Dhondutai Kulkarni was born in a music loving family in Kolhapur. Her father, who was a school master, encouraged her to peruse vocal music. She learnt from many maestros of Jaipur Atrauli Gharana, such as Manji Khan & Bhurji Khan, Laxmibai Jadhav, Azizuddin Khan. She was fortunate to get training with Kesarbai Kerkar & she is only disciple of Kesarbai. Dhondutai has a huge collection of traditional repertoire of Bandishes & Ragas from Jaipur Gharana and she has preserved it with strict discipline. She has also taught some young generation artists such as Aditya Khandve, Namita Devi Dayal, etc.