Hindustani music · pedagogy · scholarship
Arijit
Mahalanabis
Founder-Director of SIMA
Hindustani musician, teacher, musicologist, composer, translator, and founder of the Society for Indian Music and Arts.
Arijit Mahalanabis’s work has been shaped by an unusually broad range of traditions, encompassing Dhrupad, Khayal, Thumri, Tappa, and sustained engagement with Carnatic music.
His principal teacher was Smt. Shantha Benegal, a disciple of Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan, and Pt. Murali Manohar Shukla. Through her, he inherited Dhrupad from the Dagarbani and Agra traditions, Khayal repertoire from the Agra and Kunwar Shyam Gharanas, and a wide body of light-classical compositions. He also received guidance from Pta. Neela Bhagwat of the Gwalior Gharana and Pt. Arun Dravid of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana. His early training was with Smt. Shahana Banerjee.
Teaching became the center of Arijit’s musical life. He developed SIMA’s systematic pedagogy and graded curriculum: Saṅgīt Praveśikā, Saṅgīt Mādhyamik, and Saṅgīt Pāṅḍitya. His work centers on teaching, scholarship, curriculum development, and cultivating the next generation of musicians.
As a scholar and translator, Arijit has worked on historical repertoire and musicological texts including Mārīf-ul Naghmāt, Prof. Ramanlal Mehta’s Agra Gharana, Pt. Ramashray Jha’s Abhinav Gītāñjalī, and writings by Pt. Ramprasanna and Pt. Gopeshwar Bandyopadhyay.
He has conceived and produced major SIMA presentations including Nāyikā, Mahishasura Mardini, Kahat Hai Sāñjhraṅg, Rituchakra, and Bhanusingher Padabali, and has performed and lectured across North America, India, and the United Kingdom.
Arijit has composed several hundred bandiś under the nom de plume Sāñjhraṅg. Many have entered the active repertoire of his students and the wider SIMA community.
