Bismillah Khan and Benaras

This is a book about a unique personality and one of India’s greatest musical legends. Bismillah Khan embodies in himself and his divine music the great musical tradition of India which is the efflorescence of a secular spiritual heritage. A tradition which finds no contradiction in the Ustad, a devout Muslim, playing he shehnai every morning at the Kashi Balaji temple with the same piety with which he reads his ‘namaz’. It is this man who challenges orthodox religious authorities to play the shehnai on the streets of Benaras on the occasion off Moharram. This book tells the story of the sacred complex of Benaras, its music, its lanes and its culture of ‘mauj’ and ‘masti’ and its unfolding in a life that has imbibed in itself all that is pure and great in its environment. It is the story of a simple whose spiritual awakening can be compared to that of a sage. A man who was able to turn the ‘shehnai’, an instrument not considered worth an independent existence into a musical ecstasy to be experienced by the whole world. The author, herself belonging toe he same milieu and reflecting the same culture, recapitulated the musician’s life through her own experiences and interactions with artist. This book brings together the shehnai, Benaras and the Ustad to present them as a unified entity; one can not be properly appreciated without the other. The unique contribution of this book lies in its bringing forth the true character of Indian Music and Musicians, showing that Indian classical music is a way of life and spiritual experience, unparalleled anywhere else.