Who among the following is the first vocalist to receive the Bharat Ratna in 2008 and is also credited to have popularised 'Khyal Gayaki'?

Correct — D. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi of the Kirana gharana received the Bharat Ratna in 2008, and khyal was his form — the raga-based Hindustani vocal style he carried to a mass concert and recording audience.

Of the four names, only he holds the award, which settles the item before the khyal clue is even needed.

Read first vocalist as the first Hindustani khyal singer to be honoured, and the name is option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Begum Akhtar — Begum Akhtar is remembered for ghazal, thumri and dadra, the lighter classical forms rather than khyal, and she was never awarded the Bharat Ratna.
• (b)
  Gangubai Hangal — Gangubai Hangal sang khyal in the same Kirana gharana, which is what makes her tempting here. Her national honour was the Padma Vibhushan, not the Bharat Ratna.
• (c)
  Vishnu Digambar Palushkar — Vishnu Digambar Paluskar died in 1931, more than twenty years before the Bharat Ratna was instituted in 1954. His life's work was music education — he founded the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in 1901.

Khyal is the dominant vocal form of Hindustani classical music: a raga unfolded through improvisation over two compositions, the slow bada khyal and the fast chhota khyal.

It displaced the older and stricter dhrupad, and the gharanas — Gwalior, Kirana, Agra, Jaipur-Atrauli, Patiala — are in essence khyal lineages.

Bhimsen Joshi trained under Sawai Gandharva in the Kirana gharana, and the Pune festival he founded in his teacher's memory is still the calendar's largest Hindustani gathering.

Key facts

• Pandit Bhimsen Joshi received the Bharat Ratna in 2008.
• He belonged to the Kirana gharana, the lineage associated with Abdul Karim Khan.
• M.S. Subbulakshmi was the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna, in 1998.
• The Bharat Ratna was instituted in 1954.

Common traps

• Assuming that any famous classical singer must hold the Bharat Ratna. Most do not.
• Picking Gangubai Hangal because she also sang khyal in the Kirana gharana — the award, not the style, decides this item.

No directly related past PYQ was found.