The sitar—arguably the best-known of all Indian musical instruments—has existed in one form or another for nearly a millennium. Its present configuration is generally dated to roughly 300–350 years ago, though even within this period, and especially over the last century or so, the instrument has undergone remarkably rapid evolution. As a result, the expressive possibilities available to sitarists have expanded dramatically. Among the most celebrated exponents of the 20th century were Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, and Nikhil Banerjee. Of these, Vilayat Khan is widely regarded as the most influential and perhaps the greatest virtuoso in the instrument’s recorded history. Their contemporaries—Balaram Pathak, Ilyas Khan and Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan—also enjoyed significant prominence and acclaim. Naturally, these maestros did not emerge in isolation. They stood upon a substantial lineage shaped by at least three preceding generations of sitarists who developed, consolidated, and transmitted the aesthetic and technical foundations of the modern instrument. It is through this historical lens that we turn our attention to the sitar music of pre-Independence India.