Manju Mehta

Vidushi^[1] Manju Mehta (born Manju Bhatt;^[2] 21 May 1945 – 20 August 2024) was an Indian classical sitar player.^[3]

Manju Mehta
Mehta in 2020
Background information
Born	(1945-05-21)21 May 1945 Jaipur, Jaipur State, India
Died	20 August 2024(2024-08-20) (aged 79) Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Genres	Indian classical music
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Sitar
Years active	1955–2024
Spouse	Nandan Mehta ​ (date missing)​

Background

Mehta was born on 21 May 1945 in Jaipur,^[4] to Manhohan and Chandrakalav Bhatt.^[5] She grew up in a family of musicians; both of her parents were accomplished musicians, with her mother studying with several court musicians.^[2] Her older brother Shashi Mohan Bhatt and younger brother Vishwa Mohan Bhatt would both be recognized as pandits later in life.^[6][7]

Sashi Mohan, a student of Ravi Shankar,^[6] was his sister Manju's first sitar teacher.^[2] After winning two consecutive State and Central Government scholarships, she was given the opportunity to study under sarod player Pandit Damodar Lal Kabra, a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan^[8] and Shankar.^[2]

While studying and recording^[9] with Kabra, Mehta began performing, competed in the All India Radio competition, and earned her master's degree in music.^[2] During one performance, she met tabla player Nandan Mehta, a student of Kishan Maharaj and exponent of the Banaras gharana.^[10] Manju and Nandan would later marry,^[2] having two daughters—Poorvi and Hetal, who respectively play sitar and tabla—before Nandan's death in 2010.^[10]

Mehta died on 20 August 2024, at the age of 79.^[11]

Career

After marrying Nandan and the births of her two children, Mehta did not perform for almost a decade before, in 1980, she was accepted (like her earlier teachers Bhatt and Kabra) to study with Ravi Shankar.^[2]

Mehta was a top grade classical instrumentalist,^[12] the highest grade of musicians in All India Radio's rating system.^[13] She was the co-founder of Saptak school of music @ Saptak trustSaptak Festival of Music held every year in Ahmedabad.^[14]

Awards

• Sangeet Natak Academy of Gujarat
• Tansen Samman, 2018 ^[15]
• Dhirubhai Thakar Savyasachi Saraswat Award, 2016.^[16]