C H A P T E R - X I

COMTRIBUTION OF POST-TRINITy COMPOSERS TO KRITI

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CONTRIBUTION ^ POST-TRINITY COMPOSERS TO KRITI

The luminous band of composers stretching over the post-Trinity period, treaded the well laden path by the Trinity and enriched the Kriti repertoire further. And as dedicated trustees of the compositions of Trinity and some of the earlier composers, some of them took active part in salvaging and redressal operations to rescue many compositions to the posterity, apart from their owncompositions. In this assemblege, Vina Kuppaier, Pallavi/Se'shaiyyer, Wala^apet Venkataramana Bhagavatar and Krishna Bhagavatar, Nekarapatti Subrahmanya Ayyar, Subbarama Dikshi- tar, Subbaraya Sastri, Ponnaiah, Annai and Ayya, Tiruvo- triyoor Tya^ayyar, Mahavaidya Natha Iyer, Patnam Subrah­manya Iyer, Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar, Ghanam Seeniah, the Karur brothers (Garbhapuri composers), Muttaiah Bhaga­vatar, Mysore Y^udevachairya, Vanamamali brothers, Rajna- swami Sivan are some of the prominent composers to short list.

Vina Kuppaiver

He v»as a direct disciple of Saint Tyagaraja, born at Tiruvotriyur near Madras. Sambamoorthy Sastri was his father, who was also a scholar and an exponent of Vii^.

C H A P T E R X I

Ruppaiyer was a scholar in Telugu and Sanskrit, even at a young age and was a close disciple of Tyagaraja. He was an adept in the exposition of Narayana Gowla and hence he was called Narayana Gowla Kuppaiyer. He was a samasthana Vidwan at Kovur. His Tana varnams occupy an enviable position in the Carnatic music, and his Sahana Atta tala varna is unparalleled to sustain its majestic charm even after two centuries. It can be said that he has arrested the ragabhava of Tyagaraja's Kritis in his immortal varmms. He has followed the foot steps of his master and composed Adi and Atta tila varrms in the Ghana rsiga panchaka. He has composed major varnams in Narayajoa Gowla, Ritigowla, Kainbddhi, Begada, Bilahari, Saveri, Todi, etc. He has composed Kritis in Apoorva ragas like Karna­taka Jingla, Marudhanyasi, Gowri ghanta and Karnataka kapi and so on. He is the author of three set of group kritis - viz. : Venkatesa Pancharatna, Kalahastlsa pancharatna and Chamundeshwari Pancharatna. Of these Bagumeera - s'ankara- bharana of the first group; and Intaparakelanamma > Begada ' • of the last group have already gained popular currency.His prominent disciples include his son Tiruvotriyur Tya- gayya, Kottavasal Yenkataramayyar, Violin Ponnusw^i, Pallavi Sitaramaiah and others. Kuppaiyer, during the beginning of the 19th century migrated to Madras from his birth place. Tyagaraja once visited Madras at the request of his dear disciple, and during this visit he

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composed 'Venugana' - Kedara gowla> and 'Prananatha^ /blrana* - Soollnl In praise of the family deity of Kuppai-

yer. As a torch bearer of Tyagaraja*s school his contri­bution as a composer to Carnatic music assume a significant place.

Pallavi Seshaiver (1842-1909)

Seshaiyer was the son of Nekarapatti Subbaiyer, who was another direct disciple of Tyagara;)a. Seshaiyer is the composer of many Chowka varnas, Tillanas and Kritis. During one of his concerts in Madras at the residence of Tiruvotriyoor Tyagaiyer he is reputed to have sung a Siveri - Ragam Tanam Pallavi - for eight hours ! and on another occasion he sang the Gowlipantu raga for three hours ! Such was his depth. He is the first one to have composed in the raga *Mallika vasantam'. He has composed in Mel5s like Senavathi, Kanakangi, Manavati, Natakapriya etc. *Chittamela' - Manavati, 'Kannulara* - Natakapriya, *Ikannannu brova* - Bhairavi Kritis are amongst the popular ones. He had a vast repertoire of Tyagaraja's songs, and this has a bearing on the richness of Sangatis in his Kri­tis. His compositions are in Telugu, and he is a Swanama mudrakara. His special talent was to sing Kalpana Jatis and amuse his audience. He has written down his kritis along with swara symbols. He has also recorded the Aroha Avaroha of more than a thousand ragas, and also summarised

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the gist of some ragas, which is of great value. His Till^as in Kapi and Vasanta are very famous. His Kapi raga is a upanga raga.

Tiruvotrivur Tyagayvar (1845-1917)

One of the most celebrated composers in the line of Tyagaraja Sishya parampara. He vas born at Tiru- votriyoor. Right from his boyhood days he was richly nurtured and carefully groomed in sharpening his creative faculties by his own father Vina Kuppaiyer and his grand Guru Sri Tyagaraja swami who influenced him to great extent. Kuppaiyer named his third son after the name of his Guru, as the child was born shortly after the visit of the saint to Kuppaiyer's place. Hence he was called Tyagayya in memory of this visit. He learnt the rudiments of music from senior disciple of Kuppaiyer - fiddle Pon- nuswainy, and soon proved to be a budding genius. He dedicated his whole life to the service of music, uphold­ing the lofty tradition of the family to serve the art. During his time he was regarded as an authority on both the theory and practice of music, and many people approach­ed him for clarifications. He was a source of inspiration to many music lovers. He had an exalted attractive style of singing. His house in George Town became the hive of musicians form all over South India during the festivals of Gokulashtami, Chitra pournami, Yinayaka chaturti, etc.

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Like his father Tyagayyar %«as also an accomplished v £j player. This has shone well in their Tanavarms» being Vainikas themselves they could import the correct Tana style into the fabric of their Varnis. His darbar varna• • 'chalamela* is the most popular, which had won the appre­ciation of an assembly of music scholars which had gathered once at Taccursingaracharyalu's place, at the time of its composing. He had a flare for composing ragamalikas. The music world owes a deep sense of gratitude for his in­valuable contribution of two works - *Pallavi Swarakalpa- valli* and 'Sankirtana Ratnavali' ! The first work con- tains all the compositions of Kuppaiyer. These works were first published in 19OO and I907 respectively. The second work which is out of print for long, and the reprint yet not made available in which Tyagayyar's compositions are reposited, has resulted in these compositions in a comparitive dim, which ought to have got much more expo­sure, had it been available. Both these works are in Telugu. The music in Tyagayyar*s compositions is natural and smooth flowing. They are frilled with Sahglta bring­ing out the manifold charm of the raga. The second book •Sankirtana Ratnavali* is believed to contain exclusively Tyagayyar*s compositions which encompasses the 108 kritis of Tyagayyar composed in praise of his family deity, which is known as the Ashtottara Kritis apart from four Tana- varnas. He has used 108 different ragas for these, and

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102 out of this have been set to Adi ta3^» 5 of them in Roopaka tala and only one in Triput a tala. This group is preceded with three benedictoiry kritis one on Ganesha *Kapadu Gananatha*; the 2nd on Saraswati - *Saraswati nannepudu' and the third one a well known Gurustuti - •Tyagarada swami Guru ni* in Kharaharapriya. The epilogue for the work also comprises of 3 songs. The first one in this in Punnagavarali > Kashtamulanu dirchinanu - has the

^ -prabandha mudra : *Ashtottara Sata Kirtanamarpana Jeyuchu*.A similar Prabandha mudra can be met later with Muttaiah Bhagavatar*s Ashtottara Kritis on Chamu^amba.

Tyagayyar in this group, has made use of 19 milas,Iand a considerable number of Apoorva ragas. He has follow­

ed the sampoorna mela paddhati nemenclature like his grand Guru. 68 Suddha madhyama Janya ragas have been used in this group. Nearly one third of the ragas used in this group are Apoorva ragas (around 35). Of these 15 are absolutely obscure used only by Tyagayya - none before or none later. These are Ghoshini, SimhaiU, Siradabharanam, Hamsanarayani, Lokaranjani, Mechakangi, Bhushakalyani, Seshanadam, Simha- ravam, Desiya G^av^idhi, Kanaka kusumavali, Ratnabhanu, Ratnakgnti, Choornikavinbdini and Hamsagiri. The first three of these are suddha madhyama ^anyas. Two other rare rSgas - ' GoudamalhSir' and * Yijayanagari* are also handled by Tyaigayyar alone with the single exception of Muttaiah Bhagavatar.

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Tyagayyar's krltis abounds in technical beauties.As many as 30 of his Ashtottara kritis are decorated with chitteswara \«hich show his great fancy for this decorativef Anga. The madhyama kala chittaswaras lend a verse and dignity to his kritis. The solfa passages have a gripping interest about them. As far as the sahitya of his kritis, he has followed the model of Saint Tyagara;)a and employed an easy diction, with melliflous nature of the words. They blend very well with the tune to give lilting effect. In quite some instances Tyagayyar has commenced his kritis with the same phrases of some of the Tyagaraja's kritis. Such e.g. below :

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TvaKavvar (ra«a) The commeninfc Phrase Tyagarada (raga)Kuntalam Matimatiki MohanamVakuHbharamm Devadideva SindhuramakriyaVidayasri Evarito ManavatiSriraga Korivacchitinayya BilahariDhanyasi Evarunnaru MalavasriGowla Ela nee dayaradu AthanaGowlipantu Muddumdmu SuryakantaMahirahgu Saraslruhanayana BilahariSama Marubalka SriranjaniLokaranjani Ennadu joochino Kalavathi

The sahityas of Tyagayyar*s kritis are surfeit with various rhetorical embellishments like the Adiprasa,

Antyaprasa, Anuprasa, yatl etc. The phrases like Thalll» Vulla, Challa in the charanam of the Pantuvarali Krlti, 'Ituvanti* is an occurence of Adiprasa. Likewise the phrases *Nammitini' and *Brothuv£ini' in the Isamanohari Kriti *Ni padambuja mulanu* and *Dhyaninche' and 'Broche* in the Anupallavi of Bilahari Kriti 'sarasa dala nayana* models the Antyaprasa. The phrases like Thapamulu, Japa- mulu, Kripakalu in the charana of the Kapinarayani Kriti •Jagadisa br'ova' exemplify Anuprasa. His Bilahari Kriti *Sarasa dala nayana’ has gained a wide currency even on the platforms, since four decades, or more.

It is high time that pains be taken to bring many more such concert worthy Kritis of this composer with a wider circulation which it richly deserves.

Subbaraaaa Dikshitar (1839-1904)

The renowned author of ‘Sangita Sampradaya Pradar- sini* which was a mini Encyclopaedia of the times, who was torch bearer of the immediate post-Trinity period. He was the grandson and also the adopted son of Baluswami Dikshitar, who was the younger brother of sri Nuthuswami Dikshitar. Hence the music flowed in the veins of Subba- rama Dikshitar with such virtuous ancestry. The virtue of originality was the hall mark of the family. It is a well known fact that BiiluswaSi prkshitar introduced the

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use oi violin for the first time in Carnatic music which was not even an Indian instrument originally, but today this instrument is so vfell adopted to our music and become so intimate, we cannot think of a better instrument for accompaniment in the concerts.

Subbarama Dikshitar*s contribution to the field of notation was also equally outstanding and revolutionary.At the tender age of 17 he composed a Tana varnam in Darbar, and presented at the court of Venkateswara Ettappa Maharaja II where Baluswimy Dikshitar was a court musician. His Highness wanted to test his skills for certainty and threw a challenge at the young boy to compose a Jatiswaram in Yamuna kalyani in Adi with certain other specifications, regarding its structural requirements. Within an hour in the court itself the boy successfully accomplished the task and the piece was ready. After the demise of Balu- sw^y Dikshitar in the year 1858 at the age of 73 His Highness appointed the young 19 year old Subbarama Dikshi­tar as the ccurt musician.

