Benares Gharana (Tabla)

बनारस घराना (तबला)

An open, resonant tabla built for solos and for accompanying every form

Tabla Gharana Varanasi

Founded By

Ram Sahai

The Benares gharana is a school of tabla playing in Hindustani music, named after Benares (Varanasi), where Ram Sahai founded it in the late 18th or 19th century. Its style, the Benares or Banarsi baj, belongs with Lucknow and Farrukhabad to the purab baj, the eastern family of tabla playing.

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Origins & History

Ram Sahai is commonly dated 1780 to 1826. Robert Gottlieb, noting how widely the published dates differ, places his birth around 1830 or earlier. Gharana accounts send him to Lucknow at about nine to learn from Modhu Khan, so the school descends from the Lucknow gharana. Aneesh Pradhan names the teacher Makkhu Khan, and some Lucknow players dispute Modhu Khan's dates.

Gharana tradition adds that the young Ram Sahai played for seven nights in a row before Nawab Wazir Ali Khan in Lucknow, then withdrew for about six months in Benares to work out a new way of playing. Lineage accounts say he wanted one style that could carry a solo and also accompany soft khayal as well as dhrupad and kathak, where the playing turns heavier and close to the pakhawaj, the barrel drum.

The name appears as Benares, Banaras and Varanasi. Banaras gharana also names a vocal tradition of thumri, whose exponents include Girija Devi; see the Benares gharana of thumri. A Kathak school carries the city's name too.

"This gharana has focused on mathematical complexities, as was the case with traditional pakhawaj compositions"

— Aneesh Pradhan

Listen: Maestros of the resonant Banaras style of tabla playing, Scroll.in (2016)

வரலாற்றுக் காலவரிசை

1780 or about 1830

Birth of Ram Sahai

Tradition gives 1780 as Ram Sahai's birth year; Robert Gottlieb, noting widely differing dates, estimates around 1830 or earlier.
1880

Kanthe Maharaj is born

Kanthe Maharaj, later a pupil of Baldeo Sahai, is born in Kabir Chaura.
1923

Kishan Maharaj is born

Kishan Maharaj is born and trains first with his father Hari Maharaj, then with his uncle Kanthe Maharaj.
1965

A school named after Ram Sahai

The Sangit Vidyalaya named after Ram Sahai, started in Benares by Sharda Sahai, gives this as its establishment year in its own account.
1973

Padma Shri for Kishan Maharaj

The Gazette of India lists Kishan Maharaj, tabla player of Uttar Pradesh, among the Padma Shri awards for the year.
1987

UK charitable trust registered

Sharda Sahai and Frances Shepherd register the Sangit Vidyalaya named after Ram Sahai as a charitable trust in the UK.
1991

Padma Bhushan for Samta Prasad

Samta Prasad, also called Gudai Maharaj, of Varanasi receives the Padma Bhushan for tabla, as the Gazette of India records.
2002

Padma Vibhushan for Kishan Maharaj

Kishan Maharaj of Varanasi receives the Padma Vibhushan for instrumental music, 29 years after his Padma Shri, according to the Gazette of India.

Lineage & Legacy

The guru-shishya tradition passed down through generations

Ram Sahai's family kept one line, passing to his nephew Bhairav Sahai, then to Bhairav's son Baldeo Sahai and on to later generations, among them Sharda Sahai. A second hereditary line runs from Ram Sahai's disciple Bhagat-ji to Bhairav Prasad Mishra and then to Anokhelal Mishra. Kanthe Maharaj, a pupil of Baldeo Sahai, taught his nephew Kishan Maharaj, and Samta Prasad learned from Bikku Maharaj, another of Baldeo Sahai's pupils. Kumar Bose studied with Kishan Maharaj after first learning from his father.

Founder

Ram Sahai

1780-1826 (traditional; Gottlieb: born around 1830 or earlier)

Founder

Credited with founding the gharana after training in Lucknow. Lineage accounts also credit him with the curved-finger na and with the uthan, the Benarsi theka and the fard.
Guru-Shishya Tradition

19th century

Bhairav Sahai

1815-1894

Nephew of Ram Sahai

Ram Sahai's nephew. He carried the family line and passed it to his son, Baldeo Sahai. The lineage chart lists him as a soloist and accompanist.

