Legendary Sitarist and Composer Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passes away in San Diego, Southern California in the United States on Tuesday. He was 92.

The godfather of world music, Ravi Shankar was awarded three-time with Grammy Award and with India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1999.

Ravi Shankar had been suffering from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year for several years. Earlier, he underwent heart-valve replacement surgery and admitted in the Scripps Memorial hospital last Thursday for treatment after he complained of breathing difficulties, reports said.

Although, his surgery was successful but his health condition was critical and unable to recover.

PMO confirmed death of Sitar Maestro and called him a “national treasure.”

Ravi Shankar was helped to introduce the centuries-old Indian music, ragas to millions of classical, jazz and rock lovers across the Western world through his collaborations with George Harrison of ‘The Beatles’ and also his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

Serving as India’s unofficial ambassador for music, Sitar Maestro played an excellent job in Europe and the United States through his touring for playing Indian classical music, bridge the musical gap between the West and the East.

Ravi Shankar was born on April 7, 1920 in Varanasi. His journey was mostly spent in touring Europe and India for musical performance. In 1938, he gave up dancing and moved towards sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. From this, his journey as musician was started as a professional musician till the end.