Bismillah Khan  Ustad Qamruddin "Bismillah" Khan (21 March 1916 – 21 August 2006) (born as Qamaruddin Khan), often referred to by the title "Ustad", was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a subcontinental wind instrument of the oboe class. While the shehnai had long held importance as a folk instrument played primarily [schooled] in traditional ceremonies, Khan is credited with elevating its status and bringing it to the concert stage. He was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2001, becoming the third classical musician after M. S. Subbalakshmi and Ravi Shankar to be awarded Bharat Ratna. On his 102nd birthday, Google honored Bismillah Khan with a Google doodle. Khan was born on 21 March 1916 into a family of traditional Muslim musicians in Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, Dumraon, in what is now the eastern Indian state of Bihar, as the second son of Paigambar Bux Khan and Mitthan. His father was a court musician employed in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate in Bihar. His grandfather Ustad Salar Hussain Khan and grandfather Rasool Bux Khan were also musicians in the Dumraon palace. He was named Qamruddin at birth, to rhyme with his elder brother's name Shamsuddin. Upon seeing the new born, his grandfather Rasool Baksh Khan, also a shehnai player, is said to have exclaimed "Bismillah", or "In the name of Allah", and thereafter he came to be known by this name. At the age of six, he moved to Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, to be apprenticed to his maternal uncle, Ali Bux 'Vilayatu' Khan, a shehnai player attached to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.At the age of 14 Bismillah accompanied his uncle to the Allahabad music conference. In 1932, at the age of 16, he entered into an arranged marriage with a cousin. Being a devout Shia Muslim, throughout his long career Khan took issue with rigidly orthodox Islamic elders who felt that playing such music on his shehnai was "haram" (contrary to the principles of his faith). Instead, Khansaheb, as he was usually respectfully .called - came to be seen as an example of the successful, progressive culture that evolved out of the Hindu-Muslim encounter in India.