The Sārangī is a bowed

Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....

, short-necked string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

 tradition. Of all Indian instruments, it is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice – able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamak

Gamak

Gamaka, also known as gamak or gamakam, refers to ornamentation that is used in the performance of Indian classical music. The unique character of each raga is given by its gamakas, making their role essential rather than decorative in Indian music...

as (shakes) and meend

Meend

In Hindustani music, meend refers to a glide from one note to another. It is an essential performance practice, and is used often in vocal and instrumental music. On the veena, sitar, and other plucked stringed instruments, it is usually done by pushing the strings across the frets to vary their...

(sliding movements). It is also said to be the hardest Indian instrument to master.
The word sarangi is derived from two Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

 words: sau (meaning "hundred") and rang (meaning "colour").