Sitar Ratna Rahimat Khan- sitar Rag Lalat and Jogiya

•• Sitar Ratna Ustad Rahimat Khan ••
Sitar Ratna Ustad Rahimat Khan (1863-1954), the founder of Dharwad Gharana of Sitar, was born to Ustad Ghulam Hussain Khan - a great vocalist in the court of Bhavanagar. His grandfather Ustad Madaar Baksh was a famous singer and sitar player in the court of Ratlam.
Young Rahimat trained under his father and grandfather and later under the legendary beenkar Ustad Bande Ali Khan. Being a contemporary of Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkande and Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, he was very fond of their idea of conceptualizing, preserving and making raga-sangeet available to the masses. In his lifetime Rahimat Khan founded eight music schools where he was teaching alongside great musicians like vocalist Pandit Bhaskharbuwa Bakhale among others.
In 1912, he settled in Dharwad and continued to perform and teach music till the end of his life. Rahimat Khan is also credited with adding the kharaj-shadaj string (the very low SA) to the sitar - thus inventing the kharaj-pancham-string setup that is widely used nowadays. In three of his six (Malkauns, Jaunpuri and Jogiya) 78rpm recordings he is utilizing the Kharaj Sa string for brief passages during alap. His son Abdul Karim Khan passed on his legacy to his sons: Usman Khan, Bale Khan ( died 2007), Mehboob Khan (died 2015), Hameed Khan, Chote Rahimat Khan, Rafique Khan and Shafique Khan.