Baba Allauddin Khan: Maihar Gharana
- Swanandi Deshmukh
- Dec 24, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
When a Boy Heard Music Calling
The year was 1872. In the village of Shibpur, Brahmanbaria, a ten year old boy named Allauddin made a decision that would echo through a century. His father Sabdar Hossain Khan played music at home, and his elder brother Fakir Aftabuddin had taught him the basics. But when a jatra troupe passed through the village, those wandering performers of traditional Bengali street theatre, young Allauddin simply walked away from everything he knew and followed them into the world. With the troupe, he absorbed Bengal’s folk traditions such as jari, sari, baul, bhatiyali, kirtan, and panchali, sounds rooted in everyday life that would later shape his classical thinking.
By fifteen, he reached Calcutta and became a disciple of Gopal Krishna Bhattacharya, affectionately known as Nulo Gopal, court musician to Raja Jyotindra Mohan Bhattacharya. For twelve years he trained in dhrupad, dhamar, and khayal, along with percussion. When Nulo Gopal died during the plague, Allauddin vowed never to sing professionally. He instead turned to instruments, studying widely under Amritalal Dutt, Hazari Ustad, Nandababu, and Robert Lobo, learning Indian and Western instruments while living in poverty. His path changed again when he heard Ustad Ahmed Ali Khan play the sarod. He followed him to Dinajpur and Rampur, and later became the chief disciple of Ustad Wazir Khan Beenkar, the only descendent of the great Tasen, inheriting the Senia tradition.
Love and the Goddess
Before the twentieth century began, Baba Allauddin Khan married Madanmanjari Devi (born 1888). Their family life was shaped by both affection and deep loss. Of their four children, the eldest daughter Sharija died young, and another daughter, Jehanara, withdrew from music after her tanpura was cruelly burned by her mother-in-law. The incident deeply disturbed Allauddin, and he decided that his remaining daughter, Roshanara, later known as Annapurna, would not be trained in music. He believed the world was too harsh for a woman musician.
That decision changed when he once came home to find Annapurna teaching her brother Ali Akbar with remarkable clarity and confidence. Struck by her natural authority and insight, he recognized her exceptional talent and gave her the same rigorous training as her brother. Annapurna went on to become one of the greatest musicians of the century and later married and divorced Pandit Ravi Shankar.
Maihar became the spiritual and musical centre of Allauddin Khan’s life. He arrived there penniless and was given shelter by Suraj Sahai Saxena, spending years immersed in intense practice, often playing the shehnai near the Sharada Devi temple dedicated to the goddess of learning and the arts.
Though born Muslim, his devotion to the goddess was unwavering, as he believed music itself to be a form of prayer. In 1907 he was appointed court musician, and in 1918 he formally entered the service of Maharaja Brijnath Singh of Maihar. He remained there for fifty four years, turning down more lucrative offers elsewhere. Even in his final years, he refused to leave Maihar for medical treatment, choosing instead to remain close to the place and the deity that had shaped his life and music.
Seeds Planted in Tragedy
After the influenza pandemic left many children orphaned, Baba Allauddin Khan gathered forty children, fed and housed them, and trained them in music so they could earn a living. Maharaja Brijnath Singh supported this effort by providing funds, instruments, and a building. From this effort emerged the Maihar Band. Baba trained the children in Indian and Western instruments and even designed new ones. Despite great difficulty and strict discipline, the band flourished. It still exists today in later generations.
Listening to Baba Allauddin Khan's Raag Hem
Hem unveils a quieter, more introspective dimension of Baba Allauddin Khan. Associated with the late evening, it explores all shuddha swaras, with its tonal essence dwelling in the mandra and poorvanga of madhyasaptak.
The defining phrases are:
S, P' D' P' S, S R S G M R S P' D' P' S
S M G P, P G M R S, G M D, P, P D P S"
S" P D P, P S" D P, G M D, P, P G M P G M R S, P' D' P' S
He starts the alaap by elaborating N gradually, circling each phrase back to Sa. At around 1:45, his striking R followed by a meend to M at 1:53 establishes gentle and romantic nature of raga. The phrase P M G M R S becomes the raga's heartbeat.
Around 8:55, he glides into jod with such ease that anticipation builds irresistibly. The phrase D M P D P at 10:47 enriches the jod with the warmth of hem. 11:00- 12:49, he beautifully delivers the rhythmic progressions with utmost precision leaving one awestruck.
At 12:50, Allauddin sahab plays a composition in madhyalay teentaal. 16:00, where he plays drut, create utmost ecstasy. Rather than overt virtuosity, his layakari remains understated, revealing rhythmic intelligence without disturbing the raga’s serenity. Listening to Hem rendered by Baba Allauddin Khan is an education in musical balance. It teaches how minimalism can be powerful, how silence between phrases matters as much as sound, and how emotional depth arises from discipline rather than excess.
The Garden of Genius
For Baba Allauddin Khan, music was a lifelong discipline and a form of prayer. Though best known as a sarod player, his understanding of music extended far beyond a single instrument
During the early twentieth century, Indian classical music faced a key question. Instrumental music was moving closer to the style of khayal singing, while some musicians argued for a return to the older dhrupad tradition. Baba Allauddin Khan chose the discipline and structure of dhrupad, but adapted it to a living, evolving musical language. Through this approach, he reshaped the Maihar gharana so thoroughly that, although it existed before him in the nineteenth century, he is often regarded as its defining figure.
