What is a santoor and how is it used?

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The santoor is a trapezoidshaped stringed musical instrument that is famous in Kashmir and has been played there for many centuries. It is basically a hollow box made of walnut wood with top and bottom boards of plywood and veneer and 72 metal strings, arranged in sets of 3 or 4, tied on nails and stretched over wooden bridges placed on the top board. The length and thickness of the strings vary according to the octave, and they are the thickest in the lower octave. The santoor is played using two light-weight wooden mallets, known as mezrab. The musician sits in a particular posture known as ardha-padmasana, keeps the instrument on his lap, holds the mallets between the index and middle fingers and thumb and uses them to strike the strings.
An ancient folk instrument that originated in Iran, the santoor is believed to have made its way from here to Kashmir, where it soon became an indispensable accompaniment for the Sufi vocal music. It came to be known in Sanskrit as shat-tantri veena or hundredstringed lute. This in due course became santoor.
Traditionally, the santoor was played during festivities and celebrations. However, today it is emerging as a key element in North Indian classical concerts and music festivals. The credit for popularizing the santoor goes to Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, a master instrumentalist. Other leading santoor exponents are his son Rahul Sharma, Bhajan Sopori, Rajkumar Majumdar and R. Visweswaran.