Today, the sarod commands an exalted position as one of the foremost instruments in Hindustani art music. Yet this preeminence is relatively recent. The instrument’s rise as a major medium for raga exposition closely parallels the emergence of recorded sound—an era that, in India, began in 1903. This survey of the first forty-five years of sarod recordings traces the instrument’s musical evolution from the dawn of the twentieth century up to the moment of India’s independence, following two and a half centuries of colonial rule. The 78-rpm era posed significant constraints for all musicians, regardless of their chosen medium. How does one distill an inherently expansive and long-form art such as raga into a three-minute shell without compromising its essence? The pioneering sarod masters confronted this challenge head-on, gradually refining the form of the gramophone record into an art in its own right. In doing so, they altered the trajectory of Hindustani music, expanded its reach, and left behind a sonic archive that continues to inform and inspire more than a century later.