Manju Mehta, the woman behind India’s popular music festival, passes away

A life dedicated to classical music

Manju Mehta was not only a fine sitar artiste belonging to the Senia Maihar tradition, but she was also one of India’s most respected patrons of music. Co-founder of the country’s largest music festival, the 13-day-long Saptak, which was launched in 1980. Through this event, Manju Mehta gave back to the world of classical music what she gained from it as a practitioner.  

Born on May 21, 1945, in Jaipur, Manju belonged to a family of musicians. Her parents were Hindustani vocalists. Both her brothers — Shashi Mohan Bhatt was proficient in sitar and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt in slide guitar (Mohan Veena). While Manju initially learnt from her brother Shashi, she later trained under sitar maestro Pt Ravi Shankar, who was also her brother’s guru.  

Manju also learnt from the Jodhpur-based sarodist Pt. Damodar Lal Kabra (the first disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) in the guru-sishya parampara. She often spoke about that period of intense riyaaz, practising around six hours a day, and playing the same raag over and over again.

After marrying tabla maestro Pt. Nandan Mehta, (disciple of Banaras gharana doyen Pt. Kishen Maharaj), Manju shifted base to Ahmedabad, and along with her husband built Saptak into a formidable cultural organisation. She took a decade’s sabbatical from stage performances. After the untimely demise of her husband in 2010, she spent most of her time in managing Saptak, particularly its popular festivals, music school and archival section.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the simple and affable Manju Mehta played a significant role in promoting Hindustani music in Gujarat. She was the first woman performer to be awarded the Madhya Pradesh Government’s Tansen Samman in 2018, and the Kolkata-based ITC Sangeet Research Academy award in 2019. Retaining the authentic baaj of her gharana, with the focus on the dhrupad ang aalap and jor, Manju Mehta’s sitar playing stood out for its traditional appeal. Her daughter Purvi plays the sitar, and Hetal the tabla, carrying forward the family’s musical legacy.