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Indian musical treatise gives such a long lists of the

qualifications of Uttama Vaggeyakaras that it will be difficult to

bring any composer under this category after the Trinity. Theory

books no doubt have in mind a dhatu-matu-kara possessing all the

lofty qualities who alone can be called an ideal ‘Vaggeyakara’. For

example, he is expected to posses a knowledge of poetics, ability to

compose gitas quickly, a knowledge of prosody, deep scholarship in

music and so on. A person who overburdens the sahitya by a

profusion of words to the detriment of the dhatu is called

‘Madhyama Vaggeyakara’. Inspite of his having composed

excellent words, if the dhatu he frames up were of a mere order, he

is called an ‘Adhama Vaggeyakara’.

Despite these lofty ideals, there have been many excellent

composers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries after the

period of the Trinity. Some of their disciples and their disciples were

good composers and Patnam Subramanya Iyer was even hailed as a

“Second or Chinna Tyagaraja”.

The Twentieth Century also produced many luminaries in the

musical field like ‘Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’ and ‘Muthaiah

Bhagavatar’. But in the second half of the century only two

composers emerged as outstanding writers of musical forms and

they are Mysore Vasudevacharya and Papanasam Sivan. These two

had the unique good fortune of hearing their compositions sung in

their own life time by maestros like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

Their compositions were also published in more than one volume

while they were alive and these were sold in thousands.

There are many things common between these two master

composers. Both of them came from a humble parentage but were

able to master the Sanskrit language while they were quite young.

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This enabled them to write sahitya full of literary beauties. While

Vasudevacharya had the benefit of direct tutelage under Patnam

Subramanya Iyer, Sivan picked up the essence of good music by

long association with Konnerirajapuram Vaidhyanatha Iyer. These

two composers were humble by nature and true devotees of God.

Papanasam Sivan (26th septermber 1890 – 1st October

1973) is one of the great composer of Indian classical music. He

was born on 26th September 1890 as the second son of

Ramamrutham Iyer and Yogambal Ammal at Polagan village,

Nannilam Taluk in Tanjore district. His elder brother Rajagopalan

was M.G.Ramachandran’s father-in-law. His father’s younger

brother was a great Sanskrit scholar and his maternal grand father

was also musically knowledgeable. His mother, who had a gifted

sweet voice for music, had learnt more than 600 songs of famous

composers of the day. Sivan imbibed this talent hereditarily from

his mother and his maternal grandfather, who was also a good

musician. All this was impressed in his childhood psyche to explode

into the colossal figure at a later stage.

Ramayya lost his father in 1898 when he was just seven years

old and since the family was afflicted by adversity. Sivan with his

mother and his elder brother migrated to Trivandrum. Travancore

was then a Ramarajya and Dharmarajya and a heaven for refugees.

The family was able to find free boarding, lodging and education.

Ramayya had his education in Maharaja Samskrita Kalasalai and

secured degrees of “Sastri” when he was 16 and “Upadhyaya”

when he was 18, the latter being equal to a post graduate degree.

As a boy Sivan had a high pitched musical voice and could

sing sweetly. From the age of ten years, he regularly attended the

bhajans conducted by the famous musician Sri Nilakanta Sivan and

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absorbed the essence of devotional singing. He also picked up

phraseology in Tamil, a language which he had not studied at that

time. He was greatly impressed by the devotional rapture with

which Nilakanta Sivan used to conduct his bhajans.

While at Trivandrum, Sivan came under the influence of

eminent musicians. He impressed a well known musician Nurani

Mahadeva Bhagavatar (known as Swara Kudukai), son of Palaghat

Parameshwara Bhagavatar, and learnt music under him. The

dakshina offered by the young Sivan was a daily basketful of vilva

leaves for his guru’s pooja. Then he learnt music from Samba

Bhagavatar who taught him seven varnams. With this his formal

education came to an end. He did not give up - his continuous

participation in bhajan singing, listening and learning was a great

sadhakam – an ongoing process. Through Neelakanta Sivan’s

bhajans, Sampradaya kriti’s, Swati Tirunals kriti’s which were

constantly echoed in the Padmanabha Swami temple; Ramayya had

absorbed in the form of bhajan, Tevarams, Arutpa, Thayumanavar

songs and Neelakanta Sivan songs – these were deeply embedded

in Ramayya’s clear mind. Whenever and wherever he sang them he

was greatly admired and revered.

