Hindustani classical
Pandit Ramashish Pathak
The pakhawaj master of Amta, near Darbhanga, who played in the Kudau Singh style, accompanied the Mallick family's Darbhanga dhrupad, and received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1995.
- Instrument
- Pakhawaj
- Gharana
- Darbhanga (Amta)
- On these dates
- No reliable published source found yet for his birth and death dates. Gunijankhana's 2018 film notes say he had died a few years earlier.
Official website & social links
We have no checked official pages for Pandit Ramashish Pathak yet. Suggest an official link.
Where to start
Begin listening
An evening with pakhawaj (Gunijankhana baithak)
Recorded 2011 · CeGrams
The fullest filmed record of his playing, made by the concert's organisers.
Film by Akhilesh Jha for Gunijankhana, from an all-night baithak at Rashmitaru, 2011. About 39 minutes.
Pakhawaj solo
Darbhanga Gharana
A solo shared by the Darbhanga tradition's own channel.
Uploaded by the Darbhanga Gharana channel. About 23 minutes.
Recordings are embedded from official or authorised channels and never rehosted. Nothing plays on its own, and starting one closes another. Where an editor has added a note, it explains why that recording was chosen — not what happens inside it.
Biography
Life
Ramashish Pathak came from Amta, a village near Darbhanga in Mithila, Bihar, which with Darbhanga is the seat of the Mallick family's tradition of dhrupad. He learnt percussion from his grandfather, Vishnudev Pathak, in the line of the Kudau Singh gharana of pakhawaj, and became known as one of the most respected pakhawaj players in the country.
He accompanied the leading Darbhanga dhrupad singers, among them Ram Chatur Mallick and Abhay Narayan Mallick, and also performed as a soloist, often with his students. In 1995 the Sangeet Natak Akademi gave him its award for pakhawaj. Admirers knew him as "Mridangacharya".
In 2011 the Gunijankhana music circle presented him in an all-night baithak at Rashmitaru alongside the Pakistani tabla player Tari Khan of the Punjab gharana — a rare meeting of the two drums. He taught his son, the pakhawaj and tabla player Shubhashish Pathak. By 2018 Gunijankhana was remembering him as having died a few years earlier.
Musical contribution
What they brought to music
Played in the Kudau Singh style of pakhawaj, heard both as a dhrupad accompanist and as a soloist with his students.
Lineage & company
Teachers, students and musical connections
People
Grouped by the kind of relationship the sources record — who taught this musician, who they taught, family, and the people they played with.
Family
- Vishnudev PathakGrandfather and guru
Trained him in percussion in the Kudau Singh line
Darbhanga dhrupad recording notes - Shubhashish PathakSon and disciple
Pakhawaj and tabla player, trained by his father at Amta
Ashirvachan — Shubhashish Pathak
Collaborators and accompanists
- Pandit Ram Chatur MallickAccompanied
Frequently accompanied him in Darbhanga dhrupad performances
Darbhanga dhrupad recording notes - Pandit Abhay Narayan MallickAccompanied
Frequently accompanied him in Darbhanga dhrupad performances
Darbhanga dhrupad recording notes - Ustad Tari KhanShared concert
All-night baithak presented by Gunijankhana, 2011
Gunijankhana film notes
Recognition
Honours and recognition
- 1995Sangeet Natak Akademi AwardPakhawaj
Community
Memories from the community
Personal recollections, not verified history
These are memories shared by listeners and musicians. They sit apart from the sourced biography above, and an editor reads each one before it appears.
- No memories have been shared yet.
Members can share a memory of Pandit Ramashish Pathak. Sign in or create an account.
Provenance
Sources and image credits
- Sangeet Natak Akademi — list of Akademi Award winners (archived): "Ram Ashish Pathak 1995"
- Ashish Sankrityayan, Dhrupad – Archives: "Pandit Ramashish Pathak – Pakhawaj Solo" (2009)
- Gunijankhana / Akhilesh Jha — "Pt. Ramashish Pathak: an evening with Pakhawaj" (film notes)
- Darbhanga dhrupad recording notes — "Ramashish Pathak Pakhawaj Solo"
- Ashirvachan — Shubhashish Pathak
No photograph of this musician is published here yet; we use only images we are permitted to show, with credit.
Continue exploring