Book Excerpt: How Ravi Shankar’s Promiscuity Ruined His Marriage With Annapurna Devi

Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine
— Sigmund Freud

The problem with stardom is that there is no privacy or secrecy. Whatever you do is reported by the media to the public. Therefore, it is almost impossible to hide your indulgences, especially when you cheat on your spouse.

In music, Ali Akbar Khan was a disciple of his father, guru Allauddin Khan, but when it came to promiscuity, Ravi Shankar (sitarist) was his mentor and guru.

In fact, the two had always been partners in crime. The pot couldn’t call the kettle black. The only difference was that Khansaheb was less brazen than Panditji, who suffered from the Casanova complex. For whatever narcissistic psychological gratification, Panditji was proud of his promiscuous behaviour and would proudly flaunt his affairs rather than trying to be discreet. Panditji had multiple affairs and Khansaheb had multiple marriages, and each had numerous one-night stands.

A casanova complex is when a man desires a large number of sexual partners, and indulges in a constant active pursuit of women, seducing them into sexual acts without any emotional relationship or commitment. The complex is named after Giovanni Jacopo Casanova (1725-98), an Italian memoirist and adventurer noted for his sexual conquests.

Annapurna Devi was totally unaware, or rather not bothered about what was going on outside the four walls of her house. However, Zubeidaji (Zubeida Begum, the first wife of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) was a police officer’s daughter. Khan saheb was too naive to withstand Zubeidaji’s persistent interrogation.

Eventually, he confessed to both his and Panditji’s promiscuity. After this, things were never the same between him and Zubeidaji.

Zubeidaji reported it all to Annapurna Devi, which ended the marital harmony between her and Ravi Shankar. Life took an uglyturn. The rest of the Maihar Gharana, including all the children, Baba, Madina Ma and even Baba’s disciples suffered the aftermath.

Annapurna Devi’s first reaction was to cease all kind of physical contact with Panditji. If she had returned to Maihar, Baba would have guessed the disaster. Therefore, for a year she with Shubho went and stayed with Ali Akbar Khansaheb at Lucknow.

In Ma’s words: ‘After hearing all this, I lost interest in life. For a long spell of time, I went and stayed with Bhaiya. Baba was disturbed when he came to know about this. For Baba’s sake, Bhaiya begged me to return to my husband’s house. So, after about a year of staying with Bhaiya, I returned to Bombay. There, Panditji fell seriously ill.’

From February 1949 until 1956, Panditji was working as the music director for AIR in New Delhi. On 7 October 1950, he arrived in Maihar with his spiritual guru, Tat Baba. Tat means sack cloth. Tat Baba was called so because he used to wear a threadbare sack which looked like a jute robe. In 1948, despite his musical prowess, Panditji had been hit by numerous adversities and was contemplating suicide. Tat Baba assured him that stardom lay ahead of him. Needless to say, Panditji was spellbound by Tat Baba. He had received a guru mantra from Tat Baba, but Ma refused to do the same, saying, ‘For me the only guru is Baba, who has already given me the guru mantra.’ Most believe this refusal antagonized both Panditji and Tat Baba. 
Another bombshell was dropped on Baba and the rest of the family when they received Ali Akbar’s letter declaring he was marrying a woman named Rajdulari. Despite having five children (four sons and a daughter) from Zubeida Begum, a second marriage, and that too while he was in dire financial straits, was shocking.

On 14 December 1951, Ali Akbar Khan sent Zubeidaji, along with their two youngest sons, Pranesh and Amaresh, to Maihar. 

As per the translated excerpts from Pandit Jotin Bhattacharya’s book:

10th January 1952. Ali Akbar arrived at Maihar. In the evening, we went to the theatre to watch the film ‘Dastaan’. When were turned home, we chatted for hours. I requested Ali Akbar that he ought to keep visiting Maihar every few months and to send money to provide for children. Ali Akbar complained about his financial struggles. When asked about his second marriage, Ali Akbar said he was going to get married with Tat Baba’s blessings.
21st January 1952. Ravi Shankar along with Annapurna Devi and Shubho arrived at Maihar. During Ravi Shankar’s stay of four days, we talked a lot. Ravi Shankar confirmed what Zubeidaji had told me about him.

In his words, ‘I have already told you what kind of a person I am. I believe we should change and modernize according to the time and age we are living in. However, Annapurna is too stubborn. She just doesn’t like to leave the house. She doesn’t interact with anyone.
‘The first year of our marriage was full of happiness. During those days, Zubeida was not there because Baba had sent Zubeida to her parents. I had confided in Alubhai the secrets of my personal life. Alubhai told it all to his wife Zubeida.