But a sudden reverse took place in the Sivans education as

the scholarship enjoyed by him and many young scholars were

abruptly stopped by Sir P.Rajagopalachariar. Sivan had to

discontinue his studies and could not obtain the degree

“Mahamahopaadhyaya”.

A call came from Vidwan Nemam Natesa Iyer who had heard

Ramayya’s potential and love for music. Leaving his mother at

Trivandrum, he came to Palaneri village in Tiswohi district at the

invitation of Nemam Natesa Bhagavatar to learn classical music. But

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his life for ten days at the new place saw him doing domestic work

with no chance of learning music and the news of his mother’s

illness saddened him. But very shortly she died and this left him

shattered at the age of twenty. With great difficulty he returned to

Trivandrum only on the ninth day after his mother’s demise. After

recovering from the shock of bereavement, he took leave of his

brother and left for his native village Polagan. It was 1910. He used

to tour the district by foot and conduct bhajans in all the temple

festivals. By singing his own compositions as devotional songs

rapturously, he used to attract large crowd.

He reached Kumbakonam and stayed at Sadguru Swamigal

matam at Marudanallur. The prayers and bhajans concerts were

held in the holy presence of Periya Swamigal and Periya Kuzhandai

Swamigal. The matam was the place where Bhagavatar tradition

bhajans were conducted elaborately and the Sivan involved himself

fully in all the religious activities and discourses. During the Tamil

month of Margazhi, daily concerts were held. Unchavruthi bhajans

and discourses were arranged in a grand manner. Sivan engaged

himself in all the celebrations even as the acquired profound

knowledge and practice of great music expositions. He had also

sung on several occasions in the holy presence of Periya Swamigal.

Away from home, disinterested in material objects he engaged

himself in pursuit of spiritual elevation and expertise in classical

music. Later he left the matam and started visiting all the holy

towns participating in musical discourses and composing numerous

songs.

Having become popular for his spreading devotional music and

patronized by prominent men of the day, he was invited by

Ettayapuram Maharaja to sing in his court. The Maharaja who was

impressed by his outstanding performance showered him with gifts

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and desired him to stay. But Sivan who was not attracted by worldly

pleasure, politely left without carrying the gifts.

He continued traveling and came to the village Ganapathy

Agraharam. It was 8pm as Sivan sang “Anna purani” (

) composed by Taayumanavar. His elaborate singing stunned

all the people in the temple. When he came out of the temple, the

distinguished philanthropist Sambasiva Iyer and his friends hailed

him as ‘Siva’ the God, even as he appeared radiant with ashes on

his forehead. From that day he was called “Sivan”.

In 1917, Sivan made a paada yatra of Tamil Nadu singing soul-

stirring songs at Shrines. Wherever he lived, he organized street

bhajans during festivals. According to him, the festivals he attended

included ‘Masi Makham’ at Thiruchendur, ‘Laksha Deepam’ at

Thirunelveli, ‘Thai Poosam’ at Thiruvidaimarudur, ‘Panguni

Uthiram’ at Kazhugumalai, ‘Adi Pooram’ at Nagapattinam and

‘Saptha Sthanam’ at Tiruvaiyaru. This habit never left him till his

death. After he settled down at Mylapore in 1930, he was

conducting bhajans during the month of Margazhi around the Kapali

temple in the shivering cold of the early morning. His shrill voice

used to pull people out of their snug beds and make them join his

bhajans. When he was not able to walk around the temple, he had a

chair carried behind him for resting in between bouts of singing.