The famous Sankarabharai^m Kriti - 'Sankara charyam* of Subbarama Dikshitar was composed at the age of 21 and a Tana varnam in Kasi Ramakriya was also composed at the same time. Subbarama Dikshitar got the valuable manuscript which contained all the Lakshar^ and Lakshya Gitas, Pra- bandhas, and other compositions of the illustrious Venkata-

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makhi, as a gift from His Holiness of Kanchl Math (Kuisbha- konam), who was immensely elated with the singing of the your g composer during one of his visits to the court. Till this time this precious manuscript lay in the secret custody of the Math, perhaps in wait to meet the right person, and Subbarama Dikshitar was ordained to receive this precious gift. And the bulk of his compositions in various musical forms like Tana var^ms, Kritis, Chowka var^ms, Pada varnams, Ragamalikas etc. kept growing. The sahityas were well nourished with beautiful prosodical features, and in many instances his ingenius usage of Swaraksharas amply made up for the sahityas. Though not in his earlier compositions, in hii$ later compositions he has adopted the 'Guruguha* mudra as his signature, the same as that of Muthuswami Dikshitar. A Tamil prose translation of the *Lidhra Maha Bharata* of Kavitrayam, was authored by him. He has also composed the music to the padas in •Valli Bharatam* a Tamil Nataka. But the most glowing feather to his crown of fame was earned when his 'Sangita Sampradaya Pradarslni* was published, revealing Venkata- makhi*s system of music in all details, kept in cold storage

rtill then. This treatise and the *Bala Siksha* later, are of high value to the music world.

— *The 3th Chapter of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarsini/contains authentic version of about 210 Kritis of Sri

Muthuswami Dikshitar several songs of Rainaswami Dikshitar,

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Sri Baluswami Dlkshitar, Sri Kumara Ettappa Maharaja* Sri Subbarama Dikshitar and several other composers.

The 6th Chapter contains appendix of Ragamalikas of Ramasv>i^i Dikshitar, Muthusw^i Dikshitar and Subbarama Dikshitar. A further Appendix of the compositions of various other Vaggeyakaras who flourished about two and a half centuries prior to this period. Some of his popular Kritis and other compositions are given below :

Emamma Nanu - Maruva Mannaru Ranga deva - NagaSamini - Bhairavi , . , gandhari

Sri Siva Ramasaramulanu -Sarakanana Sambhava - Bhairavi

t ~ ^ _ ______Sriran;Jini Inta modi elara - DarbarParthasarathi - Yedukula (his 1st varna)

kambodhi Tripura sundari - NatakuranjiParasakti - Sahkarabharana Sri Vallipate > Nagaswaravali

The last song is set to the Oaatu of *Sri pate* of Tyagaraja in the same raga. This raga is not found in Venkatamakhi*s list. A beautiful Chitte^swara is fastened to this. He has a Mela Ragamalika to his credit, which contains the 72 Melas of Venkatamakhi. This song *E Kana- kambari* has 12 chakras, the first chakra constitute the Pallavi and the other 11 charana~s account for the remain- ing 11 chakras. The sahitya for this was comx>osed by Krishna kavi.

Ranga rrmanu;)a ayyangar takes strong exception of the Inadequacy of Subbarana Dikshltar's representation of Krttis in his Sangita Sampradaya Pradars'inl, that they reflect very poor music and a mere skeletal structure.But even with these defeciencies, what weighs heavy is the authentic recording of these outlines atleast but for which today we would have no hints about Hundreds of kritisof Dikshitar's family and even other composers.

Thus this treatise is a mile stone in the study ofmusic especially covering the golden period.

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Subbarava Sastri (1803-1862)I

'Janani Ninnuvina* in Riti gowla is one of the most darling pieces of the playsingers, and naturally the music world’s admiration for its composer is high, and the composer is none else than Subbaraya SsTstri \rtio had the unique privilege of learning from two of the great Trinityi.e. his father - Syama Sastri and Saint Tyagaraja, It was SySma Sastri himself who sent him to the saint. Withthese two saints constant influence and tutelege, Subbaraya/Sastri blossomed into a composer of distinct merrit. His compositions are mostly on Devi. He has imbibed all the lilting qualities of the mellifluous sahitya and the laya swing of his father's compositions. Both the father and the son have laced their compositions with beautiful

chlttaswarasy and chittaswara sahitya also in many cases.He stayed at Madras for 12 years though his major stay was at Tan;)ore, and he breathed his last at Udayarpalaya. The mudra he has employed in his Kriti is *Kumara*. He has composed many Swara;)atis also. Some of his Kritis in Apoorva ragas bear the testimony to his skill of high order as a composer. He used to sing his newly composed songs in presence of Tyagaraja and \#on lot of his appre­ciation.

Some of his other popular compositions are - Sankari neevu, Vanajasana, Venkata saila, Ninnu Sevinchina etc.The prominent among his disciples are Annaswaini sVstri (his adopted son), Kanchi Sa*stri of Kanchi (his son-in- law) , SObhanadri, Ponnuswiuny, Tiru^ana mudaliyar and others.

Anai and Ayyg

Anai and Ayya were two brothers of Tiruvayyar who were distinguished composers. Some of their compositions with notation find a place in *Kritimanimalai* of Ranga ramanuja Ayyangir, 4s handed down from a direct disiple Kamakshi who happened to be the grand mother of Vina Danam. Another well known disciple of these composers is Maha“ Vaidyanatha Iyer. Their popular kritis are 'Bhajanaseya* in Kedara and *Inta paraka* in Nadanamakriya. They were

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the court musicians at the court of Sarahho;)!. But in some books there looks to be a small confusion, as these brothers are given as one person as Anaiah.

Maha Valdvanatha ly^ (1844-1893)

Was born in Valyacheri in Tanjore district. He had his early lessons of music from his father - Pancha- nadaiyyer and continued his training under the brothers Anal and Ayya. Later he had his advanced training under the well known disciple of Tyagaraja-Manambu chavadl

_ ^Venkata Subbaiah. Ramaswami Sivan was his elder brother. This family is said to have had the gift of melodious voice. Maha Valdyanatha Iyer is believed to have sung in the range of three octaves. He was extremely disciplined in his habits and care of his voice. He had a very impos­ing personality with the radiance of Tapasvi in his eyes. He was all the time engaged in Siva poo;}a and he is also said to be upasaka of 'Ucchishta Ganapathy*. He had acquired a tremendous scholarship in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil. He was also a Harikatha exponent. On one occasion at the age of 12 he is said to have sung Chakravaka ragam for two hours and earned the popular prefix to his name - •Maha*.

He has composed a Tillana in the Simhanandana Tala in Kahada, and his ragamalika of 72 melakarta is famous.H^ has composed few other Kritis also.

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/Ramas»ami Slvan

His elder brother’s name is inseparable from Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer*s. Ramaswami Sivan was born in 1841 as the second son of Panchanada Aiyer or DoraisW^i Aiyer as he itfas better known, in a middle class family of Mazhanadu Brihacharanam sect in Vaiyacheri, a flourishing village near Tan;)ore. Apart from Vaidyanatha Siva (Aiyer) he had tvfo more brothers - Simbamoorti, the eldest and Appa~swami the youngest,

_ / ___ _ /Ramaswami Sivan and Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan imbibedthe musical aptitude and ardent devotion to Lord Siva fromtheir father. And this flair for music in these two sons

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was recognised by Panchanada Aiyer even in their early childhood and he did a commendable ;}ob in fostering the talent with diligence and devotion. The brothers showed lot of promising progress. Vaidyanatha Aiyer hardly was ten years when he could take up a raga and sing elaborately and round it up with the Pal3avi singing. After this the brothers were sent for more training under Anai-Ayya for some time and had final training from Manambu chavadi Venkata Subbaiah, ah expert and doyen of music of those years. Both brothers had a thoroughly trained, perfectly

/Recently a book on Sivan brothers is released by fR. Sivan*s grandson.

appealing voice, competent to e:qpress well and had acquired a mastery of the science and art of music.

Maha Valdyanatha Alyar’s voice was gifted with un-___ ^ /

paralleled sweetness and natural grace. Ramaswaml Slvan wrote innumerable lyrics and songs and set them to original and highly imaginative patterns of musical beauty in various raga~s. Vaidyanatha Aiyer with his bewitching voice translated them into a thing of beauty and a joy for ever. Thus the collaboration of the brothers was a very effective and successful one. Hence not only were the brothers always together, but their musical careers to became one and indivisible - a phenomenon unique in the history of Carnatic music. Th^ir mother was a direct disciple of the famous composers Anal and Ayya, who were in the direct descendant of the line of Tyagaraja's disciples and whose master pieces sail under the signature - *Uma d^sa* and chlrished to this day.

The Slvan brothers were often invited to sing in marriages and the other festive occasions In the houses of richmen and mlrasdars. Next at Pudukkotai the Raja invited and the brothers were privileged to sing before a select audience of scholars. Then the brothers stayed at Puduk- kottai for some time when they had the opportunity asso­ciate themselves with a great Tamil scholar from Mazhava- rayane^ndal who came to the court and gave a performance In

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*Avadhanam*. When this was concluded Ramaswami Slvanpromptly composed a song felicitating the scholar on hisremarkable feat and sang it on the spur of the moment inthe Durbar. Every one present found this also an equallyremarkable feat and lauded Sivan for his extempore songboth for its lyrics and his exquisite rendering of it.Thus wherever the brothers went, they jsang, they conquered.

_ ^ rMaha Vaidyanatha Aiyar often presented Sivan's composi*

■»tions in his concerts, when Sivan always kept the Tambura in his hand and provided the drone for his brother and occasionally sang in unison. So in these concerts Maha~ Vaidyanatha Aiyar's music and Ramaswauni Sivan's composing genius were equally recognised and praised by people.

ITheir wings of fame took them to Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Ettiyapuram,Kalidaikurichi, Tirunelveli, Alwarkurichi, Kallidaikurichi, Trivandrum, Tiruvavanduthurai, Sringeri and Mysore. On a special invitation they visited Tri­vandrum thrice and sang before Maharaja Ayilyam Tirunal

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and twice before Vishakam Tirunal and on several invita- tions they sang at the Dasara Durbar in Mysore. The R5Ja of Ramanathapuram and two brothers known as Subramanya De/ikar and Ambalavana Desikar were the brothers* life longpatrons. The king of Rimanathapuram presented them with

^ fa copy of 'Kanda-Pura^m' which stimulated Ramaswami Sivan some time later on to turn it into music as 'Kandapurana Charitra Kirtanas* and it was also the same time when

RSmaswaml Sivan rendered the entire*Perlya Puranam* Into music as *Perlya Purimm Klrtanas*, at the suggestion and request of Nagarathars who was always a staunch devotee of Siva and Siva Bhaktas. Later they sang these Kirtanas at the Tiruvavanduthurai Maha Sannidhanam and amongst the august gathering here, Maha Vidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai was also present and this scholar on hearing these beautiful pieces paid his memorable ovation through a beautiful poetry with five stanzas in praise of the brothers* singing. Somewhere about 1871 these Kirtanas were printed and published also. In this each Kirtana has a prelude of few Viruttams» explaining the pursTnic anecdotes and elucidating the theme and the key note. These Kirtanas

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are supposed to be so much full of alliterations and tech­nical excellences that it won the title 'Mohai Singam* for Ramaswami Sivan from the elated Raja of Rainanathapuram.

The brothers during their stay at Ettay^uram made their aquaintance with Sri Subbarama Dikshitar and many other court musicians, divan's Tamil songs made such a deep impression on these musicians, they requested him to compose a long chain of Ragamalika in Tamil in which many different Ragas are enchantingly welded into a unified whole. Ramaswami Sivan*s genius successfully completed this task and the brothers sang it before the congress of scholars which proved to become the favourite of the times and for quite some time it was popularly in vogue every-

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where but unfortunately for us» it Is lost now, and not available in print or manuscript. At Tiruchendur RamasWami Sivan composed his two master pieces in Tamil, *Tiru- chendil chanda Viruttam' and 'Tiruchendur Yamaka Anthadi*. He also composed other puranic songs like - 'Manicka vacha- kar charitra Kirtanas', *Pairvati Kalyana kirtanas* and 'Kandapurana Kirtanas*.

