Remembering a Legend: Flashes of ‘Thumri Queen’ Girija Devi’s Life

Girija Devi thought of thumri as the medium through which she could best express herself.

Girija Devi died at age 88 in Kolkata, West Bengal on 24 October. 

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Eminent classical singer and Padma Vibhushan awardee Girija Devi passed away at a hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday, 24 October, following a cardiac arrest. She was 88 and is survived by a daughter.

Considered as the queen of thumri and fondly called Appa ji, Girija Devi’s demise will create a deep void in Indian classical music.

Also Read: “An Era Comes to an End”: Thumri Queen Girija Devi Passes Away

The Men in Girija Devi’s Life Who Supported Her

Born into a zamindar family on 8 May 1929, music formed an important part of the legendary ‘Banaras gharana’ singer since an early age.

While Girija Devi was born in a village near Benares in Uttar Pradesh, her family moved to Benares when she was two years old. According to her biography on her website, Girija Devi studied music at her guru’s home in the neighbourhood of Kabir Chaura in the holy city.

It wasn’t only music that engaged her attention. “I was a tomboy,” she once said in an interview, and responding to this trait in his daughter, her father Ramdeo Rai encouraged her to learn horse riding and fencing.

He was responsible for nurturing her passion for music and constantly supported her during her growing years.

While she initially took lessons in Indian classical music from Pandit Sarju Prasad Misra, she later studied under Pandit Srichand Misra – Girija Devi remained the latter’s disciple until his death in the 1960s.

The thumri queen on an album cover.

It was the thumri queen’s first guru Pandit Sarju Prasad Misra, who initiated her into the basics of Hindustani classical music and taught her various forms including khyaal, thumri, and tappa.

Also Read: Jukebox: Girija Devi Was in a Class of Her Own

At age fifteen, she found another patron of arts and music in her businessman husband Madhusudan Jain, who supported her in her ambitions until his death in 1975. In fact, her husband even helped her find accommodation in Sarnath, to spend a year away from conjugal life and domestic chores and devote her time solely to music.

By then, Girija Devi had given birth to a daughter, but her mother took over her duties for the year that she spent away from her family in Sarnath.

In her biography on her website, she claims that her husband was such a pillar of support that she all but felt crippled after his death in 1975. The thumri queen also mentioned that that one year of intense practice in Sarnath changed her life, in that, it made her the formidable singer she later became.

Girija Devi with sitar maestro Amjad Ali Khan. 

‘Thumri’ Was the Language Girija Devi Spoke

While thumri was the form she could best express herself in, Girija Devi also loved singing other classical forms like dadra, holi, chaiti, and jhoola. During her illustrious career, Girija Devi met many contemporaries of the day like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Ali Akbar Khan, who became her trusted friends over the years.

The thumri queen, whose first ever music recital took place in 1949 at the Allahabad branch of the All India Radio, received the Padma Shri in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan in 1989.

As sarod maestro Pandit Amjad Ali Khan rightly noted, Girija Devi’s death marks the end of an era.

(With inputs from PTI)

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