Asheschandra Bandyopadhyay, one of the foremost exponents of Esraj in India, was born in 1920 into a family of musicians in Bishnupur. He learnt the elements of his art from his father Ramprasanna Bandyopadhyay, a distinguished member of the Bishnupur gharana and later from his uncles, Gopeswar Bandyopadhyay and Surendranath Bandyopadhyay. Following the family tradition, Asheschandra played different musical instruments like Esraj, Sitar, Surbahar, Behala and Tabla. At the same time he learnt vocal music, which included Dhrupad, Khayal, Thumri, Tappa, Bhajans and Rabindra Sangeet.
In 1937, when he was only 17 years old, selected as a teacher of Classical Vocal music by Rabindranath at Visva-Bharati; he wrote in a letter, "We have engaged a new teacher for our Classical Vocal music, a nephew of Gopeswar, very young in age but mature in his art"