The Linage of Indian Classical Music germinated and evolved around various places of patronage and places of religious importance. Benares music tradition evolved in the city of Benares . Devout Hindus consider it the city of enlightenment. Benares is one of the world's oldest cities where Lord Shiva is said to have made his permanent abode since the dawn of creation. Mentioned in the Vedas, Upanishads, Ramayana & the Mahabharata, this city has seen it all. As Mark Twain wrote “ Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend & looks twice as old as all of them put together”.
Stationed on the trishul of lord Vishwanatha (Shiva) on the banks of the great holy river Ganges , Benares has been the harvesting soil of one of the most living traditions of Music – THE BENARES GHARANA.
A symbol of National Pride , Benares has produced many great musicians who have contributed over a vast period of time in introducing a variety of techniques in the fields of Classical Vocal, Instrumental & Dance forms, thereby making the Benares Gharana unique as it is the only Gharana in tradition which has an equal foothold in all the three aspects. The Music tradition of Benares ha been threaded together over centuries and generations by sacred bond of the Guru-Shishya traditional system whereby the Guru passes on his ancient knowledge and tradition to the disciple. Thus maintining the finer nuances of the tradition, the term Gharana is basically is this parampara or tradition of passing on and carrying forward the rich cultural legacy of artistic divine from one family to another, from one generation to the next, which over the period of time has evolved into a system.
