Ajita Srivastava

Ajita Srivastava was a folk singer and teacher from Mirzapur who gave her life to kajri, the monsoon songs of eastern Uttar Pradesh. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of art, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Teacher and singer

Srivastava was born in Varanasi on 6 September 1954 ^[2]. She studied ancient history and Hindi at Banaras Hindu University, took a BEd from Gorakhpur University and a music qualification from the Prayag Sangeet Samiti ^[2]. From 1977 she taught at the Aryakanya Inter College in Mirzapur, retiring in 2017 after 40 years ^[2]. Encouraged by her husband, the poet and lawyer R. B. Lal, she began singing professionally, and was linked with kajri from the 1970s ^[2].

Kajri on the radio and the road

She sang on All India Radio, Varanasi, from 1980 and worked with Doordarshan, the North Central Zone Cultural Centre and the Sangeet Natak Akademi of Uttar Pradesh ^[2]. She performed across many states, from Punjab and Rajasthan to Bengal, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir ^[2]. She also lent her songs to public campaigns on cleanliness, voter awareness, tree planting and girls’ education ^[2].

She ran guru-shishya workshops, helped doctoral students researching kajri, and taught the form free of charge at home and, from the Covid-19 pandemic, online ^[2]. The Uttar Pradesh government gave her its academy award for kajri for 2017 ^[2].

Srivastava died at her home in Mirzapur on 17 August 2024 ^[3].