vaji

…survives almost unchanged in the vaji, or Kafir harp, of Nūrestān in Afghanistan. This instrument’s neck pierces and then emerges from the skin belly; the strings run from the neck to the protruding end (in most harps they pass through the belly).

The Nūristāni vaj, an arched harp (having a bow-shaped body with no forepillar), is a striking case of the possible survival of an instrument type on the margins of a now disintegrated culture area. There are no other harp traditions today between the Caucasus and Myanmar, although…