 From a musical family, he was the son of the Indian classical musician Ayet Ali Khan and related to sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar.Khan first learnt to play the sarode from his father and his uncle Alauddin Khan in Maihar, before he finally settled in Calcutta.He also practiced vocal music and later collaborated with his cousins Ali Akbar Khan and Shrimati Annapurna Devi.