During his lifetime and long after it, Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande has remained the target of much controversy. The gharanas held him responsible for destroying their age-old order. But the cold fact is that were it not for his efforts and that of his contemporary and rival Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, classical Indian music today would have had no new musicians, no lay audience nor much of its repertoire. For way back at the turn of the 20th Century Bhatkhande and Paluskar realised that if classical music had to survive it would have to be saved from the follies of its feudal patrons and illiterate practitioners.

While western education and new ideas were spreading across the fabric of Indian society, classical music was left untouched. Over the centuries classical music had lost its spiritual moorings, moving away from its theoretical base. The concept of a functional system of notation, classification and systematic training had all become alien. In the name of the guru-shishya parampara everything was left to the whims of princely patrons and the bias of the gharana ustads, both of whom were doomed to extinction.

A new, educated middle class was growing and Bhatkhande knew that to attract fresh talent and interest new listeners towards classical music it would have to be re-invented theoretically and modernised in practice. That is exactly what this canny and erudite Marathi lawyer set out to do.

The same realisation led Paluskar, a gifted vocalist with acute political and organisational skills, to set up one of the first professional music schools for classical music, the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Lahore in 1901. His aim, he said, "is to make kaansens (trained listeners) not Tansens (star performers)". But it is not true. Paluskar's disciples -- Omkarnath Thakur, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan and Narayan Rao Vyas -- were popular and strong performers too.

Paluskar allied with the Congress movement and held concerts during its annual sessions. Bhatkhande sought to influence the princely states of Baroda, Gwalior, Rampur along with the British administration of the United Provinces to set up music colleges. While Paluskar belonged to the Gwalior gharana Bhatkhande's protege followed a mix of the Rampur and Agra gharana styles.

Gharana musicians never tire of saying that these colleges have not produced credible performers. This is not fair. Paluskar's pupils apart, we have Bhatkhande to thank for for top performers like Nisar Husain Khan, Sharafat Husain Khan, Srikrishna Ratanjankar, Raja Bhaiyya Punchwale and V.G. Jog. The decline started long after Paluskar and Bhatkhande, when these institutions were taken over by the government. The need of the hour is for someone to take off from where the two left.

S. Kalidas is associate editor, India Today.