Copyright by Jeffrey Michael Grimes 2008 - The University of Texas ...

historically and currently have migrated from these two areas into the musical centers of
Maharashtra. It should be noted that, to a certain extent, Northern Karnataka is more
properly a part of this musical region than is Goa, simply because, as my Goan
interlocutors have attested, there has never been much classical music activity, whether in
terms of performances or educational institutions, in Goa. This is as opposed to key
districts in Karnataka such as Darwad, Hubli, and Belgaum, which continue to be active
(though minor) centers of Hindustani classical music. Maharashtra also, in this sense,
includes the former Maratha-ruled princely states, most importantly Baroda, Indore, and
Gwalior. These cities are now located in the states of Gujarat (Baroda) and Madhya
Pradesh, but there are large communities of ethnic Maharashtrians in each of these cities
that continue to hold on to Marathi customs and the Marathi language, and, more
importantly, maintain ties between themselves and the musical centers in modern
Maharashtra state. I noted this quite clearly in Pune, as a number of performers with
Maharashtrian surnames from these cities continue to go there and to Bombay to perform
and learn. This goes as well for other cities in South India which have large communities
of ethnic Maharashtrians, such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. In this sense, in musical
terms, the Maharashtrian region has not fluctuated a great deal since the 19th century.
Bengal, although a much more clearly circumscribed geographical region, has
changed as a musical region in the last century more drastically than Maharashtra, as East
Bengal, the birthplace and former home of both a number of 20th century musical
legends and a handful of important patronage sites, was partitioned off from western and
northern Bengal by the British Raj and then later permanently severed from the rest of the
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