Baldeo Sahai

1856-1906

Son of Bhairav Sahai

Taught Kanthe Maharaj and Bikku Maharaj, so the Kanthe Maharaj and Samta Prasad lines both pass through him. His grandson Sharda Sahai founded a tabla school in Benares named after Ram Sahai.
Guru-Shishya Tradition

20th century

Kanthe Maharaj

1880-1969 or 1970

Accompanist and teacher

Born in Kabir Chaura, Benares, son of the tabla player Daleep Mishra. He accompanied the leading singers, instrumentalists and dancers of his day and taught his nephew Kishan Maharaj.

Anokhelal Mishra

1914-1958

Soloist

Heir to the second hereditary line through Bhairav Prasad Mishra. Lineage accounts note his clarity and speed, and Aneesh Pradhan his virtuosity.

Samta Prasad (Gudai Maharaj)

Born 1921

Soloist and accompanist

Pupil of Bikku Maharaj, and an accompanist of kathak dancers as well as a soloist. Padma Bhushan 1991. His death is dated 1994, 1995 or 1999 in different accounts.

Kishan Maharaj

1923-2008

Soloist and accompanist

Learned from his father Hari Maharaj, then from his uncle Kanthe Maharaj. He accompanied Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan, and received the Padma Shri (1973) and Padma Vibhushan (2002).

Sharda Sahai

1935-2011

Descendant of Ram Sahai, teacher

A direct descendant of Ram Sahai. He learned from his father and, after his father's death in 1946, from Kanthe Maharaj, then taught in Benares and in the UK.

Kumar Bose

Born 1953

Soloist

Learned first from his father, Biswanath Bose, and then from Kishan Maharaj, according to lineage accounts.

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

  • Ram Sahai, founder, 1780-1826 by tradition
  • Baldeo Sahai, 1856-1906, teacher of Kanthe Maharaj
  • Kanthe Maharaj, 1880-1969 or 1970, accompanist and teacher
  • Anokhelal Mishra, 1914-1958, soloist
  • Samta Prasad (Gudai Maharaj), born 1921, Padma Bhushan 1991
  • Kishan Maharaj, 1923-2008, Padma Vibhushan 2002
  • Sharda Sahai, 1935-2011, teacher in Benares and the UK
  • Kumar Bose, born 1953, pupil of Kishan Maharaj

இசைப் பண்புகள்

Distinctive style, techniques, and aesthetic philosophy

Overall Style

Benares tabla is known for a powerful, open sound built on resonant strokes such as na and din, though its players also play softly. Aneesh Pradhan calls it the khula baj, the open style. Its compositions share the mathematical bent of pakhawaj compositions, and its players bend the pitch of the bayan, the bass drum.

An open sound

Resonant strokes such as na and din give the style its ringing, open sound. Players still keep a soft touch for khayal accompaniment.

The curved-finger na

Lineage accounts credit Ram Sahai with a na played with a curved ring finger, so the dahina, the right-hand drum, rings out fully.

Full-hand tete

Benares players prefer tete played with the full hand, though the Delhi-style tete is part of their repertoire too.

A bending bayan

Players bend the pitch of the bayan, the left-hand bass drum, by rubbing the skin or shifting wrist pressure, as Aneesh Pradhan describes.

Signature Repertoire

Benares is known for tukra, gat, uthan, fard, paran and bant, while the peshkar, an opening form common elsewhere, is not typical of the gharana. Lineage accounts credit Ram Sahai with the uthan, the Benarsi theka and the fard. Lineage accounts set out the order of a solo: an improvised introduction and uthan, then theka, kaida and rela, then fixed gat and fard, closing with tukra and paran.

