It was first invented by Alexandre Debain in 1840 in France, who patented his Harmonium in Paris on August 9, 1840. Harmonium with a Swarmandal (a small, harp-like instrument, similar to Zither and Autoharp) was produced by Bhishmadev Vedi. As the Swarmandal box was too big for the Harmonium, his disciple Manohar Chimote fixed the strings within the breadth of the instrument naming it as ‘Samvadini’. This instrument allows the strings to be played by the hand on the bellows, and keys by the other hand. Chimote provided a new natural ‘Gandhar’ tuning in this Harmonium. Although this tuning was limited to the 12 tones versus the 22 required in Hindustani classical music, it surely gave the European tuning of the Harmonium, an Indian flavour.