Pandit (music title)
Pandit (abbreviated as Pt. from Marathi /Hindi पंडित) is an honorific title for an expert man in classical singing and playing, used in India. It is used in various languages including Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and other languages which are there in India. An expert other than a Muslim musician is given the title Pandit.
Usage
As these title of Pandit (and even Ustad) are appended informally to the names of classical singers and players by their admirers, individuals or institutions, once they have reached eminence in their performing art, especially on public performances. As they are informal titles mentioning names of eminent singers without those appendages is ok unlike prefixes like Dr. awarded formally by educational institutions. [1]
But this title Pandit of a classical musician and the Pandit which is used as Priest (or a knowledgeable person) is different.
There are many Pandits in Hindustani classical music, for example, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Nayan Ghosh, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, Pandit Yogesh Samsi, Pandit Vyenkatesh Kumar, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Kishan Maharaj, etc.