Chandra Nath Shastri  Pandit Chandra Nath Shastri (, , 23 December 1948), is one of the leading tabla (Indian hand percussion) artists and musicians from India, currently based in Kolkata. He belongs to the Benares gharana style of Hindustani classical music. He is a retired staff artist of All India Radio and performed regularly for public-television broadcaster Doordarshan. He is also an expert astrologer. Born in the Dhakuria area of Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, in a well-known Bramhin (pandit) family, Chandra Nath Shastri was raised in a musical atmosphere. Soon his parents and family relocated to Varanasi ( Banaras, Benares, Benaras), Uttar Pradesh (UP), where he undertook training in the Benares gharana style. He was influenced by poet and lyricist Rabindra Nath Tagore. His grandmother, Smt. Indira Devi was niece of Rabindra Nath Tagore. His father, Dr. Mouli Nath Shastri, was a physician by profession but he was also a spiritual guru and musician (tabla player), vocal student of Rabindra Nath Tagore, and had directed and acted in theatre ("Muktisnan", 1937; "Sancharini", 1963). His grandfather, Shri Priya Nath Shastri, was one of the first three trustees of Visva Bharati University. Shastri completed his intermediate schooling at C. M. Anglo Bengali Inter College, Varanasi, UP. He then graduated in science from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Shastri's father noted his interest in Hindustani classical music from a very young age and taught him to play some "taals" on tabla. At age 5 Shastri began learning from his guruji, Pandit Anokhelal Mishra of Banaras, and later from his son, Pandit Ramji Mishra. Shastri and his elder brother, Partha Nath Shastri, would go to Pandit AnokhelalJi to learn tabla. Shastri became a fifth-generation tabla maestro of Benares gharana. As a young teenager he became close to Pandit Mahadev Prasad Mishra, Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Pandit Samta Prasad, Pandit Sarda Sahai, and Ustad Karamatullah Khan.