As one of the latest representatives of a fading Gharana I felt it obligatory to write a few lines on once-upon -a time Bengal's pride, Vishnupur; its music tradition in particular, almost on the verge of decadence and amnesis. History must wait for some bright star to rise again upon Vishnupur's twilight sky and recover its crowning glory.

Vishnupur, a town in the Bankura district of West Bengal, earned glory as a famous seat of culture during the last of the Mughals. To quote the eminent musicologist Swami Prajnanananda: "In the seventeenth-eighteenth century Bahadur Khan of the Seni School and Peer Bux were invited by Raja Raghunath SinghII (1752-1784) of Vishnupur and were appointed in his court. And from that time onwards Dhrupad Pravandha used to be cultured in Bengal." The Raja had announced that anyone with a sweet voice and interest in music could learn free under the guidance of Bahadur Khan. The Raja himself bore the financial responsibility for poor yet talented students.

Gadadhar Chakraborty was one of the meritorious disciples of Bahadur Khan. He not only learnt singing but also learnt to play on instruments such as the Veena, tha Rabaab and the Sursringar, instruments that his Guru could efficiently teach. Among Gadadhar Chakraboryty's disciples Ramshankar Bhattachaarya was of exceptional merit. This worthy disciple of Gadadharbabu taught many disciples of whom we may mention the names of Jadubhaatta, Kshetramohan Goswami, Anantalal Banerjee, Keshablal Chakraborty. Jadubhatta was a prodigy who, having learnt from Guru Ramshankar till the age of 12 or 13 years, began to travel round the country, taking the best and choicest from different masters. Radhikaprasad Goswami, Jadubhatta's disciple, was a well known Drupad singer of Bengal whose compositions inspired Rabindranath Tagore.

Radhikaprasad's nephew, Jnanendra Goswami, was a reputed vocalist of the early part of this century. His songs were recorded by the Gramophone Co. of India. Radhikababu's prominent disciples include Girijashankar Chakrabhorty, Dhrupad singer Jogendranath Bandopadhyaya and Dhirendranath Bhattacharya. We must remember that by this time the famous seat of Vishnupur has migrated to Kolkata. Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty, Jamini Ganguly, Sailen Banerjee and many others learnt from Girijababu.

The present generation of Vishnupurites, however, owe their Gurukul to Ramshankar's extremely talented "shishya", Anantalal Banerjee. Both a vocalist and instrumentalist, Anantalal passed on his knowledge to his two sons, Ramprasanna and Gopeswar Banerjee.

Ramshankar's other disciple, Kshetramohan Goswami taught Raja Saurindramohan Tagore of Jorasanko, Kolkata.

Gopeswar Banerjee imparted training to his brother Surendranath and nephew on the paternal side, Satyakinkar Bandopadhyaya, and son Rameshchandra Bandopadhyaya. Gopeswarbabu was a great pioneer of the music tradition of Vishnupur. He was the court musician of the Maharajas of Burdwan, Narajol and Mayurbhanj. He has composed a number of texts which incorporate some original "bandish" (lyric compositions, set to rhythm) of this Gharana. He had also taught Dhrupad for sometime to Krishnachandra Dey, uncle of the popular singer Manna Dey.

No less talented was Gopeswarbabu's elder brother Ramprasanna Bandopadhyaya, who also learnt Surbahar from Ustad Sajjad Mohammad, then residing at Jorasanko royal estate. At that time Nilmadhav Chakraborty, from whom Ramprasannababu took lessons in sitar and surbahar, was teaching Raja Jatindramohan Tagore of Jorasanko. Ustad Alauddin Khan had also learnt for sometime from Nilmadhav Chakraborty.

Of the noted disciples of Ramprasanna Banerjee, mention must be made of my grandfather, Late Gokul Chandra Nag, a versatile musician. His son, Manilal Mag, is a living exponent of this Gharana, still performing for music lovers round the globe.

Satyakinkarbabu's sons, Amiyaranjan and Nihar Ranjan Banerjee are teaching many disciples along the Vishnupur line. All these living exponents of Vishnupur are sincerely trying to live up to tradition, yet with an open mind. Each of them are trying to infuse in their innumerable disciples from India and the world, the dedicated spirit of Vishnupur Music-- so spiritual and transcendental in its appeal.

Author's note:
For reasons of precision, I have had to omit many details which come under the broad perspective of research.