---
url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/faq/instruments-artforms/when-did-the-harmonium-arrive-in-india'
title: 'When did the harmonium arrive in India?'
author:
  name: rajeevk
  url: 'https://kalasudha.com/en-in/user/fce96177fd193d3a'
date: '2026-10-19T19:01:37+00:00'
type: website
summary: 'The harmonium reached India in the 19th century, with Calcutta its first centre; Bengali harmonium manuals appeared from 1874.'
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 FAQ · Instruments & artforms

# When did the harmonium arrive in India?

 Updated 19 October 2026

 

Reed organs, the family of the **[harmonium](/en-in/instrument/harmonium)**, reached India in the 19th century with missionaries or traders, and Calcutta was their first centre of popularity. Dwijendranath Tagore played a harmonium in the 1860s in his private theatre at Jorasanko, Calcutta. Bengali manuals followed soon after: Sourindramohan Tagore's Harmonium Sutra in 1874 and Krishnadhan Banerjee's Harmonium Shiksha in 1899.



 

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## Related pages

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###  Instruments (1) 

- [   Harmonium The harmonium is a hand-pumped reed organ of Hindustani classical, devotional and semi-classical music, introduced in the 19th century and standard in Indian…     ](/en-in/instrument/harmonium)
 
  

 

 

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