Who is Ravi Shankar and why is he Google's Doodle?

Today's Google Doodle marks what would have been the 96th birthday of Ravi Shankar, the Indian musician famous for his mastery of the sitar.

Shankar was born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury in Varanasi, India, the youngest of seven brothers.

He grew up in the poor surroundings of West Bengal before, having shortened his name to Ravi, meaning "the sun", he followed his father and brother to Europe at the age of ten. He moved to Paris, to be a dancer in his brother Uday's musical troupe, but became a serious touring musician in his teens and apprenticed himself to the lead soloist of the group, Allauddin Khan, who was affectionately known as Baba.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Under Khan's tutelage, Shankar became one of India's most proficient sitar players, but the relationship between the pair was not without its problems. Khan was known for his violent temper and once, after a performance from his pupil that he deemed sub-standard, ordered Shankar to "buy some bangles and wear them like a girl". Ravi was so offended, says The Independent, that he almost never returned, but Khan learnt from his behaviour and the relationship was salvaged.

In 1956, Shankar began touring Europe and the Americas on his own, playing Indian classical music and increasing the genre's global popularity. It was on one such tour that he was introduced to Beatles' guitarist George Harrison and the pair quickly struck up a friendship - it was Shankar who introduced the band to the sitar, which they most notably used in their song Norwegian Wood. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"93187","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

"Many people, especially young people, have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple… It is now the 'in' thing," Shankar said in an interview in 1967.

The musician was internationally recognised with five Grammy awards, as well as the Bharat Ratna in 1999, the highest civilian award the Indian government can bestow. He was also nominated for an Oscar for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi, but lost out to John Williams for ET.

Shankar died in 2012, aged 92. To this day his name is often preceded by the honorary title "Pandit", which means "scholar" or "teacher", particularly one who has mastered the Vedic scriptures of Hindu rituals, law, religion and music under a guru.