Then the Sivan brothers came to hear the great saint and Saivite philosopher, Kodaganallm* Sundara Simia&igal, esteemed for his vast knowledge in Tamil and Sanskrit and for his saintly life. So the brothers did not miss this fruitful opportunity to steep themselves more intensely in Saivite philosophy and studied *Chaturveda Tatparya Sangra- ham* and 'Siva Tatva Vivekam' and also 'Kandapuranam* in better details. Ramaswami Sivan wrote 'Tottirappavinam* as a tribute to the swamigal for initiating him into the higher stratas of Saivite philosophy. He had already composed a kriti in Punnagavarali with the opening 'Sundara Guruvai' and included it in the Periyapurana kirtanas. At the request of the people, the brothers used to give Harikatha performances also - rather we should say 'Siva kathas'. Thus the co-parcenery of the l ivan brothers flourished till 1893» when Maha Vaidyanatha Aiyar was snatched away from this world. Thereafter for another

— _ ^five years Ramaswami Sivan languished with pangs of sepe-ration and left this world.

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To the famous Ragamalika of 72 M^akarta by Maha Vaidyanatha Alyar, Rainaswami Slvan also has added his contribution to add a line in each chittaswara, the first*• •half of it merging with the preceding raga and the second half leading on to the succeeding raga in the ragamalika.Apart many of these testimonies to his genius, Ramaswami/Sivan has left many ccmpositions in Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit and they cover the vast range of compositions ranging from Varnams, Kritis, Tillanas and folk tunes and balads. The Aditala vari^ in KambOdhi - ‘Pankajakshipai* is a Pada- varna and starts on Swarakshara, in the charana there are ntunerous Swaraksharas and swaras in Sa ma yati patterns of Group of four notes, and Mridanga yati patterns, viz. :

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dn-pdn-mpdn-gmpdn-rgmpdn-gmpdn-mpdn-pdn-dn. Madhyama kala sahitya in 'Radaikkan' in B^gada; chittaswara in *Mana> viniviru' in Kanakangi; and the chittaswara appended to •Plihimam Sri Rajarajeshwari' are eloquent testimony to their genius in embellishing the songs. The Tamil compo­sitions still popular with us is 'Ekkalattilum* in Nata- kuranji; 'Mutthu Kumaraiyane* in Sankarabharai^m; 'Veru tunai kanene* in Vachaspati; *Unadu padam tui^ye* in Chakravakam and 'Natanam se^um* in Kedara Gowla. The ele- gant raga sancharas in these pieces speak a lot of the dextrous handling of the raga with all its characteristic features and frills by this composers. Besides these songs another 8 kritis by their preceptors - Anai and Ayya are also printed in a booklet entitled 'Mela Ra^gamalika*

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by Maha Vaidyanatha Aiyar In Telugu script, i*ith notation by his son Viswanitha Aiyar long ago.

Periya Purana itself contains nothing less than 320 songs using about 50 derivative ragas like Chanta“, Punriagavarali, Manga^ kaisiki, Dvijavanti, Kuranji, apart from a score of Mela ragas. It is a pity that only around 30 are available today to us v»ith script and even these not much in vogue. RamasWami silvan also wrote a book on the Lakshams of the 72 Melas and 'Desiya Tala Lakshands* in simple Tamil which is supposed to be a highly valuable contribution, but both these right now inacces­sible in somebody* s unknown custody.

When all is said, the fact remains that Ramaswami Sivan was invariably identified with his more illustrious brother Vaidyanatha Aiyar and it is really curious that why Ramaswami Sivan never thought of becoming performer in his own right. Perhaps this idea with separate identity never suggested to him, and he probably never craved for such worldly success, rather never went in chase of these things, that he was so religious and philosophical, that whatever success embraced him was shere incidental. Thus his life was one of supreme self-effaceaent. Hence these brothers are always remembered together as the Sivan Brothers.

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Chengalvarava Sastrl (1810-1900)

Another eminent composer of the post-Trinlty period.His birth place was a small hamlet known as Perumpadu inChingleput District. He was proficient in music andBharata Sastra and was a scholar in Telugu and Sanskrit.He moved to Cheyur at the invitation of Periya KalappaMudaliyar. He held classes in music and dance in theplace and trained number of pupils. The Zainindars of

)this place patronised him. After the advent of Sastriyar this place grew in musical importance. He wasa great noble soul and Goddess Muktamba of Cheyyur blessed him. As per statistics he has more than thousand kritis to his credit. Out of this 360 kritis are in praise of Kanchi Kafmakshi, and about 240 kritis in praise of Madurai Meenakshi, more than hundred on Lord Venkateswara. He has also composed few songs in Tamil. Madhyamakala sahitya is an attrac­tive feature in his tongs. He had talent for fine sahitya and dulcet melody.

He wrote the Muttu Kumara Satakam. He sang most of the songs extempore. They were given further polish by the two scholarly singers of his time - Sajnbamurthy Sastrl and Krlshm Sastrl. His kriti 'Aviralamagu Bnaktim* in Kalyani in ch. Dhruva Tala in a concrete example to show his ability of composing a kriti with such a flowing music even in such a Tala. In 'Lallte mam pahi* in Yadukula- kambodhl, the divine calm of this raga prevails. The 1st

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and 3rd sections has the same dhatu; and the 2nd and 4th sections has an Identical dhatu, and the song from begin­ning to the end is couched v»ith antya prasa -

(1) Lalite-Kalpalate I Lalita...Kalpalate IKula.... Madhya gate I Jaladaylta---danarate IChapala... Kayalate It

(2) Ghanasobhana Gunajale I Kara,...Brahma kapale IGamana... Maral^ I Nava kanbugale II

(5) MuniJana.....lole_ I Mohambudha vatul^ IKanaka... .Chile I Chengalvarayanuta Bale II

•Ni ruchi mariglna rasana' in Bilahari is highlyI

captivating. His deep scholarship is also to be seen in his compositipns in ragas like Purna chandrika, Yamuna kalyahi, Gaulipantu etc. His kritis profusely Interspersed with prosodical beauties like antya prasa, Anuprasa, Yamakam, Swar^tsharas, Ragamudras figure in some of his songs. His diction has a natural gentle flow. The range of his songs comprises of the most simplest to the most Intricate ones. His songs pertaining to temple rituals are sung in Cheyyur temple to this day.

In addition to the kritis and sabdas he also composed an opera 'Sundaresa Vilasamu* in Telugu which has been staged during the temple festival. *Charuleela Vilasamu* is another Prabandham by this composer in Telugu.

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He was an adept In Chittra Kavitvam. In one of the sfsa padya In the opera Goddess Meenakshi answers the name of her Lord in an indirect way when asked by her Sakhis through six questions for which the centre syllable of the answers forms the name hidden 'Sun-da-ra-swa-ru-du* - Meenakshi here is typically shy like an Indian bride in saying her Lord's name. The six answer words are :(1) ViTsuki (2) Mantra (3) Dvireba (4) Ashvamu (5) Taruni (6) Kudumu.

An example of Sudda swarakshara can be noticed in one of the Kanda padyas given below :

Sama pada garima pasagani I gamanidani ganimagani gadanirigada I Memama mari sari panigani I Samari pagamanigani pani ga dani da i

The next kanda padya also continue in the same strain.

•Sarva Vadyam' is a Seva in temples which is mentioned in K^mik^amam. This consists of the perfor­mance of all vadyasy vocal, instruments, etc. Chengalva- raya Sastri is to be praised for systematising its per­formance. He elevated the standard of performance of *Sarva Vadyam*. For the past 400 years, the seva is there in this temple. This composer has the svanama mudra 'Chengalvaraya' for his songs, e.g. for madhyama kala

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sShltya - *Entavedinaganl in Durbar-chapu talam has the embellishment end of both Anupallavi and Charana; (2) Venkatachalesa in Bhairavi - Roopaka tala; (3) Bharatl bhagavathi kalSvati in Madhyamavati raga is a Saraswati stuti, wherein Ragamudra figures in the Anupallavi. Sri Saroja dalayatakshi in KSnbodhi-chapu tala has two stret­ches of Pataksharas. And another piece which is rendered during the 'Sarva vadyam* sessions is profuse with Jatis in Brahma talam (which is equal to Adi talam). He lived in Cheyyur for more than five decades and hence acquired the name - *Cheyyur Chengalvaraya ^astri*. He also composed many songs for the Utsavam at the temple and also some marriage songs which are in vogue to this day in

I

these areas. He used to hold Bhajana sessions on 'Kritti- ka Nakshatram day* and Saturdays. He lived for a full span of 90 years and he served the cause of music as composer, teacher and singer.

Patnam Subrahmanva Iyer (1845-1902)• • •

Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer was a contemporary of the ^ivan brothers, and also had his tutelege from the famous Manambuchavadi Venkata Subrahmanya Iyer. He also had an ancestral backing to inherit musical aptitude, as his father Bharatam Vaidyanatha Iyer had inherited the incli­nation to music from his father Bharatam Panchanada SsTstri, who was an Asthana Yidwan in the court of King SarabHo;)i.

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: 415 :

But as destiny had it Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer lost both his parents in his boyhood itself. Then he grew under the care of his maternal uncle MerattCur Ganapati Sastri who

• • •- ^ —was a scholar in both music and Bharata Natya Sastra. He

trained him in the early stages. Then he (Subrahmanya Iyer) migrated to Madras and for some time he continued his training under the guidance of Saktanoor Panju Iyer. And finally he blossomed to the full with the guidance of Mffnambu chavadi Venkata Subbaiyer. This school of

• •

Tyagaraja seem to have swayed Influence to the maximum and Subbaramanya Iyer*s kritis are modelled on the kritis of Tyagaraja. His mudra is 'Venkat^a'. His compositions range from Tana varna, Kritis, Tillanas and Javairs.» I .These compositions are in Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil. Of- course major chunk is in Telugu. He also has composed plays - *Kuchelacharitre'; 'Ambarisa charitre*; *Dhruva Charitre* and 'Ajalnila charitre*; apart from the other songs. Rare ragas like Kannada, Balahamsa, Sarasahgi, Malavi, Phalamanjari also adorn his kritis. 'Kadana kutoohala* was his brilliant creation and the song *Raghu> vamsa sudha* in this raga has caught up in the music world like talk of the town. His compositions include Pallavis in the 108 Talas and the Simhanandana Tala. Subramanya

«

Iyer had a robust voice and a robust energy, and with great care and dedication he is believed to have cultured his voice. He had his own credintials of sound knowledge of tradition and capacity to prune and embellish classical

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songs like Maha Vaidyanitha Iyer. During the time ofDiwan sVshadri Iyer’s time he visited and sang at theMysore court several times. He promoted a good rapportbetween the musicians of Mysore and Madras regions. Hegroomed illustrious composers amongst his disciples also.The notable two are Ramnad Srinivasa Iyengar and MysoreVasudevacharya. His other noteworthy disciples were TigerYaradacharya and Guruswamy Bhagavatar. Some of his famousKritis are 'Aparadhamula* in Latangi; 'Varamulosagi' inKeravani; *Maravakave' in Sama; *Paridanamicchaite* inBilahari; *Mariv^e dikkevarayya Rama' in Shanmukha Priya;and a few popular varnas to mention are *Evvaribodhana'in Abliogi; 'Era Napai* in Todi; 'Ninnukori' in Bhairavij'Valachi' - the Nava ragamalika. His 'Nerajana' inBegade - Adi tala houses a rare feature in varnams, i.e. ft •

the Eduppu throughout is Anigatha. He spent the evening of his life at Tiruvayyani and breathed his last there.

Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer has composed in Poor^ chandrika and Simavahini also which is earlier handled only by Tyagaraja. Both Tyagara;Ja's 'Nenarunchara Na" paini che^la' in Simhavahini and Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer's 'Evarunnaru* commence with the same Eduppu of 1-1/2 beats. Sugumbhooshani is another new creation for the first time by Subrahmanya Iyer, which is a Janya of 22nd Mela - the scale being - S G M P M D N S I S N D P M G M R S I - the song is 'Bha;)ar^Manasa' in Rupaka tala. *Ennadu nee

krlpa Galguno'in Yachaspatl has similar eduppu like that of Tyagara;)a*s *Kanta Joodumi* in the same raga. Thus he has adoringly follo\«ed Tyagaraja's models in the format, diction, music, etc.

Garbhapuri Composers of Kariu: Dakshirmmurthy Sastri and Chinna Devudu

*

SaTstriyar was the grandson of Matrubhootayya. Gar­bhapuri or Karii* is a small place in Trichi district in Tamilnadu. His compositions also bear a lot of influence of Tyagaraja, The language is mostly simple Telugu. Music to his compositions are mostly set by one Chinna Devudu who was a Violin exponent and belonged to the Tyagaraja ^ishya parampara. These are popularly known as the •Garbhapuri KirtaniTs' and the ankita used here is *Garbha- pura*. Majority of these songs are in Adit^a. Only a few songs have more than one charana.«

Many amongst Tyagaraja's disciples were instru­mentalists. Chinna Devudu and Lalgudi Gopa'la Iyer belonged

t •

to this group. Chinna Devudu being a relative of Dakshina^w. / -murthy Sastri associated with him to compose the music

for the Garbhapuri songs. In Garbhapuri*s composition *Narimari ninne* - Kambodhi - Rupaka tala has a common­ness with Tyagaraja's composition with the same opening phrase in the same raga and tala on the same Eduppu.

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'Ambanlnnu* coDunencing In Kalyani is another well known ragamallka of these composers.

They have several brilliant Tanavarnams to their/ —credit. The presiding deity ot Garbapuri is Pasupatishwara

and Sundaranayaki. The *Devata mudra* of the place is found in their Sri raga varnam *Samininne kori* - Xdi tala* in the last line of the Anupallavi - *Sri Garbhapuri nivSsa Pasupatrshwara*. In Kamalamba naT chinta dfrcha^amma in Kanada last line of charana - 'Vara Garbhapurisha rana

•

talli varadayaki Saundarya Nayaki' once again the presid­ing Goddess of the place is mentioned. *Brovasamaya* in Go\<rimanohari is another popular Kriti worth mention, the sangatis and rs^abhava is chisselled well and throughout the song we come across Adiprasa. *Rarra Rama Ravikula soina* in Bangala looks to be inspired by Tyagaraja's *Girlraja suta tanaya* in the same raga. These composers very much reflect Tyagaraja*s influences.

Rainanathapuram Srlnlva~sa Iyengar or Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar

A brilliant disciple of Patnam Subramanya Iyer born in Ramanathapuram of Ramanad district in 1867. He was gifted with a lilting voice and the Raja of R^anathapuram spotted this gifted boy*s talent early and arranged for his training under the able guidance of Patnam Subrahmanya

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Iyer and soon he proved a worthy student to make histeacher proud of him as a composer too*

He is a composer of Tanavarr^, Padavarna> Kriti,Javali and Tillahas. As a Varnakara, perhaps he is thekone first introduced to a music student as mostly every student learns his *Ninnukori' in Mohanam, a Tana varna in Adi tala which has almost become customary to the beginner of a varnam. Amongst Atta varnams his Kahadavarnam - ‘Neranammi* is equally popular.

In the Kriti - 'Sadguru Swamiki* in Riti Gowla, he has paid his tribute to saint Tyagaraja. *Saraguna Palimpa* in Kedara Gov»la; *Parama pavana Rama' in Purvi-kalyani; and the Javali - *Veganivu vani' in Suruti arethe favourites of the concert goers for the past 5 decades nearly. One of his kriti is in an apoorva raga - Sura ranjani which is a derivative of Sankarabharana - • S G P R M D S H S N D P M G R S I I . Another rare tala also has been handled by him which is the 32nd tala in the 72 tala scheme, with 19 Aksharas (2 dhrutas - 1 Anudhruta - 1 Dhruta - 1 Pluta), called Ragavardini tala. This has been used for a Tillana in raga Kamavardini with the opening phrase *Sumasara'. His 'Saminipai* is a Nava- ratna Ragamalike in Rupaka tala. The other kritis to mention some > *Chintadirchara Sita ramana' in Saurashtra; 'Sri Raghukula nidhim' in Huseni; and 'Nijamuga Rama* in

I

Keeravani. He is a Swanama Mudrakara with his signature

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as 'Srinivasa* and it is once again the sweet *Telugu* flowing in his songs. As a young boy he had his education in English, especially in those years, and early he mastered the languages - Telugu, Sanskrit and Tamil. But his heart ultimately chose to express in Telugu. Most of his songs are in praise of Rama. One of the noteworthy disciple of SrinivaTsa Iyengar who lived amidst us during the mid of this century was Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. In the year 1919, came the sad demise of this composer. His Kritis have immortalised him for centuries to come.

f r _Talangambadi Panchanada Iyer• f

A composer belonging to the line of disciples of Syaina SaTstri. We have one popular kriti *Birana Brova ide* in Kalya^ni which very much resembles Biraha variT licchi in the same raga by his mentor Syama Sa'stri. But except for this popular note worthy sample, we are yet to tap more information about his contribution.

Vanamamalai Brothers

The religious mutts in the past have not only been the seats of religi'ous learning but also of music. Music has been verily the vehicle for the propogation of the bhaktl cult, from times immemorial and Carnatic music, as expounded by the great sages of the past has indeed been most devotional in its nature.

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VanamsTmalal, a Valshnavite mutt, with its head-• • •

quarters at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district, has contri­buted in an adequate measure to the sangita repertoire in Sanskrit. Manavalamamunlgal, in 1446 A.D. found this mutt

«

and installed one of his eminent disciples as the first head or *Jeer' as they are called, of the mutt in Gagana-» •

girl or now known as Nanguneri, where the presiding deity of the temple is Sri Todadriswami. There are over a hundred songs which go under the name of Vanamamalai Jeer songs. It is strange to learn that no Jeer of the mut had composed any song as such, but they extended abiding patronage to Vidwat Sadases and ample encouragement was given to the Vidwans who took part in these,assemblies and the court of the mutt. Such conferences were held

• •

frequently and under the auspices of the Jeer, music Vid- w ^ s composed these Kritis. So it is but natural that these songs were given out to the world at large as Vana­mamalai Jeer songs.

In this context, we come across two eminent perso­nalities, who were Vaggeyakaras of high order. They were Srinivasa Iyengar and his younger brother Azhagappa lyeng^. These brothers were Great scholars in Sanskrit, steeped to the core in all aspects of Ve'das and Sastras. They were exponent Vainika's too. It is learnt that they had their Vina training under Kalyam Krishna Bhagavatar of Travancore Samasthanam. The period of Srinivasa Iyengar

was 1839-1891. He died at the early age of 32. His younger brother who was born in 1861 lived till 19 15.

Kalyana Raiaanu;)a Swamigal the 23th Jeer of this mutt• • •

had his study of Vedanta Sutras under Srinivasa Iyengar.The t^o brothers were patronised by the Jeers of the mutt and encouraged in all their activities. They were not only highly respected in the mutt, but also by all the people as they were both talented in music and well read in V^ic literature.

The late Ariyakudi Ramahu;}a Iyengar used to sing some compositions of the Jeer in his concerts and popu­larise them. It is stated that AriysTkudi aang one of these compositions in J^npuri - *Dasaratha suta' in presence of Chinna Ram^uja swamigal, who adorned this peeth till• •

a very ripe age of over 90 years, and immensely pleased him, who was a scholar and singer himself. This pontiff was the son of Srinivasa Iyengar.

Both the brothers though attached to the mutt, were Asthana Vidwans at the court of Mysore and Travan- core. It is stated that Krishna raja Wodeyar of Mysore invited them and them^there for some time and l»arnt some songs from them. Of the two brothers, the younger seem to have chosen a simple diction, with an easy flow of music and rhythm, as seen in 'Paripalaya* in Suddha sav^i.

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‘Kamalalaya* in Todi, 'Bhaja Yatiraiam* in Pantuvarali, etc. It is possible that the phrase - *Varayogi* or *Yogi varya* occurring in many of his songs could be probably the ankita.

Srinivasa Iyengar appears to have adopted a more difficult style with an elegant flow of words in the sahitya, set in Madhyamakila pattern. 'Manavai Madhura- kavi* in Nata, 'Paripalaya' in Kambodhi, *R^a kamakoti* in Vasanta *Vasude'va' in Ananda Bhairavi, Paripalaya in Malayamaruta are typical examples of his style. In the Arabhi kriti 'sahitam Srivaramanga* in mii^a chapu, a picturesque description of the Todadri temple in Nanguneri, in beautiful and choice words is presented! Some of these kritis when presented in a concert will bring about a change of tempo and enliven the atmosphere. Both brothers have composed in Sanskrit. They are in praise of D§Va- perumal or Varamahgai. Some of the songs are on Krishr^, and a few pieces in praise of Nammalwar and the purvachar- yas of the mutt. They are highly devotional in content.* •

There is one Ragamalika kriti, *Sri Dasaratha Nandanam baje* opening with Bilahari and set in seven sections, containing the gist of Rgmayana. It is to be noted that in this ragamalika both the Kishkinda and the Sundara Kanda are in one section, with only one effective reference to the whole of Sundara Kahda, in the

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style of V§danta Dei^kar. Freedom in handling musical phrasology is special feature of Srinivasa Iyengar. Rheto­rical beauties are charmingly ipioven into the sahitya so as to present an effective fusion of sound and melody.The phrases in the charanams of pieces in Malayamarutham, Nata and Kambodi are fine examples. In their Kalyani kriti *Matimdihi vara mange' has many datu prayogas like - g n d n - g d p d - d g r - n r n etc. An easy flovi of scholarly and poetic imagination of the brothers is evi­denced in such thought-provoking samasiTs or expressions as *Sita Rama^anu^a’ for Ramanuja, ’Girija" ni yaka sarasasana* for Ramanuja, 'GiriJaTnayaka sarasasana* for the bow of Siva.

Janaki ramam in Kapi, Matimdehi in Kaly^i, 'Janae Vina* in Vachaspati and *Dasaratha sutha* in Johpuri were popularised by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, The notations of these Kritis were also published in an old Tamil perio- dicle quite some years ago. The charanas in Jahaki ramana in Kapi has many allusions to some important incidents in the Ram^yana. There are number of Kritis to their credit in such popular ragas as Bhupalam - AsthiJagatham, Chakra- vakam - Guru dehi mama, nuseni - Pahi sures am, Mukhari - Devadi Deva, Bilahari - Suravara Pari palaya and Dina Jahavana dlkshitha palaya, Varili-Gurumangala, Subha pantuvarali - Varija dala, Saranga - Sri Vara mangale.

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Kambodhi - Indira vara lochana, Arabhi - Sri Naga girlnilayam, Sankar^bharanam - SarasTruha^sana* Gaullpantu -

— /Pahl Ramae P^mae, Gaurimanohari - Pahi Sri vara Nangae,Nata - Charanam vrajeham.

.

