Origins & History
By the lineage's own account, the family came from Afghanistan as Bangash tribesmen with the rabab, an Afghan lute. It credits Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash, working with his kinsmen Enayat Ali and Niamatullah Khan, with turning the rabab into the sarod; the Gwalior Bangash family tells that story differently. In the same account, Ghulam Ali's son Murad Ali Khan adopted a boy from Enayat Ali's family in Shahjahanpur and named him Abdullah Khan, who became a court musician at Darbhanga.
Abdullah Khan's son Mohammed Ameer Khan, also written Mohammad Amir Khan, served the Maitra zamindars of Rajshahi, now in Bangladesh, by the lineage's account, and died in 1934. Radhika Mohan Maitra, born into that family in 1917, trained with him from childhood until his death. Maitra later studied with Mohammed Dabir Khan, a Senia musician, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi archive credits him with combining the Shahjahanpur and Senia styles. Senia names Tansen's line, whose history is on the Senia gharana page.
The short name is shared. A 2023 Scroll article gives the name Shahjahanpur gharana to Irfan Muhammad Khan's family as well, which Peter Yelding's 2026 thesis studies as a separate line, the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur gharana.
"One of the specialties of my gharana, the Shahjahanpur sarod gharana, is a type of gat called the Ferozkhani gat"
歴史年表
Birth of Radhika Mohan Maitra
Death of Mohammed Ameer Khan
Maitra writes on the Ferozkhani gat
Death of Radhika Mohan Maitra
Lineage & Legacy
The guru-shishya tradition passed down through generations
The line ran through the Bangash family to Mohammed Ameer Khan, and from him to Radhika Mohan Maitra. Radhika Mohan Maitra, who died in 1981, taught Buddhadev Das Gupta, Kalyan Mukherjea and Samarendra Nath Sikdar among others. Buddhadev Das Gupta taught at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata, where his pupil Abir Hossain is now a guru.
The Bangash family line
Murad Ali Khan
Sarod player
Abdullah Khan
Sarod player
Mohammed Ameer Khan
Died 1934
Sarod player and teacher
The Senia synthesis
Mohammed Dabir Khan
Senia musician
Radhika Mohan Maitra
1917-1981
Sarod player and teacher
Maitra's disciples
Buddhadev Das Gupta
Sarod player and guru
Kalyan Mukherjea
Died 2010
Sarod player and mathematician
Samarendra Nath Sikdar
Sarod player
Players of the line today
Abir Hossain
Sarod player and guru
Arnab Chakrabarty
Sarod player
The gharana system is rooted in the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition, where musical knowledge and style are passed down through direct apprenticeship over three or more generations.
Key exponents
- Murad Ali Khan, Bangash sarod player and adoptive father of Abdullah Khan
- Abdullah Khan, sarod player, court musician at Darbhanga in the lineage account
- Mohammed Ameer Khan, teacher of Radhika Mohan Maitra, died 1934
- Radhika Mohan Maitra, sarod player and teacher, 1917-1981
- Buddhadev Das Gupta, sarod player, disciple of Maitra and Academy guru
- Kalyan Mukherjea, sarod player and mathematician, died 2010
- Samarendra Nath Sikdar, sarod player and disciple of Maitra
音楽的特徴
Distinctive style, techniques, and aesthetic philosophy
Overall Style
By the lineage's own account, the early style was rababiya: heavy right-hand strumming carried over from the rabab. The lineage also names bol-taans, fast passages that imitate percussion, and ekhara taans, alternating da and ra strokes on each note, and credits Buddhadev Das Gupta with first bringing khayal-based ekhara taans to the sarod. Arnab Chakrabarty adds the Ferozkhani gat and an aesthetic that does not chase speed for its own sake.
Rababiya strumming
Ekhara taans
The Ferozkhani gat
Restraint
Signature Repertoire
Arnab Chakrabarty calls the Ferozkhani gat a speciality of his gharana and quotes Radhika Mohan Maitra's 1980 article for its medium or medium-fast tempo. Buddhadev Das Gupta, by the lineage's account, also played khayal-based bandishes on the sarod and wrote sarod bandishes on Rabindrasangeet melodies from the 1970s.
