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Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande
विष्णु नारायण भातखंडे
The father of modern Hindustani musicology
Years
1860 – 1936
Known as
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande — the systematiser of Hindustani music
Birthplace
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Field
Artists & Performers
“The ragas of Bhārat are a science — and a science must be taught systematically.”
— Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande
The Story
Born in 1860 in a family of musicians and scholars, Bhatkhande was a lawyer by profession and a musician by passion. He devoted his life to the study of the music of the North, and in the course of his research he travelled across Bhārat, meeting the great ustads and gathering their compositions before the tradition was lost.
His greatest achievement was the systematisation of Hindustani music: he classified the ragas into ten thaats, or scale-types, a system that became the foundation of music education. He wrote the great four-volume Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati, the standard textbook of the art, and his notation system made it possible to write down and preserve the compositions of the masters.
He founded the music colleges at Lucknow, Gwalior, and Baroda, and died in 1936, honoured as the father of modern musicology in the North. His system is still the basis of every music school of Hindustani music.
Core Ideas
The Ten Thaats
His classification of the ragas became the standard system.
The Collector
He saved the compositions of the great masters.
The Notation
His system made the music possible to write down.
The Music Colleges
He founded the great schools of the art.
The Father of Musicology
The systematiser of Hindustani music.
Why it matters today
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande is honoured as the father of modern Hindustani musicology — the scholar whose system of ragas and notation is the foundation of every music school of the North. His collections and textbooks saved the tradition, and his name remains the greatest in the modern study of Hindustani music.