Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur- The Singer’s quest for Excellence

Abstract

The musical life of Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur spanned over sixty years. His music cast a magnetic
influence over his audience especially with his astonishing breath control. The unconditional purity of his
swara‟s and the vivid way in which he engaged the many embellishments revealed the earnestness in the
Ragas he chose to sing.
He was born on December 31, 1910 in a village in Dharwad district of Karnataka. At the tender age of
nine, Mallikarjun developed a fascination for theatre. Comprehending this, his father Bheemaraayappa
enabled his desire to join a touring theatrical company, Yakshagana.
This article is about his transition from the make believe world of theatre to the sublime but challenging
realm of classical music.
Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur‟s primary tuelage in Carnatic music was initiated under Ayyappaswami and
later in Hindustani music from Pandit Neelkantbuwa Jangam, a disciple of Pandit Balakrishnabuwa
Ichalkaranjikar, renowned exponent of the Gwalior gharana, and, his final stop-point at the Jaipur-Atrauli
gayaki; earlier as a disciple of Manji Khan and subsequently Bhurji Khan the two sons of Alladiya Khan. It
was no surprise therefore, that his music had an amalgam of all three.