(b Kurundwad, 1872; d 1931). North Indian (Hindustani) classical music vocalist. He was the son of a kīrtankār (performer of religious discourses) in Kurundwad and was educated in an English-medium school. In 1887 his eyesight was damaged by firecrackers and he was removed from school to begin musical training with Balkrishna Buwa of the Gwalior gharānā. He became sensitized to the difference between his social status and that of his teacher and was determined to improve the status of musicians.
In 1897 Paluskar advocated public performance in order to make classical music widely accessible and to provide a means for musicians to earn a livelihood independent of rich patrons. In 1901 he founded the Gandharva Mahāvidyālaya, the first Indian music institution underwritten by public sources. To support it Paluskar lectured and gave concerts, tailoring performances to include patriotic songs, folksongs and devotional compositions along with classical vocal music. He also introduced tablā tarang, the use of a set of tablā drums tuned to a series of pitches.
In 1908 the main school shifted to Bombay and regular syllabuses, texts, examinations and performances were instituted, the latter including public appearances by female students from middle- and upper-class families. Opening music training to ‘respectable’ females effectively revolutionized the reception of classical music in India. In 1911 Paluskar received the consent of the Governor of Bombay to confer the degrees of Sangīt Praveśikā after four years and Sangīt Pravīn after five years. The school has grown to incorporate more than 25 branches.
Paluskar's legacy was and is continued by important musicians and teachers such as Narayan Rao Vyas, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, B.R. Deodhar, Omkarnath Thakur and Vinay Chandra Maudgalya.
V.R. Athavale: Pandit Vishnu Digambar (New Delhi, 1967)
G.M. Ranade: Music in Maharashtra (New Delhi, 1967)
V.R. Athavale: ‘The Source of Inspiration behind Pandit Paluskar's Contribution to Music’, Journal of the Indian Musicological Society, vii/1 (1976), 14–21
B.C. Wade: Khyāl: Creativity within North India's Classical Vocal Tradition (Cambridge, 1984)
BONNIE C. WADE