First appeared in www.scroll.in on September 5, 2015. Those involved in Hindustani music regard Guru Purnima as a day for felicitating the guru or master as a vital and irreplaceable component in the guru-shishya or master-disciple pedagogical structure that forms the backbone of an essentially oral tradition. In a sense, September 5, the birthdate of India’s second President, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, which is celebrated as Teacher’s Day in India, does not hold the same significance in the realm of Hindustani