Breathing Life in to The Woods : The Story of India's Didgeridoo Master - Prakash

The air inside Prakash Didgeridoo’s workshop is thick with the earthy smell of freshly carved wood. Each instrument lining the shelves seems to hold its own quiet energy, ready to hum with life as soon as someone breathes into it. “This is my meditation,” Prakash says, running his fingers along the smooth, polished wood of a freshly finished didgeridoo. His voice is gentle, resonant, like the instrument he’s dedicated his life to. “Playing, crafting… it all connects me to something bigger.”

He pauses, looking out the window toward the hills of Rishikesh. His workshop lies on the edge of town, nestled among trees that sway gently in the mountain breeze. It's a fitting place for someone who has built his life around an ancient sound, one he first heard decades ago, in an echoing tank at the Beatles Ashram.

Prakash discovered the didgeridoo through his elder brother Dharma, who introduced him to the haunting, earthy sounds of this instrument, first discovered and invented by the native aboriginal people of the warm, dry lands of Australia. Today, Prakash believes that the didgeridoo belongs to the world as much as it belongs to Australia. “The world is one family,” he says, explaining that its unique resonance speaks to people across all borders.

Prakash’s journey has been fueled by over 20 years of dedication to the art of playing and crafting didgeridoos. He learned it all from Dharma, and after years of honing his craft, Prakash now uses four distinct woods to build his didgeridoos: Rosewood, Himalayan Cedar, Red Cedar, and Teak. “Each wood has a different voice,” he says, “a different personality.”

In 1993, a twelve-year-old Prakash sat on the cold, stone floor of the Beatles Ashram tank, entranced by the instrument in his brother Dharma’s hands. Dharma, a wanderer and experimenter, had somehow come across a wooden tube he claimed was a "didgeridoo" from Australia. Pressing his lips to the mouthpiece, Dharma began to play, and Prakash felt an otherworldly vibration fill the air, stirring the silence with an energy he’d never experienced. It was as though the sound itself had a life, a call reaching deep into his chest, pulling something buried within him.

“I think that was the first time I truly heard anything,” Prakash reflects now, pulling his hands back from the didgeridoo as if the memory itself is sacred. “I didn’t know it then, but that sound would shape my life.”

Today, Prakash is regarded as India’s only master didgeridoo maker and player. His journey wasn’t easy or straightforward, filled with milestones he reached only through intense practice and patience. In his early years, he taught himself everything. There were no teachers, no online guides—only the sound he remembered from that day with Dharma, and a yearning to recreate it.

As he looks over the instruments in his workshop, he recalls the next big turning point: the day he learned circular breathing. “It was 1998,” he says, almost smiling, though there’s a weight in his eyes. “I was about seventeen. I’d heard that real didgeridoo players could breathe in and out at the same time, but I didn’t know how it was possible.”

Learning circular breathing became an obsession. He spent hours, days, and months on it, often doubting he’d ever master it. But then, one evening, it clicked. “I remember that exact moment,” he says. “Suddenly, I was breathing in through my nose, while pushing air out of my mouth. The drone became seamless.”

But something else happened that day—something he hadn’t expected. “My mind went blank. Completely blank. No thoughts, no worries. Just breath and sound.” In that instant, the didgeridoo became more than an instrument; it became his path to stillness.

As he speaks, there’s a calmness in Prakash, the kind that can only come from years of self-discipline and immersion in a craft. He continues shaping a piece of wood, his hands moving with practiced ease. “I’ve taught over 80 countries’ worth of students now,” he says, almost as if he still finds it hard to believe. “But the Beatles Ashram is where it all began.”

Returning there years later, he carried with him a didgeridoo he’d crafted himself. “I wanted to play in that same tank where I first heard it,” he says, his voice dipping low. As he played, filling the empty space with the didgeridoo’s deep, resonant hum, he entered a state he calls dissolution. “There was no me, no instrument, only sound. I could feel it in my bones, vibrating with the walls, dissolving into the air.”

Prakash looks at the didgeridoo in his hands, its smooth, polished surface a testament to countless hours of care. “It’s hard to explain, but that’s the magic of it. The didgeridoo is not just an instrument; it’s a way of connecting, of dissolving. That’s what I teach now. How to reach that place of silence, of nothingness.”

Prakash’s work extends far beyond his own playing. He has composed music for Song of the River, a film directed by the acclaimed Shantanu Moitra, bringing his unique sound to a cinematic journey that mirrors his own connection to nature. He’s also been recognized by the Sangeet Natak Academy and Uttarakhand Tourism, and even received the Legit Creator Award in 2022. But he waves these accolades away with a soft laugh. “They’re nice, but they’re not why I do this.”

What drives him now, he says, is creating instruments for others to find their own connection to sound. In his workshop, he also handcrafts Native American flutes, each one unique and imbued with the same care and respect. “When I make a didgeridoo, I’m hoping it becomes a part of someone’s journey, the way it was a part of mine.”

As he finishes shaping a didgeridoo, Prakash runs his fingers along its length, checking the smoothness, the balance. “It’s a labor of love,” he says softly, setting the instrument down among others he’s prepared for students. “To me, each didgeridoo is a piece of the earth, a channel for breath, a bridge to silence.”

For those fortunate enough to cross that bridge with him, the journey is one of profound transformation—a chance to step into the stillness within the sound, just as Prakash did so many years ago in the quiet shadows of the Beatles Ashram.

In addition to his mastery of playing and crafting didgeridoos, Prakash now offers a variety of experiences and courses, inviting others into the transformative world of sound. Among his current offerings are:

• Sound Healing Practitioner Course at Anandmaya Retreat, Rishikesh: A comprehensive training for those looking to become certified sound healing practitioners. Through this course, Prakash along with Dr. Bharat shares his deep knowledge of sound vibrations, teaching students to use instruments like the didgeridoo and Native American flute to foster healing.
• Sound Healing Sessions: Prakash offers individual and group sound healing sessions, using the unique vibrations of the didgeridoo to help participants release stress, find inner balance, and experience profound relaxation.
• Handcrafted Didgeridoos and Native American Flutes: From his workshop, Prakash handcrafts each instrument using premium woods like Rosewood, Himalayan Cedar, Red Cedar, and Teak. These didgeridoos and flutes are more than instruments—they are art pieces created with love and dedication to tradition.