Among speakers of Persianate languages in Afghanistan (for examples, Farsi and Tajik dialects), the mystical poetry of Muhammad Shams ad-Din Hafiz and Maulana Jalal ad-Din of Balkh called Rumi is esteemed above all others. Maulana Rumi was fond of rabab music. His son Sultan Walad was also a highly-regarded poet, and one of his major works is titled the Rabab-nama, or book of the rabab, much in the same way his father's major work, the Mathnawi'i-Manawi used the reed flute as its opening motif. Sultan Walad wrote:
"A human must be born not once, but twice:
Once from his mother's body,
and again from his own body and existence.
The body in which we are born is like an egg:
The essence of the human grows within it,
through the warmth of love.
We must go beyond this body,
like a bird that breaks free of its shell,
to fly in the unlimited world of the soul."
These sentiments account for why makers of rababs often glue birdshells inside their instruments: true music is for the awakening and liberation of the soul. (The birdshells are open at one end, rinsed clean, and glued to the bottom of the lower sound chamber with the open end facing toward the skin.) The bird motif is often repeated in the pegbox, the shape of the string-holders, and in the inlay. Best wishes, - Daniel