Pandit Kishan Maharaj (September 3, 1923 – May 4, 2008) was an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n tabla

Tabla

The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...

 player who belonged to the Benares gharana

Benares gharana

Benares gharānā is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla.-History:The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai . Ram Sahai began studying the tabla with his father from the age of five. At the age of nine, he moved to Lucknow to...

 of Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music

Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

.

Early life and background

Kishan Maharaj was born in Kabir Chaura

Kabir Chaura

Kabir Chaura is a locality in Varanasi, India. It is known as the place where mystic poet and saint Kabir grew up. The word 'Chaura' is a distortion of 'Chauraha', literally meaning a four-way crossing...

, Benaras into a family of professional musicians. He was initially trained in classical music by his father,Hari Maharaj. After his father's death, his training was taken over by his uncle, Kanthe Maharaj, a disciple of Baldeo Sahai of the Benares gharana

Benares gharana

Benares gharānā is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla.-History:The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai . Ram Sahai began studying the tabla with his father from the age of five. At the age of nine, he moved to Lucknow to...

.

Musical career

Kishan Maharaj, by the time he was eleven, he began performing in concerts. Within a few years, Kishan Maharaj was sharing the stage with stalwarts like Faiyaz Khan

Faiyaz Khan

Ustad Faiyaz Khan is so far the best known exponent of Agra Gharana in Hindustani classical music. He was the master khayal vocalist of his time. Born at Sikandara near Agra in 1886 , he was the son of Shabr Hussain, who died three months before his birth...

, Omkarnath Thakur

Omkarnath Thakur

Omkarnath Thakur was an Indian educator, musicologist, and Hindustani classical singer. He is famously known as "Pranav Rang", his pen-name.Thakur was born 1897 in a village in the Princely State of Baroda into a poor military family...

, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi

Bhimsen Joshi

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ; February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana , he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music...

, Vasant Rai

Vasant Rai

Vasant Rai was one of world's most acclaimed performers of Indian music and virtuoso of the Indo/Persian/Afghan instrument Sarod.-Personal life and education:Rai was born in Unjha, Kutch, Gujarat and studied music in India...

, Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

, Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan , often referred to as Khansahib or by the title Ustad , was a Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod...

, Vilayat Khan

Vilayat Khan

Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of India's well known sitar maestros, born in Gauripur in Mymensingh, Bengal...

,and many others.

Maharaj had the ability to play cross-rhythms and produce complex calculations, particularly in tihai

Tihai

The tihai is a polyrhythmic technique used in Indian classical music often used to conclude a piece.The basic format of the tihai is 3 equal repetitions of a rhythmic or melodic pattern, usually interspersed with 2 equal rests, calculated to fall on a significant point in the tala most often the...

 patterns. Known as an excellent accompanist, Maharaj was extremely versatile and capable of playing with any accompaniment, be it with the Sitar

Sitar

The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...

, Sarod

Sarod

The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...

, Dhrupad

Dhrupad

Dhrupad is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition. Its name is derived from the words "dhruva" and "pada"...

, Dhamar

Dhamar (music)

A dhrupad set to the 14-beat time signature dhamar tal is called a dhamar. It is seen as a light musical form, and associated with the Holi Spring Festival of colours....

 or even dance.

Maharaj gave a number of solo concerts during his career and also gave `Sangat`

Sangat (term)

Sangat is a Sikh term with its origin in the Sanskrit word 'sangh', which means company, fellowship and association. In Sikh vocabulary, the word has a special connotation. It stands for the body of men and women who meet religiously, especially in the presence of the Guru Granth Sahib...

 to some great dancers like Sri Shambhu Maharaj, Sitara Devi

Sitara Devi

Sitara Devi is an eminent Indian dancer of the classical Kathak style of dancing. When she was in her teens, Rabindranath Tagore, after watching a performance by her described her as Nritya Samragini, meaning, the empress of dance...

, Natraj Gopi Krishna

Gopi Krishna (dancer)

Gopi Krishna was an Indian dancer, actor and choreographer.- Life and career :Gopi Krishna was born into a family of Kathak dancers. His maternal grandfather Pandit Sukhdev Maharaj was a teacher of Kathak and his aunt Sitara Devi is a Kathak dancer who has performed around the world...

, and Birju Maharaj

Birju Maharaj

Brijmo Mishra popularly known as Pandit Birju Maharaj is currently the leading exponent of the Varanasi Kalka-Bindadin gharana of Kathak dance in India.He is a descendant of the legendary Maharaj family of Kathak dancers, including his two uncles, Shambhu Maharaj and Lachhu Maharaj, and his father...

.

Among all his compositions, his "Tala Vadya Kacheri" with the Mridangam Vidwan, "Palghat Raghu" stood out. Maharaj extensively toured and participated in several prestigious events across the world, including the Edinburgh festival

Edinburgh Festival

The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...

 and the Commonwealth Arts festival in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1965.

Maharaj won the Padma Shri

Padma Shri

Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

 in 1973 and the Padma Vibhushan

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...

 in 2002. For many years, he was married to Savita Devi, daughter of Siddheshwari Devi

Siddheshwari Devi

Siddheswari Devi was a Hindustani singer from Varanasi, India, known as Maa . Born in 1907, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi.-Initiation into Music:...

.

Death and legacy

Kishan Maharaj died on May 4, 2008 at Khajuri near Varanasi at the age of 84.

Maharaj's disciples include Pandit Nandan Mehta, Sukhvinder Singh Namdhari, Kumar Bose, Vineet Vyas (Toronto), Sandeep Das, Balkrishna Iyer, Shubh Maharaj, Pandit Pooran Maharaj (son), Anand "Maharaj" Lahiri, Arvind Kumar "Azad", Ranesh Mishra, Shashi Bellare.