A Guru does more than teach an art form; they change the way an artiste sees the world. Sacred Light, the new collaboration between vocalist and composer Shankar Mahadevan and Tabla virtuoso Ishaan Ghosh, belongs to the latter. A contemporary interpretation of Adi Shankaracharya’s Guru Ashtakam, the five-and-a-half-minute Sanskrit composition brings together devotional chanting, traditional Tabla, orchestral arrangements and contemporary production, while keeping the Guru-Shishya Parampara at its spiritual centre. For Ishaan, the idea was deeply personal; for Shankar, it was a composition that felt like much more than another rendition of an ancient text. The result is a piece that begins with restraint and gradually opens into a larger, immersive soundscape — mirroring, in many ways, the relationship between a guru and a shishya itself.
For Shankar, the first connection came through Ishaan’s musical lineage as much as the composition itself. “I have always been a great admirer of Pandit Nayan Ghosh ji,” he says, adding that he had also been following the younger musician’s work on social media, particularly his “in-depth knowledge of the Tabla, his intricate playing style and the way he has been taking Indian classical music to newer audiences.” So when Ishaan approached him with Sacred Light, Shankar was pleasantly surprised. But it was hearing the composition that made the decision immediate. “The moment I heard the composition, I realised this wasn’t simply another rendition of the Guru Ashtakam. It beautifully brings together the spirit of Indian tradition with a global musical language.” For him, the orchestration, production and rhythmic architecture created something expansive without compromising “the sanctity of the original text”. He knew almost instantly that he wanted to be part of the journey.
That balance between reverence and reinvention is what defines Sacred Light. Ishaan’s intention was never to transform the Guru Ashtakam itself, but to create a new sonic world around it. “I always wanted the Guru Ashtakam chant to remain intact and to be sung in the traditional manner of chanting the mantras, using the very limited notes characteristic of that form,” he explains. The contemporary elements came later, beginning with tabla ideas, background vocals and the mantra chorus before expanding into strings and orchestral textures once Shankar came on board. “The contemporary sound wasn’t about changing the essence of the mantra. It was about creating a new musical environment around something deeply traditional while keeping the chant itself intact.”
According to Shankar, however, the sacredness of the text demanded a different kind of approach. “For me, the Guru Ashtakam is not merely a composition, it is a prayer,” he says. “Whenever you sing something with such profound spiritual meaning, you cannot approach it as just another recording.” Instead, the natural emotions that emerged were “bhakti, surrender, gratitude and reverence towards your guru”. That sense of surrender becomes almost audible as the piece develops, with the vocal line remaining at its spiritual core while the music around it grows progressively richer.
That balance of having immense respect for tradition while also having the imagination to create something fresh is not easy to achieve— Shankar Mahadevan
The evolution is deliberate. What begins simply gradually gathers layers of orchestration, rhythmic detail and Tabla compositions, becoming more intricate without losing its centre. Shankar sees this progression as a metaphor for the very relationship the piece celebrates. “For me, it is almost like how your relationship with your guru develops. In the beginning, it’s basic, it’s just the guru and the shishya. But over time, it develops into something much deeper, more emotional and more heartfelt. Eventually, the guru and the shishya become one.” It is perhaps this idea that gives Sacred Light its emotional architecture: the music does not merely accompany the Guru Ashtakam; it seems to embody the journey of learning itself.
For Ishaan, that journey is inseparable from his relationship with his father and guru, Pandit Nayan Ghosh. “My father and my guru, Pandit Nayan Ghosh, has been the biggest influence on my life, my music and everything that I create,” he says. One particular memory has remained with him. After receiving a prestigious award in Pune, where his father was also performing, Ishaan asked him how he felt about the achievement. His father’s response stayed with him: every success and accolade is only the beginning of a much longer journey, and those achievements must ultimately be surrendered to one’s guru, one’s parampara and the people who have shaped the artiste. For Ishaan, that thought found a natural echo in the Guru Ashtakam, whose verses speak of worldly achievements while reminding the seeker that none of them hold ultimate meaning without surrender to the guru. “That feeling of gratitude, surrender and letting go is really at the heart of Sacred Light.”
