Ojas Adhiya

Born on 8 November 1987 in Chikhli, Maharashtra, Ojas Adhiya displayed extraordinary musical talent from infancy. His father, Dr. Yogesh Adhiya, noticed his keen interest in percussion at the age of two at a Siddha Yoga meditation center. By age two, he had spontaneously taught himself the 8-beat Keherwa taal. At age four, he debuted professionally and was entered into the Limca Book of Records as India's youngest tabla player.

The legendary music director Padmashree Kalyanji recognized his exceptional talent and, in 1993, recommended the family relocate to Mumbai. There, at age five, Ojas was placed under the tutelage of Shri Mridangraj, an exponent of the Ajrada gharana, becoming his formal disciple (gandaa bandh shaagird). During his formative years, Ojas performed in nearly 500 stage shows globally through Kalyanji-Anandji's Kalavir Academy "Little Wonders" programs, sharing the stage with young artists including Shreya Ghoshal and Sunidhi Chauhan.

He has performed with some of the greatest names in Indian classical music, including Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Begum Parveen Sultana, Ustad Rashid Khan, Kaushiki Chakraborty, and Anoushka Shankar. He has also crossed genre boundaries, collaborating with John McLaughlin in the fusion band Shakti. In 2015, he was honored with the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.