Siddheswari Devi (1908 – 18 March 1977) was a legendary Hindustani singer from

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, known as ''Maa'' (mother). Born in 1908, she lost her parents early and was brought up by her aunt, the noted singer Rajeshwari Devi.

Initiation into music

Despite living in a musical household, Siddheswari came to music by accident. Rajeshwari had arranged musical training for her own daughter, Kamleshwari, while Siddheswari would do small chores around the house. Once, while the noted

sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It is ...

player ''Siyaji Mishra'' was teaching Kamleshwari, she was unable to repeat the

tappa Tappa is a form of Indian semi-classical vocal music. Its specialty is a rolling pace based on fast, subtle and knotty construction. Its tunes are melodious and sweet, and depict the emotional outbursts of a lover. Tappe (plural) were sung mostly by ...

that she was being taught. Rajeshwari ran out of patience, and started to cane Kamleshwari, who cried out for help. The only person to help her was her close friend Siddheswari, who ran from the kitchen to hug her cousin, and took the thrashing on her own body. At this point, Siddheswari told her weeping cousin, "It's not so difficult to sing what Siyaji Maharaj was telling you." Siddheswari then showed her how to sing it, performing the whole tune perfectly, much to the amazement of everyone. The next day, Siyaji Maharaj came to Rajeshwari, and asked to adopt Siddheswari into his own family (they were childless). So Siddheswari moved in with the couple, eventually becoming a great friend and support for them. This moving incident was very vivid in Siddheswari's mind, and is detailed in the biography Maa co-authored by her daughter Savita Devi.''Maa...Siddheshwari'' Vibha S. Chauhan and Savita Devi, Roli Books, New Delhi, 2000

Musical career

Subsequently, she also trained under Rajab Ali Khan of

Dewas Dewas is a city in the Malwa region of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The municipality was formerly the seat of two 15-Gun Salute state princely states during the British Raj, Dewas Junior state and Dewas Senior state, ruled by the Pua ...

and

Inayat Khan Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan ( ur, ) (5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his ...

of Lahore, but considered her guru mainly Bade Ramdas. She sang

khyal 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 ...

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 ...

(her forte) and short classical forms as ''dadra'', ''chaiti'', ''kajri'' etc. On several occasions she would sing perform through the night, for example on the overnight boating expeditions of

Maharaja of Darbhanga The Darbhanga Raj, also known as Raj Darbhanga and the Khandwala dynasty, was a Maithil Brahmins dynasty and the rulers of territories, not all contiguous, that were part of the Mithila region, now divided between India and Nepal. The rulers ...

. The Carnatic singer

M. S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...

learned bhajan singing from Siddheshwari Devi to widen her repertoire to include an occasional Hindi bhajan, in particular for her concerts to larger audiences across India. In 1989, noted director

Mani Kaul Mani Kaul (25 December 1944 – 6 July 2011) was an Indian director of Hindi films and a reputed figure in Indian parallel cinema. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak and ...

made an award-winning documentary, ''

Siddheshwari ''Siddheshwari'' (Hindi: सिद्देश्वरी) is a 1989 Hindi documentary directed film by Mani Kaul. It is a cinematic portrait of Siddheshwari Devi, a Hindustani classical music singer from Varanasi, India. It was produced by th ...

'', on her lifeNFDC Siddheshwari (film)
1989, by

, produced by the

National Film Development Corporation of India The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) based in Mumbai is the central agency established in 1975, to encourage high quality Indian cinema. It functions in areas of film financing, production and distribution and under Ministr ...

She won many accolades during her career, including: *

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, ...

by the Government of India (1966) * Honorary D.Lit. degree by the Ravindra Bharati Vishwavidyalaya 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 ...

(1973) * Deshikottam degree by the

Vishwa Bharati Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...

Vishwavidyalaya. She died on 18 March 1977 in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. Her daughter

Savita Devi Savita may refer to: * Savitr, a Hindu deity associated with motion and the sun * Savita Ambedkar (1909–2003), Indian social activist and doctor * Savita Halappanavar, woman who died in Ireland after she was denied an abortion * Savita Bhabhi, f ...

is also a musician and lives in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

References

External links

Short biography at Underscore Records
* Fragments of her music can be heard from the collection at The Sangeet Kendra, Ahmedabad

Picture at Kamat's Potpourri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Siddheswari 1908 births 1977 deaths Hindustani singers Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Thumri Musicians from Varanasi Indian women classical singers 20th-century Indian singers Women Hindustani musicians Singers from Uttar Pradesh 20th-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Uttar Pradesh