Ustad Allaudin Khan

The video is a documentary on the life of the great sarod player and Hindustani classical music exponent, Ustad Allaudin Khan, produced by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. Ustad Allaudin Khan (1862-1972) was born in Shibpur village in Tripura. At only 8 years of age, he ran away from home and went to Calcutta to learn music. He took on a Hindu name and trained under the dhrupad singer Nilu Gopal for seven years. Under his Guru’s guidance, he not only became a great instrumentalist, but also a legendary teacher. He built one of the strongest musical families in modern India. He laid the foundation of the modern Maihar gharana. He was the court musician at the court of Maharaja of Maihar. Maihar was a princely state during the British Raj, located in Madhya Pradesh. After the First World War, he trained a group of orphan boys and made them into the renowned Maihar band.