Alladiya Khan

He was born on 10 August 1855 at Uniara, a small village in Tonk then under Jaipur State, to a Shia Muslim family of musicians; the family traced its history to the Gaud Brahmins of the Shandilya gotra, having converted to Islam during the Mughal era.¹ His father Ahmed Khan died early, and his uncle Jehangir, of Jaipur, taught him dhrupad for five years and then khayal for another eight; he practised palta exercises for six hours daily well into his fifties.¹²

Khan served at the courts of various kings of Rajasthan and toured Bihar, Patna, Allahabad, Nepal and Baroda to perform for kings in the early part of his life.¹ In his late thirties, overextending his voice at a patron's request, he lost it for nearly two years; the limitations of the voice he recovered are said to have led to the conception of what became the Jaipur-Atrauli gayaki.¹ From 1895 to 1922 he was settled at Kolhapur as court musician to Shahu Maharaj, and in 1922, after the king's death, he moved to Mumbai, where he taught many disciples and sang in mehfils until his death.¹²

He was acknowledged for creating and resurrecting many complex ragas — among them Nat Kamod, Bhoop Nat, Kaunsi Kanada, Sampoorna Malkauns, Basanti Kedar, Shuddha Nat and Malavi — drawing several from the Haveli sangeet tradition of northern Rajasthan in which he had grown up.¹ He never allowed his voice to be recorded, fearing for his style; the story of his disciple Dhondutai Kulkarni, transmitted through his youngest son Bhurji Khan, became the subject of Namita Devidayal's novel The Music Room (2007).¹ His autobiography, narrated to his grandson Azizuddin Khan, appeared in English translation as My Life (Thema, Kolkata, 2000).¹ An annual Ustad Alladiya Khan Music Festival is held in Mumbai and Dharwad in his honour.¹

Alladiya Khan died in Bombay on 16 March 1946.¹²

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