Indore Beenkar

The Indore beenkar gharana represents the austere and meditative tradition of the rudra veena (also called been or bin), one of the oldest and most revered string instruments in Hindustani classical music, deeply associated with the ancient dhrupad tradition. This gharana is descended from the illustrious Ustad Bande Ali Khan (c. 1830s–1896), one of the most historically celebrated exponents of the been, who served in the courts of Gwalior and Indore before settling in Pune. An innovative musician, Bande Ali Khan was particularly fond of khayal singing, which he adapted to the bin—an instrument that until then had been solely used to interpret the dhrupad style.

The rudra veena tradition in Indore was further enriched by masters such as Ustad Abid Hussain Khan (1907–1978), who hailed from Baroda and the court of the Nawab of Jinjira but settled in Indore during the 1940s and 1950s. Born as the grandson of Raza Ali Beenkar, Abid Hussain Khan was an accomplished vocalist and beenkar who belonged to the khayal-ang rudra veena tradition. He traced his musical heritage from Shri Mishri Singh Rajput of Jaipur, who once accompanied Miyan Tansen on rudra veena before emperor Akbar, representing an unbroken lineage spanning centuries.

In the 20th century, the rudra veena became known in the West primarily through two great masters: Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929–1990), the only member of the Dagar family who performed an instrumental version of dhrupad, and Ustad Asad Ali Khan (1937–2011) of Alwar, who represented the khandarbani dhrupad style of the Jaipur beenkar gharana. Zia Mohiuddin Dagar modified the instrument to use bigger gourds, a thicker tube (dandi), and thicker steel playing strings, creating a different aural world from the traditional design, while both approaches have their unique beauty and continue to inspire practitioners of this profound instrumental tradition.