Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his death is an 'irreparable loss' to the entire art world. He was laughing and smiling in his last moments,' she said.Ĭondolences poured in as news came in of the death of the Kathak maestro, who would have been 84 on February 4. 'Two of his disciples and his two granddaughters, my younger sister Yasyashashwini and me, were with him when this happened. Ragini, a Kathak dancer herself, said the only solace for the family is that he did not suffer too much. He died before reaching the hospital,' Ragini said We rushed to the hospital but unfortunately, we could not save him. 'This happened between 12.15 and 12.30 am. We think it was a cardiac arrest as he was also a heart patient.

He was lying down… and suddenly his breathing became uneven. He had his dinner and we were playing ‘antakshari’ because he loved old music. He probably died of a cardiac arrest, his granddaughter said. He had been suffering from a kidney ailment and was under dialysis treatment for the last month due to high diabetes. He is survived by five children, three daughters and two sons, and five grandchildren. They were playing ‘antakshari’ after dinner when he suddenly took ill, his granddaughter Ragini Maharaj told PTI.īirju Maharaj, one of India’s best known artistes who was also a thumri exponent and even voiced a song for Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi, was from Lucknow's Kalka-Bindadin Gharana.

Maharaj-ji, as he was popularly known, died surrounded by his family and disciples, laughing and smiling till the very end. Kathak doyen Birju Maharaj, who took the classical Indian dance form to the world and helped make it accessible for generations of students and audiences, died at his home here in the early hours of Monday.

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