Google doodle commemorates Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday

Pandit Ravi Shankar introduced the Indian classical music to the West and is credited to have influenced the popular music of the 1960s and 1970s. Google has honoured the sitar maestro with a doodle on what would have been his 96th birthday.

He was born on April 7, 1920 and introduced the hum of the sitar to audience worldwide. Known as one of the most famous player of the stringed instrument, he also taught George Harrison of the Beatles how to play the instrument.

Shankar was born as Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhry in 1920 to a Bengali family in Varanasi. He poularised the raga, a melodic form in additon to other fundamentals of Indian music. Raga, as Shankar once explained, has "its own peculiar ascending and descending movement consisting of either a full seven-note octave, or a series of six or five notes in a rising or falling structure."  

"The distinctive character of Shankar's compositions attracted the attention of composer Philip Glass, with whom Shankar wrote the 1990 album Passages," Google said in a statement.

Today's doodle has been designed by artist Kevin Laughlin and has a standing sitar at the centre along with two bridges, one for the "drone" strings and the other for the melody strings.

Laughlin's design shows the style of sitar Shankar played, which includes a second gourd-shape resonator at the top of the instrument's neck.

Pandit Ravi Shankar, who was honoured with prestigious awards including Bharat Ratna, the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan over the years, passed away in 2012 at the age of 92.