His ideas took collective form in the ensemble later known as the Maihar Band. Drawing from beenbaj and dhrupad ang techniques associated with instruments such as the been, surbahar, and sur sringar, he applied these principles across many Indian instruments. Students specialised in different instruments, yet all were trained through the same musical framework, creating a shared foundation across diverse sounds.
Many influential musicians emerged from this tradition. His son Ali Akbar Khan became one
of the foremost sarod players of his time and carried the Maihar tradition abroad. His daughter Annapurna Devi became a leading surbahar player and vocalist, later guiding several major musicians. Ravi Shankar, who later married and divorced her, introduced Indian classical music to global audiences. Nikhil Banerjee developed a sitar style known for depth and focus, while Pannalal Ghosh expanded the role of the bamboo bansuri as a concert instrument. Others associated with the lineage include Vasant Rai, Bahadur Khan, Sharan Rani, V G Jog, Rabin Ghosh, Timir Baran, Shripad Bandopadhyay, Jotin Bhattacharya, Nalin Mazumdar, Rajesh Chandra Moitra, Nityanand Haldipur, and W D Amaradeva from Sri Lanka.
Baba Allauddin Khan’s teaching was strict and demanding. Stories of his severity are well known, but they coexist with accounts of his care for the poor and vulnerable. As Nikhil Banerjee later explained, Baba believed that strictness was necessary to prevent complacency and to preserve seriousness in musical training.
According to his daughter Annapurna Devi, Baba was deeply secular in outlook. Muslim by birth, devoted to Saraswati, and regular in his daily namaz, he prayed in both temple and mosque. He believed in unity beyond religious divisions. For him, music was worship, and it belonged to everyone.
The Composer's Vision
Baba was obsessed with sankeerna ragas, those compound creations that blend characteristics from multiple melodic parents. He composed dozens: Arjun, Bhagabati, Bhim, Bhuvaneshvari, Chandika, Dhabalashri, Dhankosh, Dipika, Durgeshvari, Gandhi, Gandhi Bilawal, Haimanti, Hem Behag, Hemant, Hemant Bhairav, Imni Manjh, Jaunpuri Todi, Kedar Manjh, Komal Bhimpalasi, Komal Marwa, Madanmanjari named for his beloved wife, Madhabsri, Madhavgiri, Malaya, Manjh Khamaj, Meghbahar, Muhammed, Nat Khamaj, Prabhakali, Raj Bijoy, Rajeshri, Shobhavati, Subhabati, Sugandha, and Surasati.
Most remained within the inner Maihar circle, precious secrets passed from guru to disciple. But Manjh Khamaj became famous and became a signature of the Maihar gharana.
In 1935, Baba took his vision international, touring Europe with Uday Shankar's ballet troupe. He later worked at the Uday Shankar India Culture Centre in Almora. In 1955, he established the Maihar College of Music, institutionalizing his teaching methods so they could outlive him.
The Final Years
In 1954, the Sangeet Natak Akademi awarded him its highest honor, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, for lifetime contribution to Indian music. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1958, India's third highest civilian decoration and Padma Vibhushan, the second highest honor in 1971.
But Baba measured success differently. In 1959 and 1960, approaching one hundred years old, he sat before microphones for All India Radio and recorded his music. These sessions captured a lifetime of knowledge: the folk songs from jatra troupes, the vocal techniques from Nulo Gopal, the veena wisdom from Wazir Khan, the decades of innovation in Maihar.
His hands had held instruments for ninety years. His are transmissions of consciousness, proof of what a human being can achieve when every breath serves beauty.
Baba Allauddin Khan died on September 6, 1972, at his home in Maihar, having lived 110 years. He never left the town where Sarada Devi's temple stood.
Films
· Ustad Alauddin Khan (1963), a documentary directed by Ritwik Ghatak
· Baba Alauddin Khan (1965), a documentary by Indian film director Harisadhan Dasgupta.
· Raga (1971), directed by Howard Worth. Remastered version released in 2010 by East Meets West Music.
· Maihar Raag (1993), directed by Sunil Shanbag. A look at Allauddin Khan's crumbling heritage in Maihar, which won the National Film Awarad for Best Non Feature Film in 1994.
References
1) Legendary Figures: Ustad Allauddin Khan, a guru of genius - By Jameela Siddiqi - https://www.darbar.org/article/legendary-figures-ustad-allauddin-khan-a-guru-of-genius
2) Allauddin Khan by Rajan Parrikar- https://www.parrikar.org/vpl/catalogue/hindustani/allauddin-khan/
3) Uncommon Raga: Hem Kalyan and Khem Kalyan- https://www.parrikar.org/hindustani/hemkhem/
4) Allauddin Khan Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allauddin_Khan
5) Image 1- https://share.google/eqAHx4rVRlibtWE6F
6) Image 2- https://share.google/7TBGQCXC9eC1JXaxx
7) Image 3- https://share.google/oZVTMdyqZOlqBLmic
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14) Image 10- https://www.discogs.com/artist/2760667-Allauddin-Khan
15) Image 11- https://share.google/YSazg7ZyWs24RGK9N
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