Founded around the turn of the nineteenth century by Pandit Ram Sahai, who trained in the Lucknow line and then forged an independent baaj in Benares. The style is open and powerful: full-palm strokes, a commanding bayan, paran and uthan repertoire, and a distinctive solo format that opens with uthan rather than peshkar.
The gharana's scholarly culture produced its own theory and famously versatile players — equally at home with khayal, dance, and solo. Kanthe Maharaj, Anokhelal Mishra (of the legendary "Na Dhin Dhin Na"), Samta Prasad, and Kishan Maharaj carried it worldwide.