Experience & Learn

The Temple-Backdrop Festivals annual, mostly winter–spring

Khajuraho Dance Festival (Madhya Pradesh, usually February) sets the classical forms against the famous temple sculptures; the Konark Dance Festival (Odisha) performs beside the Sun Temple whose carvings helped reconstruct Odissi; the Mamallapuram Dance Festival (Tamil Nadu) dances before Pallava rock reliefs; and at Natyanjali (Chidambaram and other temple towns, around Maha Shivaratri) dancers offer their art directly to Nataraja — Shiva as Lord of Dance. Nishagandhi Festival (Thiruvananthapuram) and the Soorya Festival (Kerala) are other major multi-form platforms.

The Great Music Gatherings north & south

The Chennai Margazhi season (December–January) — hundreds of Carnatic concerts and dance recitals across the city's sabhas — is among the largest classical festivals in the world. In the north: the Tansen Samaroh at Gwalior honours the legend at his memorial; Pune's Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav (founded by Bhimsen Joshi) and Kolkata's Dover Lane Music Conference are pilgrimage events for Hindustani music lovers; Jalandhar's Harivallabh Sangeet Sammelan is often described as one of the oldest running music festivals in the country. SPIC MACAY deserves special mention: a volunteer movement that brings the greatest classical artists to perform inside schools and colleges — often a student's very first live darshan of the masters.

Festivals of the Living Traditions seasonal, region-wise

Kerala's temple season (roughly October–May) offers Theyyam in Malabar's shrines and the massed drum orchestras of Thrissur Pooram (April–May); coastal Karnataka stages night-long Yakshagana through the dry months; the Ramnagar Ramlila near Varanasi runs for a full month each autumn; Navratri turns Gujarat into the world's largest dance floor for Garba; the Hornbill Festival (Nagaland, December) gathers the tribes of the northeast; Rajasthan's Pushkar Fair and the Jaisalmer Desert Festival showcase Kalbelia, Manganiyar and Langa artists. For crafts, the Surajkund International Crafts Mela (Haryana, February) and Delhi's Dilli Haat bring artisans from every state to one ground, while the artists' village of Raghurajpur (Odisha) and the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (Kerala, contemporary art) reward the travelling art lover.

Great Teaching Institutions a starting map

Dance: Kalakshetra Foundation (Chennai — Bharatanatyam), Kathak Kendra (New Delhi, a Sangeet Natak Akademi constituent — Kathak), Kerala Kalamandalam (Cheruthuruthy — Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Koodiyattam), Nrityagram (outside Bengaluru — Odissi's famed dance village), Darpana Academy (Ahmedabad). Music: ITC Sangeet Research Academy (Kolkata — Hindustani, guru-shishya residency), Sangit Bhavana at Visva-Bharati (Santiniketan), Faculty of Performing Arts, Banaras Hindu University, and the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya network founded in V. D. Paluskar's lineage. Visual arts & craft: Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University (Baroda), Kala Bhavana (Santiniketan), Sir J.J. School of Art (Mumbai), National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad). University departments: the Indira Kala Sangit Vishwavidyalaya at Khairagarh (Chhattisgarh) — widely described as India's oldest university dedicated to music and the arts; the Tamil Nadu music and fine-arts university and the University of Madras music department (Chennai); Lalit Kala Kendra at Savitribai Phule Pune University; and the music faculties of BHU and Delhi University. In Karnataka: the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (Bengaluru's famed visual-arts institution), the state academies for music and dance and for Yakshagana, and Bengaluru's many classical dance and music vidyalayas. Most cities also have respected private gurus and academies — in the classical arts, the individual guru remains the true doorway. (Institution names and offerings change; verify on official websites.)

Formal Examination Boards structured progress for students

Indian classical training is commonly structured through graded examinations — typically progressing from introductory grades toward diplomas with titles such as Visharad (roughly graduate level) and Alankar. Widely recognised boards include the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal (ABGMVM — music and dance, across India; its Prarambhik-to-Alankar ladder is the classic route for young Hindustani students), Pracheen Kala Kendra (Chandigarh) and Prayag Sangit Samiti (Prayagraj); several state secondary-education boards and universities conduct their own music and dance examinations, and institutions like Kalakshetra award their own diplomas. Exams give a student structure, theory and milestones — though every tradition will remind you that the certificate is the shadow, and the art is the substance. Verify each board's current syllabus and recognition on its official site.

National Support Schemes Government of India & academies

The CCRT Cultural Talent Search Scholarship — awarded by the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training under the Ministry of Culture — supports school-age children showing talent in the performing, visual and traditional arts, with special provisions for children from families practising traditional art forms. The Ministry of Culture's Scholarship to Young Artistes supports advanced training for young adults in various fields, and the Sangeet Natak Akademi and state academies run fellowships and awards. (Eligibility criteria, amounts and application windows change — always check the current notification on the official CCRT and Ministry of Culture portals.) Beyond scholarships, gurukul-style institutions often support dedicated students, and SPIC MACAY's workshops and its scheme of intensive stays with masters open remarkable doors for school students.

Read, Watch, Listen reliable starting points

Institutional: the Sangeet Natak Akademi's archives and journal; the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA); Lalit Kala Akademi publications; the Crafts Museum (New Delhi); the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP, Bengaluru); the National Gallery of Modern Art. Online: Sahapedia's open encyclopedia of Indian culture; UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage entries for Indian traditions; Doordarshan and All India Radio (Prasar Bharati) archives of the great masters; and the official websites of the institutions above. In person, wherever you live: your nearest sabha, temple festival, state academy or SPIC MACAY chapter — the arts are best learned within earshot of a live tanpura.

A Prarambhik Foundation Study Handbook free on this site

Rasa Bharat hosts a complete, free study handbook for young sitar and Hindustani music students preparing for the ABGMVM Prarambhik examination — and for anyone who wants to understand how this music actually works. It covers sound and swara, raga grammar, detailed profiles of the seven syllabus ragas, tala and laya, sitar anatomy and technique, vocal foundations, a cautious history, a 40-question viva bank with model answers, a sixteen-week study plan and a full glossary — written to connect exam readiness with real musicianship.

Open the Hindustani Music & Sitar Study Handbook →