The character arc of Ravi Shankar
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 7 April 1920 in Benares, now Varanasi, the youngest of a large Bengali family. Between then and his death sit a father working in London whom he did not meet until he was eight, Paris at ten with his brother's dance group, a decade of touring Europe and America as a performer, a decision at eighteen to stop dancing and study the sitar under Allauddin Khan, a public debut in December 1939, seven years of training finished in 1944, the music for the Apu Trilogy, All India Radio from 1949, a resignation in 1956 to tour the West, Monterey, Woodstock, the Concert for Bangladesh, a heart attack on tour, the score for Gandhi, four Grammy Awards, and a last concert with his daughter a month before he died. The line below draws the whole story.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Ravi Shankar?
He was already a success at eighteen. He gave it up to start again.
His father was a barrister and scholar who worked in London, and who married a second time there while his mother raised him in Benares. He did not meet his father until he was eight years old. At ten he left Benares for Paris with the dance group of his older brother Uday, and by thirteen he was a member of it, touring Europe and the United States, learning to dance, learning French, learning several Indian instruments, and hearing Western classical music and jazz for the first time.
In December 1934 he heard Allauddin Khan play at a music conference in Calcutta. Khan was the lead musician at the court of Maihar, and he later offered to train Shankar properly on one condition: that he stop touring and come to Maihar. By the time the European tour ended his parents had died. In 1938, at eighteen, he took the offer. He left the dancing career he already had, moved into Khan's household under the old gurukul system, and began again as a beginner.
Khan was a strict teacher. Shankar learned the sitar and the surbahar, studied dhrupad, dhamar and khyal, and was taught the rudra veena, the rubab and the sursingar as well. He made his public debut on the sitar in December 1939, in a duet with Khan's son Ali Akbar Khan. He completed his training in 1944, seven years after walking away from the stage.
Then the work began to show. He composed for the Indian People's Theatre Association, wrote the music for Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, and was music director of All India Radio in New Delhi from February 1949, where he founded the Indian National Orchestra. In 1956 he resigned to tour the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, playing to small rooms and explaining the music to them as he went.
The 1960s made him famous in places that had never heard a raga. He played Monterey in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969, won his first Grammy that same decade with Yehudi Menuhin, taught George Harrison, wrote a concerto for the London Symphony Orchestra, and played the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. He kept a distance from the drug culture that had attached itself to his audience, saying the music was religion to him. He was still touring in his eighties, and his last concert was with his daughter Anoushka in November 2012.
The moments
Ravi Shankar's timeline.
The 1920s
Born in Benares
Everyday. The youngest of a large family, in a temple city.
He meets his father at eight
Setback, and it changed his direction. A father who was a name and a profession, until he was eight.
The 1930s
To Paris at ten
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Ten years old, and the family trade turns out to be the stage.
A working member at thirteen
Everyday. A teenager with a job, a passport and four languages of music.
He hears Allauddin Khan
Milestone, and it changed his direction. One concert, and the rest of his life had a direction.
Keep the stage, or start again
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go to Maihar, taken, or stay with the group. He finished the training in 1944 and became the best known exponent of Indian classical music in the second half of the century.
He gives up dancing
Milestone, and it changed everything. A working performer at eighteen, choosing to be a beginner again.
His first sitar concert
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The first time an audience heard him on the instrument.
The 1940s
His training is finished
Milestone, and it changed everything. Seven years in one house, learning one thing properly.
Music director at the radio
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A salary, a studio, and an orchestra of his own design.
The 1950s
The Apu Trilogy
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Three films that carried his music out of the country before he went.
He resigns and tours
Milestone, and it changed everything. Small rooms, a strange instrument, and a man explaining it.
The 1960s
Monterey, and a burnt guitar
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The biggest audience of his life, and a line he would not cross.
Woodstock, which he disliked
Everyday. The most famous festival in the world, and he wanted no part of it.
The 1970s
The Concert for Bangladesh
Milestone, and it changed everything. A benefit concert for his part of the world, in the biggest room in America.
A heart attack in Chicago
Setback, and it changed his direction. Fifty four years old, and the schedule finally caught him.
The 1980s
The score for Gandhi
Milestone, and it changed his direction. His music under the story of the man who made his country.
The 1990s
His son dies
Setback, and it changed everything. The child who toured with him, gone first.
He teaches his daughter
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The thing he was given in Maihar, handed on at home.
The Bharat Ratna
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The highest thing his country can give a person.
The 2010s
A last concert with Anoushka
Milestone, and it changed everything. Ninety two years old, on stage, with his daughter beside him.
He dies at ninety two
Setback, and it changed everything. Five weeks after the last concert.
Two of his children make their living from music and one of them plays his instrument. What he set moving is a sound that was local to one country when he was born and is played on every continent now, and a record of what happens when somebody already doing well decides to start over.
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Ravi Shankar: frequently asked questions
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Was Ravi Shankar part of the 1960s drug culture?
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Where does this timeline of Ravi Shankar's life come from?
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Sources
- Ravi Shankar, English Wikipedia biography.
- Recording and award records for the four Grammy Awards, the Academy Award nomination for Gandhi, and the Bharat Ratna in 1999.
- His own autobiographies, My Music, My Life and Raga Mala.
- His membership of the upper house of India's parliament is in the public record and is deliberately not drawn here, under the rule that a Character page carries no party or government office.