacking. According to this view, when Muslim rule began in Northern India in 1192, the conquerors brought with them tanbur-family instruments, and other instruments in their "multi-national" army. In this early period, the Muslim instrument was linked to the tradition of Sufi ecstatic dance, "sufiānā rang". It was also theorized in Muslim tradition, that the sitar was invented, or rather developed by Amir Khusrow ( 1253–1325), a famous Sufi inventor, poet and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, during the 13th century. However, the tradition of Amir Khusrow is considered discredited by some scholars. Whatever instruments he might have played, no record exists from this period using the name "sitar". Another, more minor hypothesis is that the sitar is derived from locally developed Indian instruments, such as the veena, prior to the arrival of Islam. Indian temple sculptures from