Annapurna Devi

Annapurna Devi (Devanagari: अन्नपूर्णा देवी; born Roshanara Khan on 23 April 1927) is a reclusive surbahar (bass sitar) player of Hindustani Classical Music.

Family and life

Devi's father and guru Alauddin Khan, founder of the "Senia Maihar Gharana" or "Senia Maihar School" of Hindustani classical music, was considered a singular phenomenon in the twentieth century Indian classical music. Her uncles Fakir Aftabuddin Khan and Ayet Ali Khan were revered musicians at their native place Shibpur in the present-day Bangladesh. Her brother Ali Akbar Khan was a legendary Sarode maestro and was considered a "national living treasure" in India and the USA. Her former husband Sitarist Ravi Shankar is perhaps the best-known Indian classical musician abroad.

Annapurna Devi was born in 23 April 1927 at Maihar, a small princely state of British India (now a part of Madhya Pradesh state of India), where her revered father Alauddin Khan was a royal court musician at that time. But, her family has their ancestry in the village of Shibpur, Brahmanbaria, in the then British India, present Bangladesh. Annapurna Devi grew up in Maihar as Roshanara Khan. She was one of the three daughters (Jahanara, Sharija, Roshanara) of Alauddin Khan. Sharija died an early death suffering from diseases in her childhood. When Alauddin's other daughter, Jahanara, got married, and a jealous mother-in-law burnt her......
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