India's most formidable musician, Annapurna Devi, dies at 91

“I've lost both my mother and guru,” a choked flute maestro Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia told said at South Mumbai's Chandanwadi crematorium. His wife and daughter-in-law seemed concerned as he is himself in poor health. “The doctor and my family were insisting I stay away but how could I not come to pay my respect to my guru,” he said. “Though she was a strict guru and only expected the best from her students she also went out of her way to express love and caring.”

The Padma Bhushan awardee nonagenarian music doyenne breathed her last at 3.15 am on Saturday. She was suffering from multiple age-related complications for the past three years, her manager and old family loyalist Ravi Nair told DNA. “Even when I met her last week, she was quite alert and remembered small nitty-gritties she wanted attended. Despite her ill health and advanced age, this made me feel she will battle this phase and get well soon. So her demise came as a big blow.” Nair was originally a manager with well-known communication expert and sitarist Rooshikumar Pandya who she married in 1982.

‘Ma’, as she was popularly addressed, was born in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh to Ustad ‘Baba’ Allauddin Khan and Madina Begum on 23rd April 1927 as Roshanara Khan. Youngest of the four siblings one of who is the world-renowned maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan though she spent relatively lesser time learning under her maestro father, he would often proudly tell everyone that her musicality could surpass him and all his other disciples put together. She chose to train in the much tougher Surbahaar after picking up both dhrupad singing and sitar in which she trained from the age of five. By 14, she was not only performing at concerts all over the country but also guiding her father's disciples. Around then her father's disciple sitarist Pt Ravi Shankar showed an interest in marrying her. Ustad Allauddin Khan had her convert to Hinduism before the marriage.

Though the couple had a son 'Shubho' Shankar soon after and were performing in concerts together, the way the audiences warmed up to her and applauded her more than him began to affect the sitarist husband leading to cracks in the marriage due to his insecurity. Annapurna Devi's last public performance was in the year 1956 following which she decided to shun public life and confined herself to her Breach Candy apartment. Soon after that Ravi Shankar left for the US his family acquaintance-cum-live-in partner Kamala Shastri. The couple were estranged and their story inspired Hrishikesh Mukherjee to make his 1973 blockbuster Abhimaan (starring Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan). Much later Pt Ravi Shankar discovered that his son had become quite the sitarist under his mother but after he left for the US for two years with his father, he returned broken and ended his life in 1992.

Chaurasia, says she never let her personal setbacks come in the way of her music. “Her superior tutelage made all her students big names in the world of music. In the early 80s when I approached Ma to teach me she said I must forget everything I've learned. She also asked me to shift to playing with my left hand. I agreed and play with the left hand to this day.”

His thoughts were echoed by flautist Nityanand Haldipur who performed the last rites. Several music lovers and members of the families of musicians close to Annapurna Devi were also present at the crematorium where her mortal remains were consigned to the flames.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter to condole the death of the doyenne.