Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (August 10, 1860 – September 19, 1936) was
an Indian musicologist who wrote the first modern treatise
on Hindustani Classical Music (The north Indian variety
of Indian classical music), an art which had been propagated earlier for a
few centuries mostly through oral traditions. During those earlier times, the
art had undergone several changes, rendering the raga grammar documented
in scant old texts outdated.
Ragas used to be classified into Raga
(male), Ragini (female), and Putra (children). Bhatkhande reclassified them
into the currently used Thaat system. He noted that several ragas did
not conform to their description in ancient Sanskrit texts. He explained the
ragas in an easy-to-understand language and composed several bandishes which
explained the grammar of the ragas. He borrowed the idea of lakshan
geet from the Carnatic music scholar Venkatamakhin.
Bhatkhande wrote all of his
works under one of the two pseudonyms - Vishnu Sharma and Chaturpandit.
Bhatkhande started schools
and colleges in India for systematic teaching of Hindustani music. In 1916, he
reorganized the Baroda state music school, and later, with the help of
theMaharaja of Gwalior, established the Madhav Music College in
Gwalior.
Bhatkhande prepared
the Hindustani Sangeet Karmik Pustak Malika as a series of
textbooks. He also started the tradition of the All India Music Conferences to
provide a common platform for discussion between Hindustani and Carnatic
classical musicians.
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