Famed Indian vocalist and Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj passed away on Monday in the US. He was 90. The Indian classical vocalist who belonged to the Mewati gharana had a lengthy career spanning more than 80 years and had garnered numerous laurels.
Here are 10 things that you may not have known about him.
1. He was initiated to the world of music at the age of three by his father. Pandit Jasraj had been born into a family of musicians and also underwent "intensive tutelage under his elder brother and Guru, Pandit Maniram".
2. His impressive vocal range spans three-and-a-half octaves.
3. In an interview with Asian Age, Pandit Jasraj had said that as a child, he would skip school to sit on the footpath and repeatedly listen to Begum Akhtar’s song on a gramophone playing at a restaurant on the way to his school.
4. His first stage concert as a vocalist was in the court of the King of Nepal. "I remember my first public concert as a singer. It was in the darbar of King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah of Nepal, in 1952. I was 22. After my very first rendition, King Tribhuwan awarded me 5,000 mohurs. I was quite stunned by the gesture. It was more than I could count," he was quoted as saying by a Hindustan Times report.
5. He has sung twice in the Parliament, on the 50th and 60th anniversary of Independence.
6. There is a minor planet named after him. A minor planet discovered between Mars and Jupiter in November 2006 was then named after the singer. The International Astronomical Union dubbed minor planet 2006 VP32 (number -300128) as ‘Panditjasraj’.
7. He had lent his voice to the Oscar winning Life of Pi. The movie incidentally won four academy awards including one for Best Original Score.
8. Pandit Jasraj had received all three of the Padma Awards. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 1990 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2000.
9. He apparently spoke nine languages. In an interview with NDTV he had said that in dreams where he sees his mother the language is Haryanvi. "That's where I come from. For everyone else, my dreams are in Hindi," he had been quoted as saying.
10. While the doyen of Indian classical music has been bestowed with many names and monikers, one that stands out was given to him by the Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A connoisseur of poetry and music and a fan of the Hindustani classical vocalist, the former Prime Minister had called him 'Rasraj' (King of Rasas). "Pandit Jasraj told the audience that it was Atal ji who first called him Rasraj. That was the upadhi (title) that Pandit Jasraj loves most," author Sunita Budhiraja told PTI.
