Through his record releases, concerts, film scores and theatrical productions, and especially through radio, which had blossomed late in India, he led the way in creating, for the first time, a mass market inside India for the nation’s classical music. As the country shrugged off its colonial shackles, he told Indians to be proud of their cultural riches. He was prolific, fiercely creative and a superb communicator. Before he began touring abroad as a sitar-player, his standing was already unrivalled in India. The name Ravi means the sun, and in 1997 the Times of India acclaimed him as ‘The Sun who Rose in the West’, but the newspaper had a short memory. One result of Ravi Shankar’s success as a global pioneer, which dominates his reputation, is that his impact in his homeland is often forgotten.
It is crucial to retain the Indian perspective.
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