Compare with Similar Gharanas
Understand how Senia-Shahjahanpur Gharana differs from other traditions
Select a Gharana to Compare:
| Senia-Shahjahanpur Gharana (Current) |
Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana (Comparing) |
|
|---|---|---|
| タイプ | Sarod | Sarod |
| 原点 | Shahjahanpur | Lucknow |
| Era | Late 19th century | |
| スタイル | By the lineage's own account, the early style was rababiya: heavy right-hand strumming carried over from the rabab. The lineage also names bol-taans, fast passages that imitate percussion, and ekhara taans, alternating da and ra strokes on each note, and credits Buddhadev Das Gupta with first bringing khayal-based ekhara taans to the sarod. Arnab Chakrabarty adds the Ferozkhani gat and an aesthetic that does not chase speed for its own sake. | McNeil hears in Sakhawat Hussain Khan's recordings of the 1920s a strong influence of tarana, the fast vocal form on syllables, and the gharana's emphasis on right-hand technique, which he traces to systematic training on the Seniya rabab. Kaukab Khan, a generation earlier, was known for a systematic alap. The line plays both sarod and sitar. |
| Senia-Shahjahanpur Gharana (Current) |
Senia-Maihar Gharana (Comparing) |
|
|---|---|---|
| タイプ | Sarod | Sarod |
| 原点 | Shahjahanpur | Maihar, Madhya Pradesh |
| Era | Early 20th century | |
| スタイル | By the lineage's own account, the early style was rababiya: heavy right-hand strumming carried over from the rabab. The lineage also names bol-taans, fast passages that imitate percussion, and ekhara taans, alternating da and ra strokes on each note, and credits Buddhadev Das Gupta with first bringing khayal-based ekhara taans to the sarod. Arnab Chakrabarty adds the Ferozkhani gat and an aesthetic that does not chase speed for its own sake. | Darbar writes that Allauddin Khan leaned towards dhrupad and brought a dhrupad approach to the sarod and to the other instruments he taught. On the sarod, Banglapedia credits him with the right-hand stroke pattern diri diri in place of dara dara. The Ali Akbar College of Music, which calls its tradition the Seni Baba Allauddin gharana, tunes every instrument to C. |
Influence & Legacy
Through Buddhadev Das Gupta the line reached the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata, which places him in the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana. Kalyan Mukherjea, a mathematician by profession, also taught the sarod until his death in 2010. Their pupils Abir Hossain and Arnab Chakrabarty carry the line on.
ソース
- ITC Sangeet Research Academy, guru biographies
- Sangeet Natak Akademi archive, catalogue of recordings by Radhika Mohan Maitra
- Amal Das Sharma, Musicians of India
- Peter Yelding, The body as musical archive (PhD thesis, Bath Spa University, 2026)
- Arnab Chakrabarty, Strings attached: my journey as a modern sarod player, Scroll (2016)
よくあるご質問
What is the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana of sarod?
It is a sarod line that grew from a Bangash family of rabab players in Shahjahanpur and took its present form under Radhika Mohan Maitra in the mid-20th century. Maitra joined the family's Shahjahanpur style, learned from Mohammed Ameer Khan, to the Senia teaching of Mohammed Dabir Khan.
Who founded the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana of sarod?
No single founder is agreed. By the lineage's own account the family line runs from Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash through Murad Ali Khan and his adopted son Abdullah Khan to Mohammed Ameer Khan. Radhika Mohan Maitra, Ameer Khan's pupil, is credited with combining the Shahjahanpur and Senia styles.
Which musicians belong to the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana of sarod today?
Abir Hossain, a pupil of Buddhadev Das Gupta, is a guru at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. Arnab Chakrabarty, trained by Buddhadev Das Gupta and Kalyan Mukherjea, calls the Shahjahanpur sarod gharana his own. Both learned from disciples of Radhika Mohan Maitra.
How does the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana of sarod differ from the Senia-Maihar gharana?
The Senia-Shahjahanpur line grew from a hereditary Bangash family of rabab and sarod players, and by its own account began with rabab-style strumming. The Senia-Maihar gharana began with Allauddin Khan at Maihar, who learned from Wazir Khan of Rampur and brought a dhrupad approach to the sarod. Both lines draw on Senia teaching.
Why is it called Senia-Shahjahanpur, and is it the same as the Shahjahanpur gharana?
Shahjahanpur names the family's town, and Senia stands for the teaching of Tansen's line that Radhika Mohan Maitra took from Mohammed Dabir Khan. Players and writers mostly use the short name Shahjahanpur gharana for this line. The same short name is sometimes given to Irfan Muhammad Khan's Lucknow-Shahjahanpur family.
How is the Senia-Shahjahanpur gharana different from the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur gharana?
They are separate lines that share the Shahjahanpur name. This one runs through Mohammed Ameer Khan to Radhika Mohan Maitra and his pupils. The Lucknow-Shahjahanpur gharana is the hereditary family of Irfan Muhammad Khan, which Peter Yelding studies in his 2026 thesis.
How does it relate to the Senia-Bangash family of Amjad Ali Khan?
Both families trace themselves to Bangash migrants from Afghanistan, and each credits its own forefathers with shaping the sarod. The Gwalior family of the Senia-Bangash gharana credits Ghulam Bandegi Khan and then Ghulam Ali Khan; this line credits Ghulam Ali Khan working with Enayat Ali and Niamatullah Khan. The two are separate lines.
What are ekhara taans and the Ferozkhani gat?
Ekhara taans are fast runs with alternating da and ra strokes on each note; the lineage credits Buddhadev Das Gupta with bringing khayal-based ones to the sarod. The Ferozkhani gat is a fixed composition at medium or medium-fast tempo, with octave jumps and a spread over at least three rhythmic cycles.
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