Bismillah Khan’s village mourns his death
August 21st, 2006
A pall of gloom has descended on Dumroan, a small village in Bihar’s Buxar district, which is the birthplace of shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan who died in Varanasi early Monday.
The news of the legendary musician’s death has left the people here in a state of shock as hundreds had prayed in mosques and temples for his speedy recovery. “It was painful to hear that he is no more,” said Syed Kalam, a villager.
Khan was taken ill around 10 days ago and admitted to the Heritage Hospital in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, Aug 17. His death came at 2.20 a.m. in the Hindu holy town that had been his home for decades.
Born on March 21, 1916, Bismillah Khan was from a family of musicians who played in the royal court of Dumraon, which was then a princely state. He was trained under his uncle, the late Ali Bux `Vilayatu’, who used to play the shehnai at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Khan was among the very few Indians who had the distinction of receiving all the national awards - Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna that he got in 2001.
“Not only Dumraon, the entire district is deeply mourning the death of Khan saab,” said a district official.
Another villager added: “He was proud of Dumroan. We used to take pride in taking his name and telling people that we are from no less a place than Ustad Bismillah Khan’s native village.”
Though the younger generation of Dumraon have hardly seen Bismillah Khan in their village, middle-aged and elderly people recalled that he had visited the place in 1979 during the shooting of a Bhojpuri film and once again in 1983.
“I remember he was fond of recalling his childhood memories of roaming the narrow lanes and fields here,” said Matang Prasad, an elderly villager.
Said another villager: “We have heard that Khan saab, in his childhood, used to play shehnai on the premises of the Bihariji (Krishna) temple here and offer prayers (namaz) at a nearby mosque.”
Murli Manohar Srivastava, who is writing a book on Bismillah Khan, said it was sad that the musician was not given the recognition and honour he deserved at his birthplace.
Shaikh Chunnu, a Dumraon resident, said: “He was honoured all over the world except in Dumraon.”
Over a decade ago, then chief minister Lalu Prasad laid the foundation stone of a town hall to be built here in the honour of Bismillah Khan. But the project never moved beyond paper.
Former chief minister Rabri Devi, wife of Lalu Prasad, had also announced during her tenure that a community hall would be built on his ancestral land. But this too failed to materialise.
According to Srivastava, Bismillah Khan’s property was sold off many years ago by his relatives. — IANS