gharana · Dhrupad and khayal vocal, Instrumental
Vishnupur gharana
Bengal's own classical school, dhrupad-rooted and central to the music of nineteenth-century Calcutta.
Bishnupur, West Bengal · 6 musicians documented
Gharanas & musical lineages
Hindustani music is taught person to person. Browse the traditions by voice, instrument or place, and open one to read who is documented within it.
About this guide
The names of these traditions — gharana, bani, teaching line, regional style — describe different things, and each entry says which it is. Where a teaching link is shown, a sentence in a named source supports it. Where it is not, we say so, and the claim stays unpublished.
This is growing research rather than a complete map. Not every instrument organises itself into gharanas, many musicians here do not yet have a page of their own, and dates, founders and teaching links are left out wherever a source has not yet settled them. Additions are read by an editor before they appear. Carnatic traditions are a later phase.
4 traditions
Showing 4 traditions
Vocal gharanas — khayal, thumri and tappa
Khayal and the lighter classical forms. A gharana here is recognised by how it opens a raga, shapes a taan and treats the words — usually named after the town where its founding family settled.
Instrumental gharanas and teaching lines
Sitar, sarod, bansuri, sarangi, shehnai, santoor, violin and harmonium. Some are full gharanas with their own baaj; others are teaching lines, where the transmission is documented but no house name is claimed.
gharana · Sitar, Sarod, Surbahar, Bansuri, Violin
Maihar (Senia-Maihar) gharana
The twentieth century's most far-reaching instrumental school: dhrupad-like alap, a strict practice regime, and students across several different instruments.
Maihar, Madhya Pradesh · 17 musicians documented
gharana · Sitar, Surbahar
Imdadkhani (Etawah) gharana
The sitar school that made the instrument sing: gayaki ang, drawn-out meend, and a family line of players over six generations.
Etawah, Uttar Pradesh · 12 musicians documented
teaching lineage · Sitar, Surbahar
Senia sitar lineage (Masitkhani baaj)
The older, dhrupad-leaning sitar line behind the Masitkhani gat: slow, weighty compositions and a plectrum style kept apart from the dominant twentieth-century schools.
Delhi, Jaipur · 6 musicians documented