Tarun Bhattacharya
A santoor player and Ravi Shankar disciple who changed how the instrument is tuned and played, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2026.
Tarun Bhattacharya has expanded what the santoor, also called the shatatantri veena, can do in Indian classical music. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of art, from West Bengal [1].
Teachers
Bhattacharya was born on 23 December 1957 [2]. He learned first from his father, the sitarist Rabi Bhattacharya, then from Dulal Roy, and later from Pandit Ravi Shankar [2].
Changing the instrument
He added fine tuners, called mankas, so the santoor holds its tuning longer and more accurately [2]. His techniques made it possible to play slides and ornaments such as meend and krintan on the santoor, which widened its range of expression [2]. He has also created new ragas, including Raag Ganga, inspired by the clean Ganga campaign, and Raag Tribeni [2].
Santoor Ashram
His school, Santoor Ashram, gives free training to talented students, especially from poor families [2]. He sits on the advisory board of Visva-Bharati University and on the jury for the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards [2].
He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 2018 and the Madhya Pradesh government’s Tansen Samman for 2025 [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2026: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2026 investiture ceremony brochure: citation for Tarun Bhattacharya — Press Information Bureau, Government of India. Accessed 12 October 2026.
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