In March 2015, Mysore-based vocalist Indudhar Nirody released Samarpan, a two-CD set with a book of lyrics, recording compositions from musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande’s six-volume Kramik Pustak Malika. A Scroll.in report published that June described the collection as containing nearly 2,000 bandishes across close to 200 ragas. The recordings make a large written repertoire available to hear, but they present one musician’s interpretations—not a definitive version of every composition.
What Samarpan contains
Bhatkhande’s Kramik Pustak Malika gathered bandishes—compositions—from different gharanas, or musical schools. The volumes first appeared in Marathi and were later translated into Hindi. Scroll.in’s 2015 account gave approximate figures for the repertoire: nearly 2,000 compositions, including about 300 attributed to Bhatkhande himself, and close to 200 ragas. These are the report’s counts, not figures from a later catalogue audit.
Nirody’s release pairs performances on two CDs with an accompanying book, Samarpan, containing the lyrics. The project turns material preserved in printed notation into a substantial body of recorded performances that listeners can consult alongside the texts.
How Nirody completed the recording project
According to the 2015 report, Nirody worked on the recordings almost daily for six years. His schedule grew from an hour every other day to two hours every other day, and eventually to two hours each evening. He financed the undertaking through a trust, expecting sales of the book and CDs to reimburse the costs.
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The recordings feature harmonium accompaniment by Pandit Veeabhadraiah Hiremath and tabla accompaniment by Pandit Ramesh Dhannur and Pandit Bhimashankar Bidnoor. Sound recordist AP Srinivas is also credited in the report.
Nirody had studied with musicians including SCR Bhat, Gurudutt Heblekar, Dinkar Kaikini, Chidandand Nagarkar and Pandit KG Ginde. Ginde had begun a similar recording effort at ITC Sangeet Research Academy and recorded compositions from three volumes before his death in 1994. Scroll’s Sumana Ramanan described Nirody as probably the first to complete the full project; that qualification belongs to the 2015 account, rather than an independently established priority claim.
What a recording adds to notation—and what it cannot settle
Bhatkhande’s notation preserves useful information about compositions, but it cannot capture every nuance of melody or performance. A sung rendition lets a student hear one way of shaping the material; it does not turn the written record into a complete account of how every gharana performs it. Musician Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande cautioned that annotations are difficult to interpret without knowing the social and cultural circumstances in which the music was produced.
That distinction matters because the books collected material from different musical settings. Deshpande noted that a composition might have been rendered differently in those contexts. Nirody likewise described interpretive variation as natural: “Compositions are for everyone. But each one has his own approach, depending on the gharana and personal style.”
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The set is best approached as a listening reference to accompany study of the compositions, not as a rulebook for performance. Vocalist and teacher Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar called the undertaking commendable and said the recordings could benefit students and musicians. Younger vocalist Rutuja Lad said an authentic recording could help learners acquire bandishes and understand a raga.
- Read the notation and lyrics: use the books to identify the written material and words.
- Listen to the rendition: attend to how this performance brings the composition to life, while recognizing that notation cannot describe every melodic detail.
- Study with a teacher: compare what you hear with instruction and the conventions of the relevant musical lineage. Nirody put the limit plainly: “One cannot substitute teachers,”
The recordings therefore offer access and a concrete example, not a replacement for a guru or a claim that other interpretations are incorrect.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is the CD set available now?
The Scroll.in article’s ordering directions and prices date from 2015; they do not establish present-day stock or a current way to buy Samarpan. The available account also does not confirm a current digital release. Readers should verify availability with a current seller or the organization associated with the release rather than rely on the historical ordering details.
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