These songs were supposed to have been popular adherents of the mutt during the time of Kalyarm Ramanuja Swamigal. These did not have Sishya parampara as such who would preserve and popularise these songs for the posterity. And with the passage of time these songs have become rare and going to obscurity. Hence it is necessary that music organisations like music Academy and the musici­ans community put their efforts to revive these beautiful compositions and preserve them before it is too late.

It may be mentioned that the younger brother was also a good painter and he had given a Visual form to the Ramayana incidents in painting. It is said that these paintings can be seen on the four walls of Azhagappa Iyengars house in his village even now.

Thus V^amainalai brothers, as they are known to the music world, have left a memorable contribution which is not to be lost with the indifference or lathergy of the music world.

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Sadasiva Rao

Mysore Sada'siva rao, as he is popularly referred.

was born at Girampet near Chittoor. The exact date of birth, and other biographical datas like when he was married where he had his education, and under whom he learnt music are not clearly available, as he left his house and parents at the tender age of around 12, in a fit of emotion, when his mother rdiculed him that he is a do-nothing, when he asked for some ghee, which she refused serve him. This was enough to hurt the sensitive boy. His parents were Gan^sha Rao, and Krishna Bai, a Madhva Maratha D^shastha family. Sadasiva Rao is said to have had a younger brothers by name Malhari Rao and a younger sister, whose name is not known.

Subsequently it is learnt that he died during the year 1885 and lived for 80 years. So it can be inferred that his date of birth should date back to around 1800- 1805. After he left his house, till around thirty years, when he came to Mysore and settled till his last, nothing is on the record to say exactly where when and under whom Sadas^iva Rao acquired his musical knowledge. Only two things which throw some light on this is an old painting at the residence of Walajpet Venkataramana Bh^avatar, the principle disciple of TyagaraJ^, shows Sadasiva Rao as sitting before the Bhagavathar along w«th other sishyas. And other incident, regarding his association with Bh^ga- vatar is, that it is said t lat Rao went all the way from Mysore to Walajpet to see St. Tyagaraja, during the visit of the saint singer to Wil§;3pet at the request of his

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disciple who graced to stay there for 12 days. It is said that Rao composed the song *TyagaraJa swami vedalina* in Todi, on the occasion of the ceremonious entry of the saint to Wala;)pet, and sang it before him. Tyagaraja was immensely pleased with this and blessed him. This incident finds a mention in Ramaswami Bhagavatar*s ‘Tyagabrahmopa- nishad'. These two incidents suggest and support the theory that Rao after leaving his home must have strayed into Walajpet and Joined some school there and had his musical training under Venkataramana Bhagavatar,

Though no one Knows for certainty as to what kind . of education he had during his wanderings, tha^ fact that he worked as a clerk in collector’s office at Chittoor, will help one to conclude that he must have been well conversant with the existing conditions and cashed on the experience he had acquired during his wanderings. Sundari Bai, a relation of Tirumala Rao S&heb, the jahagirdar of Arni, was married to Sad^slva Rao. Perhaps he joined the Collector's office after this. After some time he was introduced to Mummadi Krishnara^a Wodeyar of Mysore by two merchants - Kopparam ChinnamuniswiSiy Setty and Peddamuni- sw^y l etty who wielded a good lot of influence with the ruler. Immediately on hearing Rao's music the king was so much pleased that he offered a permanent appointment to Rao as the chief court musician, and henceforth Rao came and permanently settled in Mysore when he was said to be

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30 years old. Here the royal patronage, the rich merchants* friendship, and the assistance of admirers, and above all the apparentIceshlp of the prosperous and generous V i M Subbanna under him, seem to have kept beyond v»nt. He• ♦s p e n t l i b e r a l l y o n n o b l e causes. He vas k n o w n f o r h i s

C h a r i t a b l l l t y .

Sada'siva Rao's contribution to music is priceless.He has composed with the swanama mudra - Sadaslva. His compositions brim with the Ragabhava and the declamatory recitative without ever abondonlng the melodic basis has achieved a perfect plasticity of expression. So far around 60 Kritis have been unearthed. Long ago Mysore Kala- bhlvardinl Ss bha has brought out 35 KritTs of this composer and the varnam 'E Maguva* in Dhanyasl with notation, and the other 14 with ;}ust the next of the songs. A swara;}atl and a Tlllana are included in this. In these collections16 Kritis are in Sanskrit, and the remaining in Telugu.It includes some rare collection of Kritis in the ragas - Balahamsa, Poorna sad;)a, Kamala manohari, Gambheranata, Punnaga Todl and Chandra chooda. The editors have done a good ;)ob in giving a biographical sketch also in this book collecting from all available sources. The Kritis have been compiled under title 'compositions of Mysore Sadaslva Rao' by the editors - Sri N. Chennak^avayya, Sri H. Ydg^narasimhan and the late B.K. Padmanabha Rao. Some years back Madras Music Academy also has published some

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17 Kritis of this composer.

In Kritis like Sakita nagara natha in Harikambodhi, •Samrajyadayakesa* in Kambodhi, *Vachamagocharundani* in Athana, the raga bhava and imagination are reflected in the Chittaswarams and SviarasaJiityas. His kritis conform to the cannons of Yati, Gana and Pra"sa. He composed some kritis on the deities of the pilgrimage he undertook.Couple of these to mention are 'Sri Kamakotipeetha sthite' in Saveri, *Paramadbhutamaina' in Kami's, on Lord of Sri- rangam, etc. Some of his kritis in circulation are - Gangadhara Tripurahara in Purvikalyani, Evarunnani and Nivegati gahi in Balahamsa, 'Sri Parthasarathe' in Bhairavi, 'Phoolu chellare' in Ananda Bhairavi, 'Dorakunanedu' in Deva g^dhari, etc.

His kritis have a rich hue of rasa and bhava. Ho\«-ever a small complaint by some that he is >«eebit pedanticand there is profusion of words, do not detract the merit

— /of his kritis- Vina Se'shanna and Subbanna were his pro- minent disciples. It is unfortunate that his musical genius was not inherited by his successors in his family except little bit by his grand son (daughter's), one Ralna Rao who made a name for himself in the Karnataka nata-« •ka Mandali patronised by Chamaraja Wodeyar,

Sadasiva Rao was a upasaka of Lord Narasimha, a number of incidents bordering miracles go with his life

s 430 s

story attributing some super natural powers to him. He, ff

like some great souls seem to have foreseen his end, and on the day of his death, after morning ahluslons and worship he has said to have sat on his chair facing north and started humming his own compositions • *Kamala

✓kantha Sri Krishna natha* In Vasanta while he asked for spoon of ghee from his wife and rubbed It on the top of his head, controlled his breath and passed away peace­fully. The account goes that the tamboora and other musical Instruments kept In his house emitted sounds of their own accord as If to soimd the last out post.

KSayaka Shlkhamanl* Mutthlah Bhagavatar (1877-19A5)

Bhagavatar had an Imposing personality and believed In good presentation of himself. He always garbed him­self gold laced forgeluous costiame and a Zarl Mysore turban to caplt all. Though bom at Puna veil In Vll- llputtur Taluk of Madras, and brought up at Tanjore, ma;)or part of his life was spent at Mysore and Travancore with the royal patronage.

At an early age of about 9 years Bhagavatar lost his father Llngamayyar and came under the guardianship of his uncle. And this uncle had his Inhibition for music who thought that music was not for respectable families and lay the taboo on the boy not to take to music, for

which the boy had a natural Inclination. For some tine Sanskrit learning was thrust on the boy. But shortly the boy’s unquenched thirst to leam music got better of him and he obsconded to Tiruvayyaru to somehow leam music and fulfill his cherished ambition at any cost.This grit saw him imder the lAnbrella of the Great Samba-/sivaiyer who trained him for 7 years and returned to Harikesanallur. He gave his first performance at the age of 17» at Tuticorin. He received a Tamboora here. While at Tiruvayyar only he had come in association with Sri Vasudevacharya who was also there for training under Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer, and they had made good friends. In course of time he also came under the contemporary

I

wave of Krishna Bhagavatar's Harikatha. And he Jumped into the bandwagon of Sri Krishna Bhagavatar during which period he acquainted himself with many new tunes %rhich were prevalent in Marathi Bhajans, which Krishna Bhagava­tar used often in his performances. This kindled lot of his imagination, resulted in his innovative contribution to our music when later he blossomed into a composer.

During his early years though he showed lot of promise, his voice turned turtle, But this boy was not the one who ever know defeat or discomfiture. And he made it up with Krishna Bhagavatar*s association. Ini­tially as a composer also his handicaps were many, but his genius lay in converting his limitations into his

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strength. Though he did not have the knowledge of Sans* krlt, he first c<»posed lilting tunes and had It filled up with words by Telugu and Sanskrit pandits. With the association of Krishna Bhagavatar he also became a good Harlkatha performer. He mesmerised his audience with his very majestic appearance, quick wit, mirth and the histrio­nic talents with spirited singing which poured out of his heavy husky and immobile voice, with a thundering orches­tra in the background, with a striking effect. He was a wizard of sound and he was able to make a raucous voice dance to the magic tunes.

He was a very dynamic person. At the request of Haharanl Sethii Parvati Bai of Travancore, he travelled to Travancore from Pfysore, and edited a number of Swatl Tirunal's composition, which were in the dark in the royal custody. He sang them and popularised them.

At Kyaore he was patronised by Nalvadl Krishnaraja Wodeyar and earned the laurel 'Gayaka ShikHamani'. While he was here, every Friday he would offer his worship at the Chamundl Hills, Mysore and he composed the Ashtottara songs on Goddess Ghamundamba, like Tlruvotriyur lyigayya. The Mangalam is also modelled after the Tyagayyar's. His Daruvarna 'Mate Malayadhvaja* in Khamas had a chain of beautiful swara passages with corresponding sahitya and an admixture of swaras and patakshara passages. He has

composed Tanavaznams» Padavamas and Ragamalika krltls.His Navaraga nialika material bears the Influence of Dikshltar*s Navavarna. He rejuvinated Narayana Gowla which was not common after Vina Kuppalyyer. The Navavarna kriti in each section has a beautiful appendage of chit- taswara. The significant feature here is, it is based on the Chaturdasa Raga malika, as the last Chittaswara moves in retrograde order of gagas. He has Tillana in a rare raga - *Adi kapi* a janya of 22nd mela, which thescale : S R M G, M P D N S 1 S N D P M Ga R S II He hasintroduced a plethora of new and rare ragas, like Bhuvana Gandhiri a 20th Janya ( S R M P N S - S N D P M G S ) , Niroshta-a Janya of 29th mela ( S R G D N S - S N D G R S ) - This raga ofcourse is Just technical arrival and has little aesthetic appeal without both madhyama and panchama, which are the natural samvadins of Shaflja and feels odd £uid funny for a singer to never bring his lips together ifhe has to sing the solfa passages for this ragA, SarangaMalhar another Janya of the 29th mela ( S R M P D N S I S N D P M R, S N S).

In the book Muttaiah Bhagavatar *Sahityangal* - III Part, 1971 the follow.^ng rare ragas have been pub­lished : Guharanjani, Hamsa Deepaka, Sumana priya, Bhudha- ranja manbhari, Kbkila bhashini, Vijaya Saraswati, Karna ranjani, Chakra pradlpta, Vinadhari, Maya pradeepam, Harinarayani, Naga bhooshani, Siinliavahini, etc. His

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other popular krltls are : Bhuvaneshwarlya In Mdhana Kalyani, Sarasamukhi in Gow(^ malhar, Kalaratrl In Oor- mlka» Needumahlma pogada in Hamsiinandl, Ratnakanchuka

_ - ' • dharinl in Kambodhi, Sahajaguna rama in Sankarabharana, Harldra kumkuma priye in suruti, Sudhainayi In Amritavar- shini, Vijayainbike in Vijayanagari, Ainbamahavani in Saraswati Mandhari» S^asadalanayane in Saramati, Gam Ganapate in Hamsadhvani, Jayamahishasuramardhini in the same raga, and quite a few more. Bangalore A . I . R . has done a praise worthy Job in projecting many of these compositions. Recently a cassette of his compositions, which was passed on to him by his Guru who was a directdisciple of Bhagavatar. He has composed some songs and

/also some patriotic songs in Tamil. He has Sivashtottara Kirtanas and Navagraha kirtana which are all in Sanskrit. All the Navagraha Kritis have chittaswara. He has handled Hindusthani ragas like Hameer Kalyani (Kedar), Brindavani,etc. Jayanarayanit Sindhumandari, Hainsabhramari, Manorama

/and Pasupati priya are once again his own innovations.

