Naina Devi (27 September 1917 – 1 November 1993) also known as Naina Ripjit Singh, was Indian vocalist of

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, sita ...

, most known for her

thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dra ...

renditions, though she also sang

dadra Dadra is associated with the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. Dadra tala This is a Hindustani classical '' tala'' (rhythmic cycle), consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka ...

and

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

s. She was a music producer at

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

and later with

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

. She started her musical training under Girja Shankar Chakravarty in her teens, later restarted it with Ustad

Mushtaq Hussain Khan Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan (1878–1964) was an Indian classical vocalist. He belonged to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. Early life Mushtaq Hussain was born in a family of traditional musicians in Sahaswan, a small town in Budaun District of U ...

Rampur-Sahaswan gharana Rampur-Sahaswan gharana is a gharana (musical heritage) of Hindustani classical music centred in the North-Uttar Pradesh towns of Rampur and Sahaswan. Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan (1849–1919) was the founder of this gharana. History The gharan ...

and

Rasoolan Bai Rasoolan hussain (1902 – 15 December 1974) was a leading Indian Hindustani classical music vocal musician. Belonging to the Benaras gharana, she specialized in the romantic Purab Ang of the Thumri musical genre and tappa. Early life an ...

Benaras gharana Benares gharānā (Hindi: बनारस घराना) is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla. History The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai (1780–1826). At ...

, in the 1950s. Born in an aristocratic family in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, she was married into the royal family of

Kapurthala State Kapurthala State, with its capital at Kapurthala, was a former Princely state of Punjab. Ruled by Ahluwalia Sikh rulers, spread across . According to the 1901 census the state had a population of 314,341 and contained two towns and 167 village ...

at age 16, and was started singing in concerts only after her husband died in 1949, and she moved to Delhi. In 1974, she was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

, the fourth highest civilian honour given by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

Early life and training

Born Nilina Sen, in an aristocratic Bengali family in Kolkata, where her grandfather was

Keshub Chandra Sen Keshub Chandra Sen ( bn, কেশবচন্দ্র সেন; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was a Hindu philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within ...

, nationalist leader and social reformer from the

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of th ...

movement. One of five siblings: (Sunit, Binita, Sadhona, Nilina and Pradip), Nilina received a liberal upbringing from their parents Saral Chandra Sen, a barrister and Nirmala (Nellie). She first got interested in music, when her uncle, Panchu took young Nilina to a concert of Angurbala, at a local theatre. Thereafter, she went to listen to Agurbala at her home in Masjid Bari Street. Eventually she trained for nine years under Girija Shankar Chakravarty (1885–1948), noted vocalist and teacher, known for revitalising the

khayal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfor ...

tradition in Bengal. In 1934, at the age of 16, she married Ripjit Singh (1906- 1953), third son of Raja Charanjit Singh of princely

. After her marriage she moved to

Kapurthala Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent build ...

in Punjab and wasn't allowed to sing. Though her husband died in 1949, when she was 32 years of age.

Career

After the death of husband in 1953, she moved to Delhi, where she spent the rest of her life. Here she came in touch with

Sumitra Charat Ram Sumitra Charat Ram (17 November 1914 – 8 August 2011) was a noted Indian arts patron, impresario and the founder of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) established in 1952. She played a key role in the revival of performing arts, especially K ...

, an arts patron and wife of Lala Charat Ram of DCM Shriram Group, who then ran Jhankar Committee, a small performing arts organisation in Delhi, which paved way for the establishment of

Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) is an Indian cultural institution which runs a school for music, dance and performing arts in New Delhi. It was founded by Sumitra Charat Ram in 1952, and imparts training in Indian classical dance styles ...

in 1952, with Devi as its

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

. In the following years, she also remained a music producer of All India Radio, Delhi, and producer with state-run

TV channel. Meanwhile, after arriving in Delhi, she started her musical training once again, first under Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan (d. 1964), the doyen of

, who was then teacher at the Bhartiya Kala Kendra, and later under

of Benaras gharana, where she learned the '' purab ang'' style of Thumri, and started performing although under the name, Naina Devi. In her Thumri singing, she stressed on the need to study ''Nayika Bheda'' (''

Ashta Nayika The Ashta-Nayika is a collective name for eight types of ''nayika''s or heroines as classified by Bharata in his Sanskrit treatise on performing arts - ''Natya Shastra''. The eight nayikas represent eight different states (''avastha'') in relati ...

''), the eight different kind of heroines classified in the

Natya Shastra The ''Nāṭya Śāstra'' (, ''Nāṭyaśāstra'') is a Sanskrit treatise on the performing arts. The text is attributed to sage Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary ...

, to render thumri effectively. Though she also sang in other genres like

qawwali Qawwali ( Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি (Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent ...

and

. Later in life, she got interested in the traditional form of

kirtan Kirtana ( sa, कीर्तन; ), also rendered as Kirtan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts ...

, she went to

Vrindavan Vrindavan (; ), also spelt Vrindaban and Brindaban, is a historical city in the Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located in the Braj Bhoomi region and holds religious importance in Hinduism as Krishna spent most of his childho ...

and learnt it and subsequently trained three of her senior disciples in the form. She also taught notable disciples like Shubha Mudgal, Madhumita Ray and

Vidya Rao Vidya Rao is an Indian Hindustani classical singer and writer. She is popular for her Thumri and Dadra. She wrote a book on the late Naina Devi (singer), Naina Devi, ''Heart to Heart: Remembering Nainaji.'' Her daughter Aditi Rao Hydari is an a ...

. In 2011, one of her disciples, Vidya Rao wrote a memoir about her titled, ''Heart to Heart: Remembering Naina Devi''.

Personal life

She has four children, two sons, Ratanjit Singh (b.1940), Karanjit Singh (b. 1945), and two daughters Nilika Kaur (b. 1935) and Rena Kaur (b. 1938), who founded the Naina Devi Foundation in 1994. Her elder sister, Sadhana Bose (1911–1973) was a noted dancer and film actress of the 1930s and 40s. Her other sister Rani Binita Roy was married into the
royal family of Chakma
Naina Devi's two paternal aunts were dowager Maharanis of two well known princely states of India. Suniti Devi, Maharani of Cooch Behar, queen consort of Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch Behar. Maharani Suniti Devi's son Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch Behar married princess Indira Raje Gaekwad of Braoda, only daughter of Sayajirao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda. Jitendra Narayan and Indira Devi's second daughter Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur was the most well known Indian royal face in her lifetime. The other aunt of Naina Devi was Suchrau Devi, Maharani of Mayurbhanj, queen consort of Ram Chandra Bhanj Deo, Maharaja of Mayurbhanj.

Published works

* ''Mushtaq Hussain Khan'' (Biography), by Naina Ripjit Singh. Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1964. * ''Thumri, Its Development and Gayeki'', Journal, Volume 6, Issue 1. ITC Sangeet Research Academy.1985. ''pp. 13–17''.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Naina 1917 births 1993 deaths Singers from Kolkata Bengali Hindus Indian women classical singers Hindustani singers Indian arts administrators Thumri Indian radio producers Indian women television producers Indian television producers All India Radio people Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Indian music educators Indian artistic directors 20th-century Indian singers Women educators from West Bengal 20th-century Indian educators Women Hindustani musicians 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from West Bengal Educators from West Bengal All India Radio women Women music educators Women television producers 20th-century women educators Women radio producers