Pt. Bholanath Prasanna was one of the most respected Gurus and ace Indian flute or bansuri player. He was born in Varanasi. He was the guru of celebrated flute player Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. He was the brother and Disciple of well known flute and shehnai player Pandit Raghunath Prasanna. Bholanath Prasanna learnt Indian classical music from his father Pt. Gauri Shanker of Varanasi, and from his brother Pt. Raghunath Prasanna who have introduced Krishna bansuri in Prasanna family, and later he learnt from Thumri Samrat Pt. Mahadev Prasad Mishra of Varanasi. He was the recipient of various awards and honors including Uttar Pradesh Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1989) Category (Shehnai). He spread and taught bansuri to numerous disciples like: Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Niranjan Prasad (son), Pt. Rajendra Prasanna (Nephew), Ajay Shankar Prasanna (son).

Pandit Niranjan Prasad ji was one of the country’s most revered flutist maestro and world famous flutist of his time, Pt. Niranjan Prasad breathed his last at his residence at Lucknow on 31^st March’13 at an age of 72 years. The Top-Grade flutist belonged to Varanasi Gharana and was one of the principal disciples of eminent Flute and Shehnai Player, Late Shri Bholanath Prasanna, who was a veteran shehnai maestro of Varanasi Gharana. He is a Guru-Bhai of international flutist Padam Vibhushan Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasiya. He performed at major music festivals and conferences throughout India, America, Australia, Europe and countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Baghdad, Bahrain of Middle East.

He used to feature regularly on Indian national radio and television. He also played flute in films from 1964 to 1972 like Guddi, Shor, Dharkan, Premparvat etc. Since 1974 he was also associated with National orchestra A.I.R. New Delhi and retired from A.I.R. Lucknow in 2001. He worked with Padmavibhushan Dr. Yamni Krishnamurti, Padamvibhushan Dr. Sonalman Singh, Padamshri Mayadhar Raut, Padmashri Madhavi Maudgalya, Roona Laila, Minakshi Shesadhari, Hema Malani, Vaijyanti Mala and has accompanied with maestros like Padamvibhushan Girja Devi, Padamvibhushan Pandit Jasraj, Padmabhushan Pandit Rajan Sajan Mishra, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Ashish Khan and Pandit Chatur Lal etc. He also worked with Pandit Vinay Bharat Ram society, U.P. Sangeet Natak Akademy, Birju Bawra Sangeet Samiti, U.P. Sanskritik Nidhashalaya, Sur Sarang Society of Delhi, PM House in the time of Late Ex PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi and National Orchestra of India in delhi. He was the founder of Dr. Ambedkar Sangeet Natak Akademy  (Lucknow) and Ex-Professor N. R. Sangeet Vidhalaya (Allahabad). The music museum of bhagdaad still houses a flute gifted by him to the institute. His flute recitals highlighted serene development of ragas along with exquisite swift phraseology. He had command over the blowing of the instrument which facilitated the projection of emotional appeal. His recitals were widely appreciated by the connoisseurs of music.