flute is however not called bansuri in the ancient, and is referred to by other names such as nadi, tunava in the Rigveda (3000-2500 BCE) and other Vedic texts of Hinduism, or as venu in post-Vedic texts. The flute is also mentioned in various Upanishads and Yoga texts.

According to Bruno Nettl, a music historian and ethnomusicologist, the ancient surviving sculptures