Rishab Rikhiram Sharma was Ravi Shankar’s last disciple: Sitarist's management slams Anoushka Shankar’s guruship claim

Indian sitar player Rishab Rikhiram Sharma’s team has refuted Anoushka Shankar's claims and shared proofs of the guru–disciple bond with the late Ravi Shankar

The management of sitarist Rishab Rikhiram Sharma has firmly pushed back against recent remarks by Anoushka Shankar, who had said he was not a formal disciple of her father, legendary maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. In an exclusive statement to HT City, his management said, “Rishab Rikhiram Sharma is Pandit Ravi Shankar’s youngest and last disciple. This is an authenticated and documented fact, and it is not open to speculation or challenge.”

Anoushka Shankar recently claimed that Rishab Rikhiram Sharma was not her father, Pandit Ravi Shankar's student

“Rishab Rikhiram Sharma honours his Guru through unwavering riyaaz, humility and lifelong service to the art form, not through public rhetoric. We strongly urge audiences to rely on documented archival evidence and to respect the sanctity of India’s Guru–Shishya tradition before forming narratives that risk diminishing a sacred cultural lineage.The archival record is clear, documented and publicly available. Any attempt now to cast doubt on this long-established acknowledgment disregards both historical record and the sanctity of the Guru–Shishya parampara,” the statement added.

Photos from the Ganda Bandhan ceremony in 2012

To support their claim, Rishab’s team also shared archival footage and photographs with HT City, including material from a Ganda Bandhan initiation ceremony filmed on January 3, 2012 at the Ravi Shankar Centre. The recording documents a meeting attended by Pandit Ravi Shankar, Sukanya Shankar and Rishab’s family, where the maestro formally tied the traditional thread and accepted him as a disciple.

Rishab Rikhiram Sharma on the day of the Ganda Bandhan ceremony

Recently, Anoushka Shankar, speaking to Humans of Bombay, had said, “Rishab is really talented… I think there is some misunderstanding about his guruship… He had a couple of lessons with my father, very informally.” She added, “Somehow that has gone blown up into some story of him being his last disciple or the youngest disciple, which isn’t true.”

With Rishab’s team presenting archival evidence and Anoushka Shankar reiterating her position, the discussion around his association with Pandit Ravi Shankar has now moved into the public domain, backed by statements, records and competing recollections. .