The Tabla, accordingly, becomes more than a rhythmic foundation. Ishaan wanted it to carry some of the emotion that words could not articulate. “The Tabla is so much more than a rhythmic instrument,” he says. “It can create harmonies, melodic patterns and incredibly complex rhythmic ideas, but it can also express a whole range of emotions through its abstract language of syllables, phrases and compositions.” Drawing from traditional compositions he learnt from his father and layering them with his own ideas, he wanted the playing to feel “pious and pure,” and to come directly from the heart. In Sacred Light, the Tabla therefore becomes a vehicle for gratitude, surrender and letting go — deeply rooted in tradition, but intensely personal in expression.
Shankar found this combination particularly inspiring. “Every collaboration teaches you something new, and I never compare one artiste with another because each brings a unique perspective,” he says. What stood out to him was Ishaan’s ability to combine an understanding of rhythm shaped by generations of musical legacy with the courage to communicate it in a language contemporary audiences can connect with. As the track progresses, the Tabla moves from traditional repertoire into increasingly intricate rhythmic patterns, creating its own journey within the composition. For Shankar, that ability to hold tradition and imagination together is rare. “That balance of having immense respect for tradition while also having the imagination to create something fresh is not easy to achieve.”
It is also this balance that lies at the heart of Ishaan’s philosophy about classical music and its future. Rather than viewing innovation as a threat to tradition, he sees the two as complementary. “I see tradition as a responsibility and innovation as creativity. You shouldn’t have to compromise one for the other,” he says. His own training under his father gave him an authentic grounding in Tabla and Indian classical music, while simultaneously encouraging him to remain open to different musical traditions and artistic forms. “For me, that’s the balance: honouring the tradition and the grammar that has been passed down to you, while allowing yourself the freedom to express who you are today.”
That idea becomes even more poignant in his collaboration with Shankar. Ishaan admits that when he was imagining the composition, “the only voice I could hear in my mind while creating the piece was Shankar Mahadevan ji.” Having grown up listening to Shankar and being inspired by the breadth of his work and compositions, Ishaan had always imagined his voice bringing the piece to life. When Shankar accepted, the collaboration took on another dimension. “It wasn’t only about what his voice brought musically. It was also about the coming together of two generations within the Guru-Shishya ethos,” Ishaan says, describing the relationship between respect for seniors and gurus and the encouragement an elder can offer the next generation. “That synthesis of our individual journeys, musical identities and shared respect for the tradition is ultimately what I feel became part of Sacred Light.”
Shankar’s understanding of the guru is similarly foundational. “A guru is a guiding light,” he says. “It’s like holding a torch while you’re walking in the dark, the light that shows you where to tread and which path to take.” His own guru, Mrs T R Balamani, gave him not only the basics of singing but the principles and fundamentals that became the foundation for everything he explored later. “She made my foundation so strong that I could apply those principles and ideas to any other form of music I ventured into,” he says, crediting those early lessons for helping him move across genres throughout his career.
Perhaps that is why Sacred Light feels less like an exercise in nostalgia and more like a conversation between past and present. It acknowledges that traditions survive not by remaining frozen, but by being understood deeply enough to be carried forward. Ishaan sees classical music itself as inherently contemporary because of its improvisational nature; Shankar continues to approach music with the same curiosity that has taken him across classical, devotional, playback, fusion and international collaborations. “I still feel there is so much more to learn,” he says. “Every collaboration opens a new window of creativity, every musician teaches me something new, and every project gives me an opportunity to look at music from a different perspective. That curiosity is what continues to excite me.”
And perhaps that is the true light at the centre of Sacred Light: not simply the guru as the one who teaches, but the knowledge that continues to travel from one generation to another, changing shape without losing its essence. In Ishaan’s Tabla, Shankar’s voice and the ancient words of the Guru Ashtakam, that continuum finds a contemporary sound — one that looks backwards with reverence, and forward with curiosity.
Sacred light is now streaming on all major music platforms.
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