RAVI SHANKAR’S SITAR GIFTED
One of four sitars made by Kolkata instrument maker for Ravi Shankar in 1961 has been gifted by his family to the British Museum in London, where it is on display as one of its most valuable possessions from South Asia.
LONDON : One of four sitars made in 1961 by Kolkata-based instrument maker Nodu Mullick for the iconic Pandit Ravi Shankar has been gifted by his family to the British Museum in London, where it is on display as one of its most valuable possessions from south Asia.
Placed in Room 33 of the renovated Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia, the sitar played by Shankar (1920-2012) is considered “particularly special” by Richard Blurton, head of the museum’s South and Southeast Asia section.
“Other examples of Indian musical instruments exist in the museum’s collection, though none are as beautifully decorated or so connected to a cultural figure of the stature of Pandit Ravi Shankar,” Blurton said on Wednesday, adding the instrument was the first one made by Mullick for the maestro.
The sitar was gifted to the museum by Sukanya Shankar, the widow of Shankar, their daughter Anoushka Shankar and the Ravi Shankar Foundation. Shankar performed several times in the UK, and was best known in the country for his collaboration with Beatles member George Harrison.
Shankar’s elder brother Uday, a well-known dancer who studied and performed in London, is known to have visited the British Museum to study Indian medieval sculpture as part of his efforts to develop his new Indian dance.
“The wonderful gift of the sitar is therefore just the latest chapter in the history of connections between the Shankar family and the museum,” Blurton said in a statement.