Tradition · Kathak gharana · India
Banaras Kathak gharana
The Banaras Kathak gharana at Varanasi — the Hindustani Kathak dance lineage that developed at Varanasi within the wider ecology of Hindu temple-based devotional dance, courtly performance, and the urban thumri-dadra song tradition. The Banaras gharana's founder Pandit Janki Prasad (c.1600s) and his successors established the distinctive Banaras Kathak style emphasising natwari (temple-devotional) nritta, delicate expressive bhao, and extensive thumri-based interpretative dance. The Banaras tradition is historically distinct from the Lucknow and Jaipur gharanas in its temple-based rather than court-based origins. The modern Pandit Gopi Krishna (1935-1994, who became the leading Banaras exponent) and his disciples maintained the tradition. The Banaras Hindu University Faculty of Performing Arts (established 1961) teaches the gharana as part of its dance curriculum. The Banaras Kathak is associated with the 20-century thumri queens Rasoolan Bai, Siddheshwari Devi, and Girija Devi.
- Date
- 1800–1950
- Function
- Arts & performance
- Condition
- living practice
- River basin
- Ganga
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 25.320, 82.970
Connections (3)
- Teaching lineageGwalior Fort
The Gwalior gharana is the oldest surviving khayal lineage and every later vocal gharana traces some descent from it, directly or by reaction. Its singers moved out to the courts and cities that could pay — Banaras, Jaipur, Agra, Indore — and each developed a distinct style while keeping the Gwalior grammar. The fort is therefore the root of a family tree covering most of north Indian vocal music.
- Shared sacred geographyBenares gharana
Banaras holds more performance lineages in one city than anywhere else in India: a tabla gharana, a Kathak gharana, a sitar and shehnai tradition, and a thumri style of its own. The tabla bāj here is open-handed and loud because it grew up accompanying temple and outdoor performance rather than court music in a room. Bismillah Khan played the shehnai at the Vishwanath temple for most of a lifetime.
- Site withinKāshī / Vārānasī / Banāras
Banaras Kathak gharana lies within Kāshī / Vārānasī / Banāras — the two sites sit about 0 km apart, well inside the city's historical boundary and part of the same urban or peri-urban landscape. Banaras Kathak gharana is one of the specific sites that give Kāshī / Vārānasī / Banāras its layered character, and reads differently when seen as a stop within the larger city rather than as an isolated monument on an open map. The surrounding neighbourhoods, roads and other heritage ensembles belong to the same single urban fabric.
On these journeys
Sources
Sangeet Natak Akademi; histories of Kathak.
Open Banaras Kathak gharana in the repository →