Thus in the discovery and handling of new and rare ragas perhaps he is the unrivalled king. Both his music and personality are remembered by the music world for all times to come.

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Mysore Vasudevacharva (1865-1961)

A lauded composer from Karnataka, who made the land proud, and the Karnataka fame fluttered high In the Carnatic music world with his contribution as a composer, Vasudevacharya lingers in the hearts of the music lovers as model composer with his devotion laid compositions with all prestine beauty of the art. He was true Yogi in the sense, that he was detached from all the awards and adulations, which embraced him. He was thoroughly un­assuming and unaffected by these fortunes. He dedicated a full span of almost a century to serve the art and achieve communion with the Maker.

Acharya was a prolific composer, true to his pre­decessor's traditions. But he did not begin to shine as a child prodigy or anything, as his path to success and pre-eminence were strewn wilJi many obstacles. Hardly even before his teens he lost his father who was also a poet at the Mysore court, and had spotted the urge in the boy to leam music. And he had enthusiastically asked one of his friend Subba Rao, a musician to train the boy. But soon with his demise the young boy was brought under the care of his maternal grandfather and uncle, who taught that music was a sure way to predition, and shunned the boy from learning it. Instead he was taught the scrip­tures in the epics and other classical texts in keeping

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with the traditional schooling of an orthodox brahmin.Then he was admitted at Maharaja's Sanskrit College, Mysore. As destiny had it, here they would draw lots to assign the subject for study for each student and he got* Sahitya and Sangita' a combination that made him Jump to Joy. Eventually this laid the initial foundation to him to become a vaggeyakara that he is. During this assign­ment he studied both the lakshya and lakshana aspects of music.

Sarhgadeva in his S. Ratnakara says - *That which is spoken i^ matu or word and that which is sung i^ Dhatu or tune. One who successfully blends the two and trans­forms speech into song is a vaggeyakara'. Besides this

Lbrief definition of a Vaggeyakara Sarhgadeva elaborates many other qualities which the Vaggeyakara should possess, which numbers nearly 30-covering a vast range of mastering the different aspects like - Swara, raga, tala and Pra- bandha and profound knowledge of the various components of poetry to a deep understanding of the traditional sixty four arts. It is ofcourse inconceivable to visua­lise a composer with all these qualities, and more scant in the recent times, v^en the gurukula system with such rigorous traditions of learning various disciplined, in such depth. But in recent times Vasudevacharya was one such who could claim to suffice many of these qualifica­tions, as he was an embodiment of deep knowledge in both Sangita Sastra and Sangita kala. He held the position of

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a patriarch in Carnatic music till his death, in 1961.

Even before his advanced training at Tiruva3ryaru under the Guru Patnam Subrahmanya Iyer, he occasionally conposed, and significantly his first composition is in the traditional raga chosen for the beginning, i.e. Maya- malava Gowla - *Chintayeham Jahakikantam*. The influence and fervour of Tyagaraja's style^so much felt in his Kritis, that before he shot to fame, there were occasions when people mistook some of his compositions as that of Tyiiga- raja*s before they learnt about the identity of the compo­ser, On one occasion at Itysore palace vrtien Vasudevacharya sang his Kharaharapriya kriti - ‘Ganasudharasa*, apart from the many present there, Vina Seshanna and Bidaram Krishnappa, the two great maestros were puzzled and curious to know who the composer of the song was, after experienc­ing the spacious and dignified form and the rich melody which was arrested in the composition. And to add to their restless curiosity the song contains both the names •Tyagaraja' and *Vasudeva* in it. No longer able to withold their curiosity they asked the singer about the source, and they were over come with tears of Joy that the composer was the young Vasu himself. They heartily blessed him and asked him to continue the good work.Another early composition, *Palukavademira Rama' in Deva- manohari, is one kriti which became very popular without the identity of the composer being revealed. As early as

1911 he earned good reviews in Journal like 'The Indian Music Journal', for his remarkable compositions. During 1929 his first book 'Vasudeva kirtana Manjari* was pub­lished. And a second volume came out around 1958. Apart from these two volumes of his Krltis, a few years earlier to this another volume of his Ragamalika compositions also came out. His crowning work was the adoptatlon of •Valmiki Ramayana' to music towards the end of his life* during his stay at 'Kalakshetra*, Adyar, Madras, for which the 'Kalakshetra' produced a dance drama, which became hit. A fully matured composer's skill and vision has gone into this work, and an equally skilled wizard of dance like Smt. Rukmlnl Devi Arundel, transfored this into a beautiful ballet.

Some of his very popular songs are Bhajare manasa - Abheri, Ra ra Rajiva Idchana Rama - Mohana, Sri Chamundesh- warl - Bilaharl, Devadi Diva - Sunada vlnodini, Pranatartl- haramaham - Jhanjootl, Brochevarevarura - Khamas, and this last has even gone on the celluloid track also. Another song 'Indira ramana Govinda* in the same raga though equally good is little less popular.

Once his friend Muttaiah Bhagavatar went crazy about the totality of the ragabhava held in Acharya's HarinI Bha^Jince BhSgyamu in Sahkarabharanam and the 'Ra ra eni pllichite Rama* in Kharaharaprlya after the Acharya sang them once, the Bhagavatar went on asking his friend

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to repeat it again and again for about two weeks, and finally told that his mind has been now adequately filled with the Ragabhava of these ragas with a complete vision* and he shall start to compose his own songs in this ragas, and this inspiration saw the birth of the famous 'sahaja- guna Rama* in Sankarabharanam by the Bhagavatar.

Some of his other vei*y well known Kritis are - Marachitivemo - Porvi Kalyani, Ninne nammitinayya - Simhendra madhyama, Bhavayeham - Behag, Varalalakshmi • Gowri manohari, Mahatmule - Rishabha priya, M^avatu sVi Saraswati • Hindbla, Pranamamyaham - Gowla, Pranamamyaham Sri Prananath - Ranjani, etc.

Occasionally he chose rare ragas like Jhalavaraliy Varunapriya, Bhavapriya, etc. which he generally shunned.He believed in the time tested ragas more. And he was also of the opinion that rare talas also should be avoided as far as possible. And he said on one occasion that an ideal composition should have a Pallavl with two lines and Anupallavi with two lines, and the Charanam with four lines. *If the text of the song became long and crowded, it will impede the delineation of each line and the indi*viduality and intrinsic value of the composition.... * feltthe composer. Die melodic beauty in his compositions are bountiful and endless. He has authored few books - 'Karnataka Sangitada Lakshana Bhaga*, *Valmiki Ramayana*, 'Navaratna Raga mallke* and *Na kanda Kalavidaru'. The

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last one records many Interesting anecdotes during his Tlruvayyar stay and some other occasions, with also lots of Intimate glimpses of the luminaries In the music world whom he knew. His training under the great master Patnam Subramanya Iyer gave broader outlook and vision and gave a specific direction to his compositions. Perhaps he Is the last link with -Oie lofty traditions of the Trinity.

Vasudevacharya was an adept In singing the Tanam or Madhyamakala as It was called. He gave successful per­formances all over the length and the breadth of the coimtry. During 1912 he performed In the music conference held at Jullandar and won the first prize. His many titles rim to a lengthy list Including the *Padma Bhooshan* award

IIn the year 1954. His prominent disciples are Chlkka*ramarayaru, Ganakala slndhu B.K. Padmanabharayaru, Vldwan

/N. Chennakesavalah, Pasupatl and others.

His stay of about a decade In Kalakshetra as the»

principal, were he breathed his last, turned a new leaf In his life even at that ripe age of nineties. His house here In the campus was sort of a pilgrim centre to his fans and musicians. When he took up this chair after the Tiger Varadacharlyar, he became the focus of interest and he was venerated so much by everyone around him. Like lamp shows with extra glow before going out, he also blazed

this extra glow and radiance In this last lap before he said good-bye to his music lovers In 1961,

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But his compositions will outlive him for many more years to come, in hearts of the music loving public.

G.N.B. or G.N. Balasubramaniam

He symbolised a neo-classicist in Carnatic music around early Nineteen forties who brought a new vigour and refreshed the Carnatic music. He was an exponent of music thaft a creator of music, to put it in his own words. His melodious and reverberating voice, and his breezy style, with fast fluttering rolls or Birkas made his singing catchy and lively. He was a matinee idol of music in those days. He was a big crowd puller who would appear on con­cert platforms, with high premium. Another factor was' his handsome personality with a fair complexion, well clad in spotless white Khadi and with diamond ear studs with a Zari vastram, which gave him a princely touch according to the old accounts also added to his charm. He was an honours graduate and studied for law also. This sound educational background gave him a mind of inquiry into rationalising values than taking anything blindly at the face value. Hence this spirit of inquiry made him deeply revere the positive values in the tradition, at “'iie same time find new directions and dimensions - of course within the realm of Carnatic music. He said that traditions are not static, they are only enduring values of art codified. So the traditions also must have a forward flow, otherwise

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it will become fossilised and will be reduced to a museum piece. Thus he was a great musical thinker, quite attached to traditions, but its perspectives tempered by realism.

With such an outlook, he was to a good extent instru­mental in streamlining the art, say the style of a good presentation. His presentation had an elite touch. Nevertheless though he was more an exponent, he did trans­form his creative instincts into beautiful compositions also.

May not be quantitative but qualitatively his compo­sitions have all the brilliance around them. His endless imagination while developing a raga, find their way out through the rich folds of Sangatis in these compositions.

He has composed varnams and kritis, which also include some rare ragas, and some new ragas of his own.Some of his compositions like Paranmukhamela - Kanada, Ranjani niranjani - Ranjini, Sadapalaya - Hbhana Samaga- nalbla - Hindbla, are so deep rooted, that the younger generations rather prefer to sing it. He also has kritis in Shanmukha priya, Bahudari, Andolika, feivasakti and (Sama- na rahite) in Sarangatarangini). The last two ragas are his own creations. He has compositions both in Sanskrit and Telugu. Though he had many successful line of disciples to popularise these, he himself as a successful platform singer, was the best bet to do it and he did it. Ofcourse

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even now the mtislc organlaatlons like the Madras Music Academy, and Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras during their annual conferences, are doing a praiseworthy Job In giving more exposure to these conposltlons, by arranlng exclusive programme/talks on the 'compositions of G.N.B.*. He has beautiful varnams In Ranjanl, Gavatl, Anddllka, etc.Gavatl was the outcome of his perhaps listening to Hindustani Ustads like Bade Gulam All Khan, and such Inspirations. This Is a popular raga In Hindustani system. The raga mudra also occurs In this. In the structure of Sangatls he has perhaps followed the foot steps of lyaga- raja. Tyagaraja was the favourite of this singer and must have been the main Inspiration also. He was so much In the lime light, that It became proverbial, that whatever G.N.B. sang became popular over night. And It Is said to be very much true, when he sang *Vasudivayanl*In Kalyanl, a lay man on the street - a cart wallah also would be humming It; or 'Etavunnara* In the same raga - he sang and lo ! there was a season of this composition by other singers; or now It was the turn of ‘Nldhlchala sukhama* and the neraval at the uncommon 'sumatl tyaga- raja...* and the fever caught up; such was his spell. Sarasa sf'madana, Nenanmchlnanu, Radha sametakrlshna, etc. also can be mentioned In this context. Thus he reigned as a supremo on the concert platform for more than three decades and died In his sixties, leaving his rich musical legacy behind.

