Basavaraj Rajguru

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Basavaraj Rajguru (August 24, 1917-1991) was born in Yeliwal, a village in the north Karnataka district of Dharwad. Dharwad is blessed to have given to Indian music some of its greatest exponents, Pandit Basavraj Mahantaswamy Rajguru being one of stars in the list.

Born in a family of scholars, astrologers and musicians, Basavraj was initiated into classical music at an early age by his father, who was himself a renowned Carnatic musician trained in Tanjavur. Later he travelled far and wide in search of musical knowledge to which he dedicated his entire life. He received many awards, including Padmabhushan, but did not enjoy the fame which his talent deserved. He chose to live a quieter life away from the glamour and its attendant trappings. He excelled both as performer and teacher. Basavraj Rajguru died in July 1991. It was a bad stretch during which, in little over a year, three illustrious musicians from Dharwad bade us farewell. First Rajguru died in July 1991, then Kumar Gandharva in January 1992, and later Mallikarjun Mansur in September 1992.

Rajguru, besides being a great classicalist, was adept at composing and singing vachanas which allowed laity to appreciate his music through a more accessible branch of music.

Basavaraj was fond of music from a very young age. He was trying to persuade drama producers and actors to let him sing in their play, and put himself in trouble. Basavraj tested his first morsel of fame at Vamanrao Master’s traveling drama company. When he was 13 years old, he lost his father. His uncle was worried about his aimless future in drama. Soon thereafter, in a rare twist of fate, the blind Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawai discovered Basavraj and with little convincing from the MaTh’s swamiji, took the lad into his tutelage. Since then his music embraced a whole new beginning. Panchakshari Gawai gave all his music knowledge to Basavraj and other students who were not privileged to even pay gurudakshina (Fees - not money, but something that makes teacher happy and proud) to their guru. He mastered several Ragas and styles. He also became adept at some other arts like wrestling, swimming and cooking. His teacher (Guru) would personally make sure that each of his students practiced for at least 12 to 15 hours a day. When Basavraj graduated he asked his guru what he wanted as gurudakshina, and his guru replied that his gurudakshina would be passing on of what Basavraj had learnt from him to his own disciples. In 1936 at the 600th anniversary of the Vijayanagar Empire in Hampi, Basavraj gave his first concert with his guru Gawai. Fifteen thousand people listened silently to the young musician singing Bageshri and Nijaguna Shivayogi vachana. After the passing away of Panchakshari Gawai in 1944, Basavraj came to Bombay and he had the chance to learn from Sawai Gandharva. But Sawai Gandharva was paralyzed and he had to leave Bombay, so he told Sureshbabu Mane, another great musician to take good care of Basavraj. After learning from him, his knowledge took him to North West of Pakistan, where he learned from Ustad Waheed khan, Gawai’s guru. In Karachi he learnt from Ustad Latif Khan for six months. He was not afraid to accept any challenge. Once he had to sing after Ustad Nishad Khan and he went up to the stage confidently and Ustad Nishad Khan had to accept his defeat from Basavraj. There was always a competition between Hindu and Muslim musicians. Chhote Ghulam sang Raga Todi so well that nobody dared to defeat him but young Basavraj did.

1947 was a time of partition of India and Pakistan. In Pakistan there were so many Hindus being beaten to death. Ustad Latif Khan advised him to take a train that was carrying thousands of Hindus across the border. But that train was stopped on the border and Hindus were being killed but Basavraj managed to escape by holding on to the bottom of the railway bogey all the way from the border to Delhi. His fame had spread far and wide and continued to spread; concert invitations came from every corner of the country. His repertoire ranged from the pure classical, Dhrupad to Vachanas, Natyageet, Thumri, and Ghazal (different styles of Indian music) spanning eight languages. He knew more than forty types of raga and he would sing them one after another right then and there. After his concert in Delhi (1995) information minister, B.V. Keskar announced, “Arre, hamare Rajguru to hukumi yekka hai!” that means Ace of trumps. Indeed. At another concert Begum Akhtar, declared, “Rajguru yane sur ka badshah.” That means master of music. The Government of India bestowed upon him the Padmashri in 1975 and the Padmabhushan in 1991. He also received some sangeet natak academy awards from central and state governments. He was also awarded with prestigious titles by various organizations and an honorary doctorate by the Karnataka University, Dharwad.

He was an accomplished, talented, and great singer, and so patient, caring and zealous about his student. He would never get tired from repeating taans for his students; he would never get angry. He would always tell his students that no matter how great they were, if they couldn't pass on what they had acquired to somebody else, the greatness would be worthless.
The music world would be such a fabulous place if everybody followed the simple lifestyle that Pt. Rajguru followed. He was a strict vegetarian and had no vices, ever. He had never even tasted tea in his life. He had a very strict regimen of Puja (worship), sadhna (dhyan), teaching, walking and voice-conscious diet. He never ate or drank anything fried, frozen or fatty. His dream of coming to U.S. eluded him. He had planned a concert tour in the U.S. in the fall of 1991, and he got a performer’s visa, but on his way back to Dharwad he had a minor heart attack and was admitted to a hospital in Bangalore. His disciple, Nachiketa Sharma was beside him when he breathed his last. He told Nachiketa to pick the Tambura (violin type of instrument) and sing the SA (the first letter of Indian music) for him. He said that it was time for him to leave this world.

After his death, the government of Karnataka managed to defame and degrade itself by refusing to carry his body to his hometown Dharwad. His wife and Nachiketa rented a taxi and carried his dead body on July 21 1991 to Dharwad, where their taxi was greeted by the whole city. Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur paying his last respects to Rajguru declared, “Wah! Even in his death he looks like a king!”

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