The Author - Pandit Amarnath

Panditji is the author of the much acclaimed Living Idioms in Hindustani Music, a dictionary of terms and terminology collected over a lifetime, which was first published by Vikas Publishing House in 1989, and subsequently by HarperCollins India. The book records for contemporary and coming generations, the dying vocabulary of the oral tradition of Hindustani music.

Another seminal work is Conversations with Pandit Amarnath published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. In this opus, he discusses with his daughter Vidushi Bindu Chawla various facets of Hindustani classical music. Their other publication — a bilingual one — is about his relationship with his guru Ustad Amir Khan Saheb titled Indore Ke Masiha.

More books and compilations are to follow.

Panditji is the author of Hansaa Ke Bain, a collection of 101 poems in Hindi, published by Rajkamal Prakashan. Tinged with a philosophy of attachment, with detachment, many of his poems are in the form of poetry which could be sung. His verse was influenced by the Sufi approach to life and steeped in Bhakti Rasa, where the lover and the Divine are one.

In the foreword to this book, venerable lyricist and poet Gulzar Saheb wrote about how he was moved at Panditji’s generosity in sharing both his music and his poetry….that marked his difference from most stalwarts of the arts.

Gulzar Saheb also remarked on the brooding and Sufi style of Panditji’s poetry.

Stories and legends when they have not been understood properly have become myths. The common man is not so highly intellectual. He can take the upper layer of the stories and miss the kernel of truth.