The Dictionary of Hindustani Classical Music

Bimalakanta Roychaudhuri (1909-1980) Born in an illustrious family of musical heritage, he had his early training in music from Sitalchandra Mukhopadhyay, Sitalkrishna Ghosh, Amir Khan (Sarod) and then from Inayet Khan, the foremost Sitar Player of those days. He also had his musical training from his maternal under Birendrakishore Roychaudhuri and maternal grandfather Brojendrakishore Roychaudhuri. He took part in the translation work of “Sangeet Ratnakara” from Sanskrit to Bengali under the patronage of Brojendrakishore Roychaudhuri. A musician as well as a musicologist, he was invited by the Bonn University in 1968 for lecture demonstration on Indian music and he also gave demonstrations on Sitar and Surbahar in London, Paris, Belgium, Holland and at different places in Germany. His book “Bharatiya Sangeetkosh” in Bengali earned for him the “Sangeet Natak Academy” award in 1970. He was chairman of the Board of Musical Studies of the University of Calcutta. His other published works in English are “The Dictionary of Hindustani Classical Music” and “Aesthetics of North Indian Classical music.”