[6][7] Sashi Mohan, a student of Ravi Shankar,[6] was his sister Manju's first sitar teacher.

[2] After winning two consecutive State and Central Government scholarships, she was given the opportunity to study under sarod player Pandit Damodar Lal Kabra, a disciple of Ali Akbar Khan[8] and Shankar.

[2] While studying and recording[9] with Kabra, Mehta began performing, competed in the All India Radio competition, and earned her master's degree in music.

[2] During one performance, she met tabla player Nandan Mehta, a student of Kishan Maharaj and exponent of the Banaras gharana.

[11] After marrying Nandan and the births of her two children, Mehta did not perform for almost a decade before, in 1980, she was accepted (like her earlier teachers Bhatt and Kabra) to study with Ravi Shankar.