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Papanasam Slvan (I89O)

A singer composer of the 20th century who was amidst us and inspired us till the recent past. A younger contemporary of Konneri Rajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer and Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, This hard of Carnatic music was an ardent Rainabhakta, and he very much tread the path of Ramabakti, similar to the foot steps of his senior Rama- bhakta - Saint Tyagaraja. Sivan's *Uncha vritti Bha;3ans* were also equally popular, at Madras in the Mylapore streets, in the pleasant early morning hours.

Polagam Rimayya was his early name. During theearly years of this century he was baptised as PapanasamSivan, At this time he was staying in Papanasam in Tan;)oredistrict and he revelled in Bha^ana singing, a Bhagavatot-tama, it was then a practice in vogue to give new namesto such men of God, in the region, and he assumed his newname, by which he is widely known. In his signature atthe end of his songs, however he has maintained his firstname in the 'Ramadasan*. His compositions cover a widerange of various Gods in the Hindu pantheon. His numerous

fKritis on Ganapathy, Muruga, Siva, Vishnu and other Gurus like Raghavendra are all wide spread in Tamilnadu, and frequently heard in the concert hall and Radio programmes. His diction is simple and chaste Tamil. But frequenting Sanskritised addresses etc. add to the sweetness of the lyrics. All giant stars of the music world like G.N.B.;

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Ariyakudi Ramanudaiyyengar, Madurai Mani Iyer, M.S. Subba- lakshmi, D.K. Pattammal have all admiringly spread the message of his compositions.

During his formative years he stayed at Trivandrum, got qualified as a scholar in Sanskrit, at the Sanskrit College, where he also learnt music from Noorani Mahadeva Bhagavatar, Neelam Natesa Iyer and finally from Neelakanta Sivan, to whom he oxes the spiritual core of his composi­tions. His mother was his first guru, and after his parents migrating to Tiruvanantapuram. He came under the Gurus mentioned above. Then he moved to Papanasam, and in 1930 he came down to Madras, where he stayed till his end.

He has composed Padavarnams, some lyrics only, set to the dhatu of the earlier Kritis, and his own Kritis.This numbers around 600 and odd. As far as the structure he has mainly emulated the models by Tyagari;)a. Riga 'Hamsanadi' looks to be one of his most favourites as many of his compositions are expressed in this melody.Apart from the other Kritis, he has composed a garland of songs titled as *sVt Rama charitra Gitam*, depicting the episodes in the Ramayana.

Some of his compositions which are set to be other varna mettus of the earlier compositions of other compo­sers are mentioned below :

Karunai saiva - in 'R«ghunayaka' mould; Haranai Innu

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daya valleyei - ’Nenundu veta kudura*; Nin charam malare - •Nidu charanamule*; Nioam unneai nambine - *Paridina micchite*; Raghavendram - 'Ramachandram* (Vasanta-Dikshi- tar); etc.

His true stamp of bhava with rich feast of music can be seen in some of the kritis which are become popular :

^ _ —Kapali in Mohana, Sri Valli Devasena pate - Nata-/bhairavi (fully in Sanskrit), Siva kiona sundari - Mukhari

(has the Atita Eduppu), Muruga Muruga - Saveri, Karpagamekadai kan paray - Madhyamavati, Nekkurugi - Abhogi etc. There is a perfect blend of sahitya and the music to which it is set to. I

In 1932 the Film Producers* eye fell on him, and they persuaded him to compose ditties for their movies, and this became a splendid success. Then he was pushed to act as Sudama in 'Bhakta Kuchela* the role perhaps which he was made form, and couple of such other roles which were successful. When he earned some three lakhs in this venture, there looked to be some monetary boost, but was short lived, as he quickly spent everything op. the renovation and other things at the temple of Polagam, and fast once again he had become Kuchala ! After this his friends and admirers tried and published some books of his compositions. Later he also won many honours like the *SahgIta Kalanidhi* etc.

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In the famous *Idadu piidain took! aadum* In Kamach, the text of the charana is mixed with Pataksharas - 'Tiru- vadi cilambugal.. galir galir.., Dhimitaka tariklta tom ena*» and also the Trisra nadai can be seen here. His Vara* li kriti *kavava* is holding its sway on the concert plat­forms for the last 4-5 decades. Though Papanasam Sivan emulated Tyagaraja to a great extent, except for the choice of language, his kritis vary from the saint*s regarding the number of charanas, as Papanasam's kritis mostly have only one charana instead of the usual multiple charanas of Tyagaraja. In some kritis like Akhilanda

• •

. f * mm •nayaki in Sankarabharana, and Sri Yiswanatham Bhaje in Bhairavi have the Madhyamakala sahitya at the end of the

I

charana- Occasionally in some songs like the *Kannis* in Sindhubhairavi - Bhoomiyil manida; Kuranji - Jothi mayamana; Mohanam - Pirulagil, etc. have no sections like Pallavi, Anupallavi, etc. Instead they have only multiple stanzas, all of the same length, and all the stanzas set to the same dhatu like in the case of 'napali' in Navaroz of Tyagaraja. And those also have no sangatis. Rarely in some songs like the above mentioned 'Jbthi mayamana', even the mudra 'Rimadasa' is missing. Now in all qibbut 5 volumes containing around 3bO songs have been published with notation by his daughter Rukmini Ramani. This saint singer, who did not chase laurels, but they came to him though little late, has left a fund of concert worthy compositions. He instigated a deep sense of Bhakti and

kept the Bhajana singing or congregational singing very much alive in his surroundings, though which is a fading feature, in the present day times. Tamilnadu owe his a lot to have put their regional language also once again on the list of languages for the kritis, especially after the diminated age of Telugu, Sanskrit etc. by the Trinity and the post-Trinity composer.

Balamurali Krishna

The living legend amongst us, the exotic singer with an irresistable charm, and a composer who has revi­talised Carnatic music, giving it new directions and dimen­sions. Though he is considered an enfant terrible by the conformists of the tradition, art is saved of fossilisation or stragnancy by such daring artists whose innovations emerge after the deep assimilation of traditions, and not by chance out of ignorance. And such innovations are long lived, and they are the tradition makers for a vibrant future.

There are two types of people in the world : those with ancient traditions looking back to the past with mostalgia, lamenting the loss of a golden age; there are also young people with open minds, with virgin outlook, untramelled by any kind of pride or prejudice, not oppres­sed by the weight of antiquity saying that they look to

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the future and wish to have a brave, innovative new world. And Balamurali undoubtedly belongs to the second groi^. Like the Greeks he rightly thinks that the art is always young and energetic, and for ever having the potential to grow. The puritans view his daring ventures with lot of suspicion and bias, their heads burried in the sand, they go blind to any new charm. Least they realise that what they consider as tradition was not the tradition before some centuries, for e«g, had not Sarngadeva miti­gated the rigidity of the old prabandhas, or Ramamatya had not brought about the change in the old Dhruva vIna, had not the Trinity experimented boldly with the expoita- tlons of the M e ^ Paddhatl and the Vlvadl Me^s especially, and so many new extra decorative features, and so on, Carnatic music would have become so insipid and monotonous it would have died a natural death. Anywhere any new thing normally faces the stiff resistance from the old traditionalists. But they have to remember that the fact that it is those new merits which keep the art flowing refreshed and they are the trend setters which become the tradition for the future generations.

In this context we can say that Balr%murall Krishna is a trend setter putting new things in the encyclopaedia of music. He is ever exploring the infinte possibilities of new Ragas with exciting new approaches and giving a concrete form to his ideas through his compositions which

will carry his ingenius vision to the posterity. He n»as a child prodigy and used to sing instinctively at the age of five years and by nine years he was a child con­cert artist, 1939 he sang over the Madras A.I.R. for the first time, and hardly as a boy of twelve he was privileged to sing on the holy occasion of the Tyagarija Aradhana celebrations, at Tiruvayyaru. At the age of 13 he got the opportunity to accompany Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyen­gar on the Violin, and astonished the artist with his accomplishment. He accompanied even the other stalwarts like Chittoor Subrahmanyam Pillai of yester years*He worked in All India Radio, Madras as the Music director producer, and later at Vijayawada, Hyderabad A.I.R. also he produced number of interesting music programmes wherein he brought out many obscure Ragas to light. All these experiences, opportunities, and associations inspired and sharpened his creative instict, which has gone into his brilliant compositions.

He was inspired by Sri Vimalananda Swamiji of Kuttalum Mutt to compose songs, and it was at this time that he thought of composing the compositions in the 72 Mela ragas. In a span of two years, he completed this scheme and published under the title *Janakaraga Kriti Maiijari'. He has composed a number of Varnas, Kritis and outstanding Tillanas, in Sanskrit, Telugu and Tamil, One of his best Kritis is supposed to be the one on his mother

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•Ninnu kbrina Korikalimma*. But right now all the publi­cations of his compositions are out of print except the Mela compositions which has been reprinted in Telugu v»ith the title *72 Ragahga Ravali*. Most ot these are in Sanskrit. In this set of songs the main ragas like Kharaharapriya, Kalyani, Keravani have some sangatis, detailing the raga bhava, but the obscure vivadi melas like the *Kanakahgi*; *Ratnangi* compositions are more of introductory in nature, devoid of sangatis, etc. *Srisa Putraya Namostute' in the 1st Mela, has only two sections, Pallavi and the Anupallavi. All these songs contain his signature 'Murali* and quite often we come across the Raga- mudra, like ’Ganamurte’, Vanaspati, Dfienuka, Natakapriya,

I

etc. in those relevant songs. During his concerts he has feasted his listeners with the detailed deleneation of these ragas like Yagapriya, Jybti swaroopini, etc. Gene­rally he has amply showed that his creative lust is not much fascinated by only the beaten track. So he is always out to do some thing new, but well within the frame­work of the merrits of the tradition. And quite often his offbeat statements create lot of flutter in the ortho­dox circles, which generated lot of heat, and he iS; dubbed by these as twisting the tail of the establishment. But even Tyagaraja, Purandaradasa must have sounded light, departing from the old Prabandha type of songs, and many new ragas which they introduced from the folk music, and their own new melodies. In the long run these have proved

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their value and very well managed to stay. Therefore no tradition is a negative force when properly understood in the right perspective. Tradition is like a huge tree which should keep throwing up new shoots infinitely, with fresh lust along with sucking the nutrients froa the original roots. This is very essential to keep the art fit, lest it should go haggered. In this regard the breed of such an artist like Balamurali becomes very relevant.

He has composed in some well established Hindustani ragas like 'Chandra Kauns* - 'Nee sati neeve Ranga* which commences on a swarakshara, and the graha swara of the opening is such that it gives scope for a wide choice of multiple endings while singing the Kalpana swara here*

His 'Hahati* and 'Sumukha* are ragas which are tetratonic, just with four notes - which is once again not the common forte of the traditions. But with his sur­mounting creativity he has set the model even to e:qplore the beautiful possibilities in such modes. The ragas like SarvasrI, Omkari (with only three notes) deserve special mention. Ragas like Hamsavinbdini, Revati, Rohiid., Prati- madhyamavati, Janasammbdini, Nahbrama, Vallabhi, etc. are from his personal creations.

His music is enchanting from all the three aspects - Alapana, Lyrics and Swara prastara. Whatever be the language in which he sings, he gives lot of care to each

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word and the sentiment of the lyrics and sings it in an unhurried fashion, be it the Ashtapadis of Jayadeva, or the IDivaranamas of the Haridasas, the songs of Bhadra- chala Ramadas, the Trinity songs or his own compositions» he punctuates and pauses» emphasises at the appropriate places which enhances the beauty of the songs.

