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Annapurna Devi: The Untold Story of a Reclusive Genius by Atul Merchant Jataayu, is now available in an excellent Kannada translation.
N Sandhya Rani has translated the book, originally published in English by Penguin, about one of the most enigmatic figures in Indian music.
The biography describes, among other things, the turbulence of the relationship of the surbahar doyenne with her celebrity husband Pandit Ravi Shankar. The surbahar is a bigger, deeper version of the sitar.
The two musicians were polar opposites--while Ravi Shankar trotted the globe, performing at prestigious venues, Annapurna Devi was happy to be confined to her flat in Mumbai, practising music like penance. Her distrust of fame was known among her disciples, one of them being Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, the flute maestro. "Stardom is the ultimate test imposed by Sharda Ma on Her seekers," the book quotes her as saying. The Kannada translation, published in 2026, is available at bookshops across Karnataka.
Annapurna Devi (1927–2018) and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar were briefly married, and the story of their artistic and emotional conflict inspired the Hrishikesh Mukherjee film Abhimaan (1973).
Daughter of the legendary Ustad Allauddin Khan, Annapurna Devi and her brother Ustad Ali Akbar Khan are placed among the greatest musicians of the 20th century. Ravi Shankar was a diciple of Allauddin Khan, who lived an austere life in a village called Maihar in Uttar Pradesh.
In a desperate attempt to save her marriage, Annapurna Devi vowed never to perform publicly, and did not change her mind even through a painful custody battle and divorce. She even declined a request backed by Indira Gandhi to play for such iconic musicians as George Harrison and Yehudi Menuhin.
Jataayu’s book is a compelling counter to Ravishankar’s autobiography Ragamala.
The sensitively done Kannada translation, titled Annapurna Devi: Apurva Kalavideya Ashruta Kathana, provides moving insights into a private and intense world.
Priced at Ra 549, the book is published by Nudi Pustaka, Bengaluru.
Phone: 80733 21430. nudipustakaco@gmail.com
