[1][2] Pannalal Ghosh was born on 24 July 1911 in Barisal, Bengal Presidency, British India.

[3] At Kolkata during the early 1930s, Pannalal received musical training for two years from his first Guru, the noted harmonium player and a renowned master in classical music, Ustad Khushi Mohammed Khan, under the traditional Ganda Bandhan form of tutelage.

The strongest influence on his music came from the systematic lessons under the legendary Ustad Allaudin Khan Sahib, from 1947.

Panna Lal Ghosh's daughter Shanti-Sudha was married to the flute player Devendra Murdeshwar, who was her father's disciple.

Their son Anand Murdeshwar, Panna Lal's grandson, also made a name as flute player but died at a very young age.

[8] Pannalal Ghosh jointly scored the background for "Aandhiyan" in 1952 along with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Veteran flautist Nityanand Haldipur who is his direct disciple explains that this hole was designed specifically to play the Teevra-Madhyam (‘Ma' or 4th note) of the lower octave especially in Raagas such as Puriya, Darbari and Bihag where a Madhyam to Pancham meend (glide) is required.

For Raagas such as Darbari where the lower octave (Mandra Saptak) is explored in detail, Pannalal Ghosh invented another bass flute with just 4 holes which was almost 40-42 inches long.

The long bamboo flutes he devised are popularly played by subsequent flautists to render Hindusthani classical music.