Compare with Similar Gharanas

Understand how Benares Gharana (Tabla) differs from other traditions

Select a Gharana to Compare:

Benares Gharana (Tabla)
(Current)		 Lucknow Gharana (Tabla)
(Comparing)
வகை Tabla Tabla
தோற்றம் Varanasi Lucknow
Era Late 18th century
பாணி Benares tabla is known for a powerful, open sound built on resonant strokes such as na and din, though its players also play softly. Aneesh Pradhan calls it the khula baj, the open style. Its compositions share the mathematical bent of pakhawaj compositions, and its players bend the pitch of the bayan, the bass drum. The Lucknow manner is khula baj, the open style: bolder, more resonant strokes that use the palm with the fingers, set against Delhi's two-finger playing at the rim. Open and closed are not always clearly defined, and khula baj also plays closed strokes with force. The style draws on pakhawaj technique and on kathak, whose dancers shaped its fixed compositions. The dance school itself has its own page, the Lucknow gharana of Kathak.
View Lucknow Gharana (Tabla) Details

Influence & Legacy

Benares players carried the style into accompaniment across forms. Kishan Maharaj accompanied Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan, and he and Samta Prasad also played for kathak dancers, among them the young Shovana Narayan. Anokhelal Mishra helped spread the style as a soloist. Teaching reached the UK through Sharda Sahai's school, registered there as a charitable trust in 1987.

மூலங்கள்

  1. Shawn Mativetsky, Benares gharana (n.d.)
  2. DigiTabla, The six major gharanas (n.d.)
  3. Aneesh Pradhan, Maestros of the resonant Banaras style of tabla playing, Scroll.in (2016)
  4. Gazette of India, Padma award notifications (1973, 1991, 2002)
  5. PRSSV Institute of Performing Arts and Heritage, home and founders pages (n.d.)
  6. Shovana Narayan, tribute to Kishan Maharaj, The Tribune (2008)

அடிக்கடி கேட்கப்படும் கேள்விகள்

What is the Benares gharana of tabla?

The Benares gharana is a school of tabla playing named after the city of Benares, also written Banaras or Varanasi. Its open, resonant style, the Benares baj, belongs to the purab baj, the eastern tabla style, with Lucknow and Farrukhabad. It grew out of the Lucknow gharana.

Who founded the Benares gharana of tabla?

Ram Sahai founded the Benares gharana of tabla. He is commonly dated 1780 to 1826, though Robert Gottlieb places his birth around 1830 or earlier. Gharana accounts say he trained in Lucknow from about the age of nine, with Modhu Khan; Aneesh Pradhan names the teacher Makkhu Khan.

Which musicians belong to the Benares gharana of tabla today?

The tabla player Kousic Sen, a KalaSudha artist trained in the Banaras gharana, plays in the tradition today. In the lineage, Kumar Bose (born 1953) learned from Kishan Maharaj (1923-2008), whose generation also includes Samta Prasad.

How does the Benares gharana of tabla differ from the Lucknow gharana?

Benares tabla carries a stronger pakhawaj and laggi influence than the Lucknow gharana, from which Benares descends. Benares players favour resonant strokes and full-hand tete, and open a solo with an uthan. Read more on the Lucknow gharana of tabla.

What is the purbi baj, and which tabla gharanas belong to it?

The purbi or purab baj is the eastern style of tabla, and Benares, Lucknow and Farrukhabad belong to it. It uses more strokes with the fingers kept together, such as tete and tirakita, and more pakhawaj patterns than the Delhi style.

What are uthan and fard in Benares tabla?

The uthan is the composition that opens a Benares tabla solo, and the fard is a fixed composition played later in it. Lineage accounts credit Ram Sahai with both forms, along with the Benarsi theka. Aneesh Pradhan notes that an uthan may run across several cycles of the tala.

Why does Benares tabla sound so resonant?

Benares tabla sounds resonant because its players favour open strokes such as na and din, and full-hand strokes such as tete. Lineage accounts add a na played with a curved ring finger so the right-hand drum rings fully. Soft khayal accompaniment is part of the style too.

Is the Banaras gharana a vocal or a tabla tradition?

The name covers both. The Banaras gharana of tabla is the drumming school described here, while a separate vocal tradition of thumri, whose exponents include Girija Devi, also goes by that name: the Benares gharana of thumri. A Kathak school carries it as well, the Benares gharana of Kathak.

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