'LITTLE CRUMB'
His friendship with Harrison led him to appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock pop festivals in the late 1960s and the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh. He became one of the first Indian musicians to become a household name in the West.
His influence in classical music, including on composer Philip Glass, was just as large. His work with Menuhin on their "West Meets East" albums in the 1960s and 1970s earned them a Grammy, and he wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.
"I always felt like a little crumb in his presence," Zubin Mehta, a former music director of the New York Philharmonic and collaborator with Shankar, said at the service.
Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock also attended the service along with "Anna Karenina" director Joe Wright, the husband of Shankar's daughter Anoushka.
Shankar, who had lived in Encinitas for the past 20 years, had suffered from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week at a hospital in San Diego.
The surgery was successful but he was unable to recover.
Shankar's final concert was on November 4 in Long Beach, California, with his Grammy-winning sitarist daughter Anoushka, who spoke giving thanks to those who came. Jones, the third Grammy-winner in the family, did not speak at the service.