Pt Arvind Parikh, Vilayat Khan's senior disciple, enters centenary year as he turns 99

Sitarist Pt Arvind Parikh turns 99 on 19 October 2026 and begins his centenary year. The occasion is marked in a reflective piece in The Hindu by Manjari Sinha, who has been his disciple since 1974. Her account concentrates on Parikh as a teacher rather than a concert performer.

Sinha describes Parikh, known to students as Arvind Bhai, as one of the senior-most disciples of Ustad Vilayat Khan. She also calls him a leading figure in India's logistics industry, and says he built both careers to a high standard. According to her, the lasting measure of his work is the generation of musicians he has trained.

Lessons that began at 9 p.m.

Sinha writes that Parikh accepted her as a student in 1974, with the permission and blessings of Vilayat Khan. Her recollection of those years centres on timing. His days were filled with business responsibilities and concerts, she says, yet lessons began at 9 p.m. without fail. He arrived focused, she writes, and went through each phrase and nuance in turn.

She also says Parikh has never taken payment for teaching. In return, she writes, he asks for sincere riyaz, respect for the tradition and a real commitment to its musical values.

Sinha adds that she trained in vocal music with his wife, Kishori Parikh, whom she describes as an accomplished musician of the Kirana gharana. Kishori Parikh studied under Ustad Niyaz Ahmed Khan and Ustad Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, according to the piece.

Place in the Etawah-Imdadkhani lineage

The article describes Parikh as the senior-most gandabandh shagird of Vilayat Khan within the Etawah-Imdadkhani gharana. It says he was close to the maestro for nearly six decades. Sinha says he carries not only the Vilayatkhani baaj and its repertoire, but also the thinking behind it.

She singles out the gayaki ang, the vocal-inflected approach that lets the sitar mimic the human voice. In her telling, the style depends on understanding inflection, silence and the emotional character of each raga, not just copying vocal lines on an instrument. She says Parikh treats technical brilliance as a means rather than an end.

Tradition and technology

Sinha credits Parikh with joining the traditional guru–shishya parampara to modern tools. She writes that he has organised and digitised his teaching material so students can use it for study and reference.

He still runs an hour-long online workshop every Friday, attended by disciples and serious students from around the world, according to the piece. Sinha says it has grown into a community known as the Vilayatkhani Parivar.

She also lists two other long-running initiatives:

- A monthly baithak series at his home, to which musicians from different gharanas were invited to perform and talk with his students. The recordings are on YouTube, which Sinha calls a valuable archive. - An annual two-day Guru Purnima celebration, begun in homage to Vilayat Khan, which draws disciples from across the world.

Many of his disciples now perform and teach, Sinha writes, which keeps the gharana's musical language active. She says that at 99 he keeps a precise routine, follows developments in Indian classical music closely and helps musicians in difficulty.

The piece closes on his centenary year, which Sinha says the musical fraternity is celebrating as a sign of a tradition kept alive by his work.

This report draws on reporting by thehindu.com.