Annapurna Devi Biography 
Annapurna Devi is a surbahar (bass sitar) player of Hindustani Classical Music. She was married to sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. Her father, Allauddin Khan is the founder of Maihar gharana and the first artist to win Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. Both Annapurna Devi and Ravi Shankar were the disciples of Allauddin Khan. Annapurna married Pandit Ravi Shankar in the year 1941 and got divorced in 1962. After that she never appeared in public, rather she taught students. Hariprasad Chaurasia was the disciple of Annapurna Devi. Eevn Padma Bhushan was delivered at her home as she denied public appearance in 1977. Her brother Ali Akbar Khan was a legendary Sarod maestro.
Annapurna Devi was born on 23 April 1927 at Maihar of Madhya Pradesh. Her father was a royal court musician at the court of Maharaja Brijnath Singh. Maharaja gave her the name ‘Annapurna’. Annapurna Devi learnt music from her father. She married Ravi Shankar when she was only 14. Ravi Shankar was 21 then. She converted to Hinduism soon after marriage. Sitar player, Shubhendra Shankar is their son. He died at a younger age (after marriage). He has occasionally assisted his father in many foreign concerts. During 1950’s, Annapurna Devi has performed with her husband in many concerts. It’s believed that classic movie of yesterdays, Abhiman is based on the married life of this wedded couple. During concerts, Annapurna used to get more applause than her husband. Later she left live performances at concerts. Annapurna Devi was already a master of the Surbhahar when Ravi Shankar came to study with her father.
Though she refrained from taking music as her profession, she stayed alive in the field and earned reputation as well. Many of her disciples became great names in the field of classical music. Aashish Khan Debsharma, Chandrakant Sardeshmukh, Sudhir Phadke, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Kokila Rai, Pradeep Barot and Nityanand Haldipur are a few names that received training from her.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 06, 2014
