Harishankar plays the shehnai. (Main Uddin Chisti)

Cooch Behar, Aug. 27: The princes have long gone, but the nahabatkhana, or music hall, atop the entrance to the Madanmohan temple complex in this historic town still rings with Indian classical tunes played on the shehnai every morning and evening.

Harishankar Bindubanshi, aged about 50, said he was the third generation of shehnai players at the temple.

“I have heard from my grandfather that from the time of Maharaja Nripendranarayan, there has been shehnai players here. At first, there used to be a Muslim player, brought from Benares. Then from the time of my grandfather, Mithailal, our family has been here. We, too, are originally from Benares,” Harishankar said. Maharaja Nripendranarayan built the Madanmohan temple in 1890.

The first strains from the shehnai emanate from the nahabatkhana at 4.30am and from 8.30pm, the ragas are again played for an hour. The shehnai player is accompanied by Ajoykumar Bindubanshi on the nakara, Ranjan Mali with the cymbals and Jagat Mali with the one-note shehnai.

“I play the Bhairavi, Ashavari, Purabi and Todi ragas in the mornings and Malkaus, Iman, Bhimpalasri, Behag and Jayjayanti in the evenings,” Harishankar said.

He added that his family hailed from the neighbourhood in Benares that gave the world Ustad Bismillah Khan. “Our family has known Khansaheb closely and I, too, follow his style,” he said.

All the musicians who play at the nahabatkhana are government-employed and are paid by the Debottar Trust Board, the chairman of which is the district magistrate. The board looks after all the religious properties of the erstwhile royal family of Cooch Behar.

District magistrate Rajesh Kumar Sinha, who has inaugurate the Ras Mela at the Madanmohan temple for the past two years, did not have any knowledge of the musicians though. “This is something wonderful. I knew nothing about the nahabatkhana though I have heard the shehnai many times. This is part of the rich cultural heritage of the district,” he said.

However, another member of the board, the subdivisional officer (headquarters), Jayanta Maity, confirmed that all four musicians were paid by the trust board and they have been in service for several generations.

Tarun Lahiri, the 84-year-old former headmaster of Nripendranarayan High School, said the tourism department was only interested in promoting the Madanmohan temple. “But hardly anyone knows about the nahabatkhana, not even those who live around the temple.”