‘Shubho was born after a year of our marriage. After a few days, Zubeida returned to Maihar. Annapurna was so naïve then. Apart from her father and brother, she had seen no other man before marriage. Infidelity was beyond her imagination. Zubeida ruined my marriage by informing Annapurna about my promiscuity. Annpurna at once ceased a physical relationship with me. Although I have erred, it wasn’t totally unpardonable. In her anger, she went away to Alubhai in Lucknow. Considering Baba’s plight, she returned after many months, but things are not the same between us. It is true that I am not a saint, but I ought not be called evil either.’

As we were talking, a dhobin [laundress] came to collect the clothes. Seeing Ravi Shankar ogling the laundress, Annapurna said to him, ‘What are you thinking? Want to pay her in advance? She has been your laundress for a long time.’ Hearing this, Ravi Shankar lowered his eyes in embarrassment and mumbled, ‘Give her some money.’ Annapurna sternly replied, ‘Since you are so desirous of paying her, why don’t you yourself give her the money!’
Ravi Shankar was an extremely talented stand-up comedian. One could die laughing at his skill in mimicking people. However, most of the jokes he cracked were either vulgar or sexist. Once during such comedy sessions, Annapurna Devi’s voice alarmed us. ‘What is all this hilarity about?’ she yelled from the adjoining room. ‘I know what is going on. You are perverting Jotinda.’ However, Ravi Shankar without paying attention to Annapurna’s comments continued his act.

Panditji learnt from Baba for about seven to eight years, until 1944. Ali Akbar Khansaheb learnt for about sixteen years, until 1943. After that, both Khansaheb and Panditji pursued their performing careers while Annapurna Devi continued to learn from Baba, uninterrupted. While Panditji was living in Bombay and Delhi, Annapurna Devi and Shubho were sent away to Maihar for several months. When Annapurna Devi was at Maihar, Baba didn’t allow her to go to the kitchen to help Madina Ma and Zubeidaji. Shubho spent most of the time with his cousins, Aashish, Dhyanesh and Shree, with Jotinda as their guardian and tutor. While at Maihar, all Annapurna Devi did was learn from Baba and do her riyaaz. In those days, the only other disciples he was teaching were Nikhil Banerjee and Jotin Bhattacharya, each for once a week. But he taught Annapurna Devi each evening for two to four hours. Should we be surprised that Annapurna Devi ended up learning much more than anybody else?

Ashutosh Bhattacharya was known as ‘Kaviraj’ (an occupational title given to those practising Ayurveda) as well as a proficient tablā player, being Kanathe Maharaj’s disciple. On various occasions, Ashutoshji accompanied Khansaheb, Panditji, Jotinda and others on stage. During Panditji’s Delhi years, Ashutoshji regularly came to Panditji to accompany him for his daily riyaaz. Ashutoshji said, ‘Whenever Ravi Shankar got stuck in a taan or toda, he always sought Annapurna’s help. Annapurna would come out of the kitchen and immediately set things right. One day, Ravi Shankar and I struggled for more than half an hour to get a todā right, but we kept missing the sum [the first beat in the cycle of taal]. Annapurna Devi rushed out from the kitchen and pointed out, “क्या कर रहे हो! तोड़ा इस मात्रा से शुरू करो [What are you doing! Start the toda from this beat].” Panditji played accordingly and voila, the toda ended right on the sum. Panditji was joyous. He said to Annapurna, “I was struggling for half an hour, why didn’t you tell me before!” Annapurna went back to the kitchen, saying, “I thought you would be able to figure it out.” Such was her calibre.’

‘Zubeidaji witnessed Panditji threatening Annapurna Devi,

“तुम अच्छा बजाती हो उसको लेकर जो तुममें अहंकार है, उसके लिए तुम्हारी
सारी उँगलियाँ तोड़ दूँगा [You have a lot of ego about your playing well,

I’ll break all your fingers.”

Panditji asked Ma and Zubeidaji to leave his house with all the children. While Ma was packing her belongings, Panditji didn’t allow her to take her notation books. For Ma, nothing in the world was more precious than the lessons she had learnt from Baba. The green-eyed monster was the greatest villain of the Seniya-Maihar Gharana.

Panditji asked Ma and Zubeidaji to leave his house with all the children. While Ma was packing her belongings, Panditji didn’t allow her to take her notation books. For Ma, nothing in the world was more precious than the lessons she had learnt from Baba. The green-eyed monster was the greatest villain of the Seniya-Maihar Gharana.

ख़ुद अपनी मर्जी से कहाँ सफ़र करते है हम तक़दीर जहाँ ले जाएँ वहाँ बसर करते है हम
[The navigation of life is not as per our will Wherever fate carries us, we keep drifting]

—‘Jataayu’

Excerpted from Annapurna Devi: The Untold Story of a Reclusive Genius by Atul Merchant Jataayu, with permission from Penguin Random House India

(Atul Merchant Jataayu was Annapurna Devi’s disciple from 1982 onwards and had a mother-son-like bond with her. Despite his primary focus being vedanta and music, he has studied storytelling and screenplay writing.)