Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar Biography 
Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar was a scholar and teacher of Hindustani classical music, from the Agra gharana. Born on January 1, 1900 - on the first day of 20th century, he remained one of the greatest teachers of Hindustani music. He received Padma Bhushan from the Government of India in 1957, Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1963 and later, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for his contributions to Indian music. He has served as the Principal of Bhatkhande Music University at Lucknow and later was appointed as Vice-Chancellor Indira Sangeet Kala Vishva Vidyalaya, Khairagarh, Madhya Pradesh. Many of his disciples have later become big names of Indian classical music. Chidanand Nagarkar, V.G. Jog, Dinkar Kaikini, Shanno Khurana, Sumati Mutatkar, C R Vyas, Chinmoy Lahiri and Roshan Lal Nagrath are among those great names.
He was born in Mumbai as the son of Narayan Govind Ratanjankar. Their ancestral home was in Agra. His family got settled in Mumbai during middle 19th century. Ratnanjakar received vocal training in music from Krishnam Bhatt of Karwar at the age of 7. He also learnt from Anant Manohar Joshi (Gwalior gharana) and later under Faiyaz Khan of Agra gharana. He graduated from Bombay University in 1926.
He was an exponent of Dhrupad and Khayal styles of Agra gharana. Ratanjankar has done more than 800 compositions under his pen name "Sujan". He has also composed 3 operas - Govardhanodhar, Jhansi Ki Rani and Shivamangalam. Govardhanodhar was telecasted from all stations of AIR that time. As an author, his books include - Geet Manjari, Taan Sangrah, Sangeet Shiksha, and Abhinava Geet Majari. He has also composed the ragas - Marga Bihag, Gopika Basant, Kedar Bahar, Sawani Kedar, Ranjani Kalyan, Hansaranjani, Salagvarali and Yamani Bilawal. He has also served as Chairman of the Jury of Auditions of AIR during middle 1950’s.
Published: N/A
Updated: October 19, 2015
