Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit Chhannulal Mishra, whose life’s music so often drew from the world of Ram – a space where he sang Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas with such fervour that the audience considered these renditions as worship rituals in themselves - passed away on the morning of Dussehra in Mirzapur on Thursday. The departure feels like an ideal parting note for Mishra. He was 89. He had been admitted to Sir Sunder Lal Hospital at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi after a sharp decline in his health. Before this, he had been receiving treatment at Ramakrishna Seva Ashram in Mirzapur, where he lived with his daughter. He had been unwell for the past seven months and, according to a statement from the Varanasi hospital, was being treated for Type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoarthritis, and benign prostatic hyperplasia. During the illness, he had also developed bed sores, complicated by septicaemia, and was suffering from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). He was discharged after he showed some signs of recovery. He was at his daughter’s place in Mirzapur when he passed away in the wee hours of the morning. His mortal remains will be brought to Varanasi for people to pay their final respects before the state funeral in the evening today. PM Modi condoled Mishra’s death and wrote on X, "I am deeply saddened by the demise of the renowned classical singer Pandit Channulal Mishra ji. He remained dedicated throughout his life to the enrichment of Indian art and culture. Along with taking classical music to the masses, he also made an invaluable contribution to establishing Indian tradition on the global stage." सुप्रसिद्ध शास्त्रीय गायक पंडित छन्नूलाल मिश्र जी के निधन से अत्यंत दुख हुआ है। वे जीवनपर्यंत भारतीय कला और संस्कृति की समृद्धि के लिए समर्पित रहे। उन्होंने शास्त्रीय संगीत को जन-जन तक पहुंचाने के साथ ही भारतीय परंपरा को विश्व पटल पर प्रतिष्ठित करने में भी अपना अमूल्य योगदान… pic.twitter.com/tw8jb5iXu7 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 2, 2025 Mishra had proposed Modi’s candidature in 2014 and was also invited for the swearing-in ceremony the same year. Mishra was one of the few singers in the country who was adept at singing khayal gayaki of the Kirana gharana and the semi-classical music of the Banaras gharana. In fact, it was his efforts along with the likes of Girija Devi that gave a ‘serious status’ to thumri and Purab ang gayaki. “A lot of people would say this is easy. It’s not,” he had told The Indian Express in an interview. Then there were his masterful bhajans for Ram, Shiva and Krishna that got him a lot of attention. But it was only in 2012 that the world of popular music discovered him. Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan was Mishra’s Bollywood debut at the age of 75 with Saans albeli, a lyrically, musically and vocally potent composition in the delicate and difficult raag Todi. Growing up in Hariharpur, he began learning music from his father before training under Ustad Abdul Ghani Khan of Kirana gharana, Mishra never realised that he would be pursuing music. “I helped my Ustaad’s wife with household chores in the morning and Khan sahab would teach me in the evening,” said Mishra in a 2014 interview to this reporter, who would often follow every answer with a shlok from the Ramcharitmanas. In fact, initially, he wouldn’t sing thumris as the form was associated with courtesans. But he later decided to perform on popular demand, and they remain some of his finest renditions, so do the bhajans and other UP folk. But the way he imbibed and sang the stories of Ram - the childhood, the wedding, the exile, the glory of homecoming - besides those iconic thumris will remain etched in people's memories.
