Pandit Pandharinath Kolhapure

• Name: Pandit Pandharinath Kolhapure
• Date of Birth: 16 Feb 1930
• Passed Away On: 15 Aug 2015
• Religion: Hindu
• Location: Pandharpur,Maharashtra
• Address: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Pandharinath Kolhapure was a classical music maestro born on 16th of February, 1930. He hailed from the town of Pandharpur located in Maharashtra state. Pt. Pandharinath began with his Talim as a young kid under the guidance of Pandit Krishanrao Kolhapure who was a well known Veena player and vocalist during that time. Pt. Krishanrao Kolhapure was the partner of the Balwant Natak Academy (with Pandit Dinanath Mangeshkar).

Along with this, he gained his further Talim with the famous Khansaheb Ata Husien and Pandit Madhusuden Joshi from the Agra Gharana.His first performance came at a tender age of 15 years. He performed at Baroda's All India Music Conference in 1941 where a famous artist at the darbar - Khansaheb Faiyaz Khansaab blessed him. Since then, his passion towards music kept on growing with each passing day. His further continued his Talim under the legendary Prof. B.R. Deodharji and Pt/ Kumar Gandharva.

Pandit Pandharinath Ji was not just a versatile singer, he was also a beautiful author of three books. The first one was titled "Gan Yogi Shiv Putra" dedicated to the entire life of his guru Pandit Kumar Gandharva. The second book was titled as Shubh Suranche Bol Rudra Veeneche. It was an account based on the experiences of his own life. The last book was inspired by and dedicated to the renowned creator of Khyal Gayki Niyamat Khan. As a great gesture, this book also contains many Niyamat Khan's 'Bandish' sung by our very own Panditji. He was accompanied by Srikant Dokrikar and Dr. Satyashil Deshpande.

A more than 100 years old Veena which belonged to Khansahib Murad Khan was passed on to Panditji by his father. In 2000, the trust Veena Vardayani was founded by Pandit ji. This brought a breakthrough revolution as it convinced the Mumbai University to grant Diploma in Veena to his students through which he taught many students. He was also the member of the Samvad Foundation and the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharwa Mahavidyalaya.

Pandit Pandharinath Kolhapure has performed at many renowned locations in Ujjain, Delhi, United States, Pune and many more. He was even a great mentor to his disciples like Asha Parekh and Juhi Chawla.

Death:
Panditji suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital for four days before he breathed his last on 15 August 2015. The prayer meet was attended by many renowned figures of music and film industry. He is survived by his three daughters - Shivangi (married Shakti Kapoor), Tejaswisi (married Pankaj Saraswat) and Padmini (married Pradeep Sharma) and his grandchildren - Priyank, Shraddha Kapoor and Siddhant.

Epilogue:
Shraddha Kapoor, Panditji’s grand-daughter was very attached to her grandfather. He was the one she always looked upon. Although Shraddha hails from a family of musicians, even she got jitters of nervousness when she was about to go on stage for her first live singing performance on June 4, last year. To overcome the fear, Shraddha Kapoor called her grand-dad for his blessings right before her performance. She even celebrated Panditji’s 86th birthday recently with great pomp and went up to the micro blogging site to express her happiness.

She wrote, “I love him SOSOSOOOO MUCH!!! #Nana #86 #Birthday. Birthday celebrationsss!!! #Woohoooo #Nana #86 #FamJam #HisFavCake”

After Panditji’s sad demise, Shraddha was heart-broken yet gathered herself together to express her feelings on social media for her loving Nana.

Brothers: Meghnath Kolhapure, Dinkar Kolhapure

Daughters: Padmini, Tejaswini, Shivangi

Son in Laws: Shakti, Pradeep, Pankaj

Grandchildren: Priyank, Shraddha, Siddhant, Vedika

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