His TiUanas consist of the Table 'Bols* also apart from the usual pataksharas. He has incorporated the 'Grahabheda* concept also in one of the Tillanas. Heis the innovator of a new tala scheme wherein the 5 Jati

fvariations are applied to the 'Sashabdha kriyas* of a talam which is normally applied only to the laghu in the 35 T a ^ scheme. For e.g. if it is Khanda Jati in Adltala (Triputa- tala) the ;)atl *Ta Ka Ta Ki Ta* (5) is applied to the first beat of the laghu, and the two first beats of the two dhrutams. And he calls this as the *Panchamukhi* Adi tala. It could be Trlmukhi, or Saptamukhi as per the Jatiapplied. His compositions like Ganamalinchi in Kalyana

tVasantam; Saranam tava charanam in Kamavardhini; Nee daya rada in Poorvl Kalyai^, and his Tlllimas are heartily accepted by his fellow musicians and sung in their con., certs. His Brilliant Tillanas have featured in any Bharatanatyam recitals also. His sonorous singing has shone in the celluloid world. He has sung in all the four South Indian languages*

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His latest venture as a composer is regarding th» change In theme of his compositions. In place of glorifying the Almighty, or the mythological episodes of the usual content of the theme in musical compositions so far, he has started glorifying His creations, like the description of the beauty in nature, the excellent qualities of people of particular region and so on. He is never the one to be ^ust satisfied to bask in the past glories of his art, with the *01d is Gold* syndrome. Though many of the rational thinking people and musicians may agree with his ideas, they prefer it to be unsaid, to play safe. It takes lots of guts because one has to content with jealous, biased guardians of the tradition, with its privileges and perogatives. To prove the values, he has to face such coltunny. And he has enormous strength to emerge unaffected even under such pressures, he has success­fully effected his welcome thoughts into our music. His Tillanas especially are par excellence compared with the ones of the earlier period.

With daring and Utopiana thoughts he is always a centre of controversy. But the bias of the Puritans, more often stem from the needless suspicion of anything new and incomprehensible, from their point of view. The overall mellowness in his singing and the most artistic presentation transport the unbiased connoiseurs to ecsta- cies. Tradition should not be reduced to a negative force

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by any veil meaning person 11 the art has to progress. This should be a dynamic force to promote the onward march. Hence Balamurali's music is ;)udicious interplay of tradition and innovation, which has richly nourished our music. To overcome the somewhat stagnating charm which is afflicting Carnatic music, more of his cult are welcome on the scene. And our listeners have always discretely welcomed his innovations, and re;)ected occa­sionally when they are overtowered.

Thus he is a beacon of hope and inspiration to the younger generations. This exponent and composer is a born genius. Listening to his compositions, and the expositions of the ragas herein, one will be obliged to acknowledge that he has added some new dimension and charm to Carnatic music which is mainly subsisting only on the models of the Trinity for the last few centuries. Hence his compositions become significant.

Other than the two well known composers, Sri Papanasam Sivan and Balamuralikrishna of the recent times, it is also heartening the note that a score of other composers have been drawn to this most expressive and attractive musical form KRITI, in the recent times.Of these Ambujam Krishna's^ Kritis have already taken

1 Very recently this composer passed away.

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from roots in the music loving masses especially in Tamilnadu. His songs in Tamil, Telugu are well concert oriented too. He has used many traditional melodies in his Bhakti laid compositions. His diction and ragabhava etc. reveal a good amount of influence of the Trinity.In his Kannada raga Kriti 'Marl Emi Kavalenu* he depicts the boundless happiness of a Ramabhakta who encounters with the Rama 'Parivara' (family) and His grace. In this song in the Pallavi itself we have madhyama kala praybga for the 2nd half of the avartanam, with the sahltya *Marakata varnuhi Krlpa gallglte*.

The other composers of the same period vAiom I would like to focus in brief are Tooran Periyasami, Tan^voor Sankara Iyer, D. Pattammal, Udupi Ramamoorthy, Sura^ananda and TulaslvancHB to mention a few whose compo> sitlons are slowly and positively taking off from the threshold of their home states and the music lovers therein. Ofcourse with due exposure, these compositions have shown a great deal of promise to stand the test of the time and penitrate into the larger massess.

Compositions of Sura;)ananda has been published by the composer himself and is a ;)oint venture where in the musice for the songs are set by veteran musicians like - T.M. Tyagara;)an, S. Kalyana Raman, T.K. Govlnda Rao, Calcutta Krishna moorthy and D.K. Jayaraman. His

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*Gangadheeshwaram' in Slndhubhairavl, music scored byO.K. Jayaraman has been popularised through the concert platforms. The 'Sruti* magazine also published this Kriti with notation. And these compositions have contributed some rare ragas like Nagavalli with the audava -> audava scale S R M D N S I S N D M R S I a 22nd Janyat Suddha Bhairavi - another ;}anya of the same mela, Hamsa Bhramari • a 58th ;)anya, Priyadarsini • a 21st Janya» and Miyan ki Malhar a Bhashanga raga from the 22nd mela with N3 (a popular North Indian raga). His compositions are on various deities like, Ganesha» Rama» Krishjoa and Guru Raghavendra in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu» Sanskrit etc. Some of his l ritis have 2 charanas and more and Adi, Roopaka and Chapu talas have been used. In his Kannada composi­tion 'Ishta Guru Raghavendra* the diction at places shows a slight non-Kannada tilt.

Smt. D. Pattammal is another composer who has gott

into this stream. This composer has published the follow- ing books containing her contributions : (1) MadhavaGitam (2) Mela Raga Kriti Mala (3) Janya Riga Kriti Mala (4) Tiru vilayadal purana Kirtanigal and (3) Karnataka Ishai Tuvakka piidalgal (for children). She hails from musical family. Her husband Dandapani also comple­ments her in popularising these compositions by singing them fa his programmes.

Radha Veeramani is one more composer from the same

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region who has brought out number of cassettes containing her lilting compositions on various Gods. These are more in the nature of Kirtanas. And through these cassettest these songs have set their journey to the music world.

Udupi Rama Moorthy hails from the town Udupi in Karnataka who has imbibed the musical heritage from the place of Haridasas who flourished here in Udupi Krishna Nutt. Hence this composer has travelled deep in the terrains of the 'Dasa vangmaya* and has his Ahkita as* Krishna dasa* for his compositions. Rama moorthy also has the fluency in as many as nine spoken languages and hence his understanding and outlook of the lyrical con­tent is broad. The composer is also a bi-musical man as he has studied both the Carnatic and Hindustani systems of music.

He uses a wide spectrum of ragas from both the systems, which are extremely appealing. Ragas like Amritavarshini, Behag, Madhukauns» Bageshri, Yamuna Kalyani and rare raga like *Bhavani* (a Bhavapriya Janya) adorn his Kritis. In *Panchamukha Gampatim Bha;)eham' in Amritavarshini he bears the influence of Dikshitar.In this song in the Pallavi itself there is partly Madhyamakala Sahitya which is simg as the refrain after each section of the Kriti.

He has sung inspired compositions on Mookambika of

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Kollur, Sarada of Sringeri, Krishna at Udupi, Venkata- chalapathy at Tlrumala and so on. In these songs some tines we also find the mention of daily kainkaryas, the naivedyast or the navaratnas used in the Kirlta (crown) of the Tirumala Lord and such other descriptions.

In his song *Jagadeeshwari* in Sageshri he uses theword *Kaladi* twice with different meanings. Once it is

/ .meant to be the birth place of Sankara and in the next line it is meant to be *at the feet of the Goddess'.We also find raga mudras. And mythological references at places. Like the Haridasas he has composed 'very meaning­ful ugabhogas also which preludes his compositions. This composer settled at Madras trains students and directs music programmes on the Madras Doordarsan and other public programmes* where these songs have captured the heart of the listeners. In his own concerts also he sings them inspiredly. But more often he is indifferent to the publicity phenomena and chooses to stay away from these.

Thanjavoor Sankarayyar's compositions have made their advent to the concert platforms. He has been un­forgettably introduced to the music lover through his famous composition *Geetha vadya Natana Nataka Priye* in the raga Nataka priya by Sri D.K. Jayaraman. So with this good sample fed, music lovers are looking forward for more of this tasty pie. But so far no book has been published of his compositions which are only in private

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custodies.

Tooran Perlya Sami a Krltlkara from Madras, is another composer who has won hearts of the music commu­nity. He has brought out a book of his compositions. To mention a few hit numbers of this vaggeyakara is - Kaliyuga- varadan in Brindavana Sarang, Taye s'rl Tripura Sundari in Suddha Saveri and Huruga Muruga in Saveri etc. Often these songs flow out on the A.l.R. also.

Tulaseevanom (23.4.1939)

A risc^tar from Kerala in the constellation of contemporary composers> who already have crossed three

Icenturies of compositions in Sanskrit*

Born at Kottayam of Kerala he graduated from Tri­vandrum University. During I96I he entered the stream of Indian Administrative Service (lAS). He also served as an Educationist teaching English. The Inherent love and aptitude for the fine arts - Sai^ita, Matakam and Sahitya in him, nurished by his Bhakti, beautiful bhakti laid compositions started blooming by 1971. Being a dedi­cated disciple of Paramabhattaraka Sri Vidyadhlraja Chattambi Swamigal, his first composition was in praise and obeisence to this religious mentor.

The diction is simple, absolutely sonorous, and touches one's heart. In all his compositions the last

line carries his signature with the word *Tulasi'. We can see phrases like *Tolasee-vilvarchana', 'Tulaseedala- haraB*» 'Tulaseedania dharinaa*, *TulaseevibhooshanaB*» etc. The format of his Kritis published so far in *TULASEEMALIKA* - Part 1 which number about 51 ■> is simple layout with the 3 sections Pallavi - Anupallavi and Charanam. And all of them having single charanam, with some of them followed by a Madhyamakala Sahityam. Kritis in the ragas - Sama, Bahudari, Arabhi, Kamalamanbhari, etc. in the above volume can be studied as examples to this effect.

He has composed on almost all presiding deities in the shrines of Kerala. Generally the Pallavi and Anu- pallavi has two padas and the charanam is double this in his compositions. Most of his songs contain the 'Antya- prasa* and some'Dvitlyakshara prasa*. In the Mahgalam *Theerthapada* in Madhyamavati his usual signature 'Tulasi* is absent. 'Namasravam sukham* in Yamuna Kalyani is one of the popular songs of this composer, which has fed a sample of this composer, to the rasikas all over the south. Some of these songs can be mistaken to be that of Naraya^ Theertha if the authorship is not known. The talas commonly used is Adi and Roopaka. A few composi­tions are set to MisVa Chapu and fewer in Kha^a Ch'apu.A wide range of traditional ragas like Nata, Dhanyasi, Nukliari, Bhairavi, fodi, Kambodhi, Nattakuran;)i, etc. adorn his Kritis. There are Kritis in Dvijavanti, Yamana Kal­yani etc. - the popular North Indian ragas. In the other

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popular song 'Lambodaram Bhavaye Skanda s^aram* in the raga Kaiabbdhi we come across an 'Arudl* like one in a 'Pallavi*. This is a composition with lot of weight whidi is taken lor an elaborate singing in a concert. Ve can look forward to much more enrichment to the glory of our Kriti repertoire by this young promising vagg~eyakara in the years to come !!

He has composed 'Attakathas* also like - Bhattaraka Vi;)ayam, Bhaoa Vasudevam, Kartikeya Vijayam, etc. In a cluster of nine songs known as 'haribhakti Navakam* the composer has brought the Navavidha Bhaktis into play in a systematic way. The songs are in praise of Lord Guruvayoorappan.

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Interstate music-dance festival - souvenir,1981 - Pages 21-2A; 25-26.

'Tulasimalika* - Part I - Publishers : 'Tulaseevana Sangita Parishad*, Trivandrum.