Gharana System in Indian Classical Music

Gharana Name	Founder	Exponent	Remark
Gwalior Gharana	Ustad Hassu Khan, Ustad Haddu Khan, Ustad Nathu Khan	Bal Krishna BaIchal Karanjikar, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Malini Rajurkar, Vinay Chandra Maudgalya,Vasundhara Komkali , Krishnarao Shankar Pandit	This is the oldest among all the Khayal Gayaki (vocal) styles. The distinctive feature of this style of singing has been noted as its lucidity and simplicity.

The Benaras Gharana	Pt Gopal Mishra	Rajan Mishra, Sajan Mishra, Girija Devi, and others.,, Kamalini Asthana and Nalini Asthana	The Benaras Gharana evolved as a result of the great lilting style of khayal singing known by Thumri singers of Benaras and Gaya.

Agra Gharana	Haji Sujan Khan, Ustad Ghagghe Khuda Baksh	Faiyyaz Khan, Latafat Hussein Khan, and Dinkar Kakini.Manik Verma,Sharafat Hussain Khan,Sumati Mutatkar , Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjankar	The Agra Gharana places great importance on developing forcefulness and deepness in the voice so that the notes are powerful and resonant.

Kirana Gharana	Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan	Hirabhai Barodekar, Begum Akhtar, Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal, and Prabha Atre.Manik Verma,Vasavraj Rajguru	It derives its name from the birthplace of Abdul Kharim Khan of Kirana near Kurukshetra. In the Kirana style of singing, the swara is used to create an emotional mood by means of elongation and the use of Kana

Patiala Gharana	Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Ali Baksh	. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ajoy Chakravarti, Raza Ali Khan, Beghum Akhtar, Nirmala Deni, Naina Devi, Parveen Sultana, and others	Patiala Gharana is regarded as an offshoot of the Delhi Gharana. The Patiala Gharana is characterized by the use of greater rhythm play and by Layakari with the abundant use of Bols, particularly Bol-tans

Delhi Gharana	Ustad Mamman Khan	Chand Khan, Nasir Ahmed Khan, Usman Khan, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, and Krishna Bisht.	The Delhi Gharana was represented by Tanras Khan and Shabbu Khan. The highlights of Delhi Gharana are pleasing vistaar and exquisite compositions.

Mewati Gharana	Ghagge Nazir Khan.	Pandit Jasraj, Moti Ram, Mani Ram, Sanjeev Abhyankar, and others. Asgari Bai,, Tripti Mukherjee	The Mewati Gharana gives importance to developing the mood of the raga through the notes forming it and its style is Bhava Pradhan. It also gives equal importance to the meaning of the text.
jaipur gharana	Alladiya Khan,	Alladiya Khan, Mallikarjun Mansur, Kesarbhai Kerkar, Kishori Amonkar, Shruti Sadolikar, Padma Talwalkar, and Ashwini Bhide Deshpande are the leading representatives of the Jaipur Gharana.Roshan Kumari Fakir Mohammad,, Moinuddin Khan (musician),Mogubai Kurdikar

Dhrupad - Darbhanga Gharana	Radhakrishna Mallick and Kartaram Mallick	Ram Chatur Mallick , Satyam Tiwari

Kathak - Lucknow Gharana	Ishwari Prasad	Dayamanti Joshi, Swapan Chaudhuri,Birju Maharaj, Shambhu Maharaj, Sonal Mansingh

Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana	Ustad Inayat Hussain Khan	Ghulam Mustafa Khan (singer) Hafeez Ahmed Khan Shanno Khurana ,Ghulam Sadiq Khan,Rashid Khan (musician) ,Mushtaq Hussain Khan , Nisar Hussain Khan

Imdadkhani gharana	Ustad Sahabdab Khan	Shahid Parvez

Bishnupur Gharana of Bengal	Bahadur Khan	Manilal Nag

Updated : 06 Aug 2025 ; 5:59:17pm IST