Probably the greatest Carnatic kanjira player who ever lived! Even to this day, musicians are in awe of what Sri G. Harishankar was capable of with one hand. He was born on June 10, 1958 and died on February 11, 2002. G. Harishankar started on kanjira at a very young age with his father Sri T.T. Govinda Rao as well as initial training on the mridangam with Sri Dandapani Iyya and then from Madras Sri A. Kannan. G. Harishankar also learnt the ghatam from Sri Narayana Rao. He commenced formal training on the mridangam with the legend Palghat Sri T.S. Mani Iyer and then later with Ramanathapuram Sri C.S. Murugabhoopathy. He also studied with Ramanathapuram Sri C.S. Sankarasivam. He was ambidextrous i.e. he played the kanjira right-handed but mridangam left-handed so to prove that playing mridangam was not as hard as playing the kanjira. G. Harishankar was responsible for furthering the complexity of modern kanjira playing in terms of advanced techniques for speed, power, rhythmic complexity and beauty in phrasing (left hand bending of the skin). It is said in India by many of the senior percussionists that performed with him or witnessed him play that he could top any mridangam player he was matched with in a concert during the percussion solos (thani avarthanam). G. Harishankar on several occasions even topped tabla player Zakir Hussain when they shared the stage in Malaysia and Europe. He had only a few students that carried on his secrets and techniques. Some of his best recorded playing was as a member of Sruthi Laya with Karaikudi Sri R. Mani on mridangam in the 1980s and 90s. To many in India, his death was proof that he was in fact human and not a god.