Sivan developed a taste for classical Karnatic music after

hearing Konerirajapuram Vaidhyanatha Iyer, also known as Madurai

Vaidhyanatha Iyer. He was also fascinated by the maestro’s

powerful music that till the latter’s death in 1921, Sivan followed

him wherever he went and drank deep at the fountain of his music.

He, however, did not do gurukulavasa as is commonly believed. But

the impact of Iyers music on young Sivan was enough to make the

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latter imbibe the essentials of classical music. Sivan did not know

Telugu and once when Iyer was singing ‘Andarivale dati dati

vadariti’ the anupallavi of ‘Enduku Peddala’ in raga

Sankarabharanam, Sivan staged a walkout as a protest and decided

to compose songs in Tamil. Towards the end of his life, he realized

the greatness of Tyagaraja and declared at a conference that “if

there was no Tyagaraja, there will be no Karnatic music”.

Papanasam Sivan had been invited to several holy places to

lead bhajan groups around the temples and give music concerts in

Tamil Nadu, throughout the year. In 1921, advocate Nagai

Sundaram invited him to Panguni uthiram festival of Sri Kapali

temple at Mylapore. Sivan was captivated by Lord Kapaleshwarar

and Goddess Karpagambal and thus started his bhajan in Mylapore

which continued till his last days. He first sang ‘Kaana kan kodi

venum’ ( ) in the raga Kambhoji composed on

‘Kapali’ enchanted everyone in the audience. Thereafter he started

organizing daily bhajans in Tamil month of Margazhi and people

thronged in the early morning braving the chill wind only to

accompany him in the bhajans and drink the honey of devotional

music. His closest disciple Panangudi S.S.Mani known as Mani

Bhagavatar accompanied him daily playing Tambura.

His contribution to bhajan type of music performance was

phenomenal. When he sang, people became ecstatic hearing the

melody of his songs and happily walked with him all along the route

singing along with him and enjoying the intense devotion expressed

in his singing.

From 1912 to 1959, Sivan was leading the bhajan team as

participant of Thiruvaiyaru Sapthasthana going round by foot nearly

18 miles around seven villages , enthralling his disciples , admirers

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and the people for nearly 24 hours continuously.

Sivan used to say ‘people say body and soul are born

together. But I am born with body, soul and bhajan. I can

bear any pain if only I can perform bhajans. The moment I

am unable to perform bhajans I shall cease to exist’. Such

was his involvement in doing bhajan concerts. Even during the days

when he was busy writing for movies, he never stayed away from

the Margazhi bhajans for which people remember him to this day.

Sivan’s musical life can perhaps be summarized by the word

‘bhajanai’. So it is fit to conclude the feature with the song where

he orders his mind to do bhajanai invoking the name of Lord Rama:

‘Sri Rama nama bhajanai sei maname’, in the raga Atana. The

song describes the mahima of the Rama nama says ‘it is the name

that is always on the tongue of Ramadasa’.

It is no exaggeration that Sivan enjoyed absolute divine grace

in his entire endeavor. He himself often used to say ‘God favored

me’ this much for the day. As he always was wandering from one

holy place to another, God had been sending men to take care of

his daily needs. Once he went to a place called ‘Kazhugumalai’ to

participate in the ‘Panguni uthiram’ ( ) festival.

Suddenly he became sick, unable to eat and see, due to severe

stomach ache and eye disorder. He just sat in a corner in front of

Lord Muruga chanting “Muruga Muruga” by closing his eyes. Just

then a priest appeared and gave him a cup of gruel and ointment

for the eye. And what a surprise! Sivan who was semi-conscious

unable to even speak, suddenly became fully conscious and

energetic. The music from the Nadaswaram poured as honey into

his ears announcing the arrival of the Deity’s procession nearby.

Inspired by a new force, he spontaneously sang the song ‘Nava

siddhi petraalum Siva bhakti illaada’ (ந

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) in the raga Kharaharapriya composed by Nilakanta

Sivan.

As he sang and opened his eyes, a new force entered his body

and with renewed vigor he gave one song after another from 8pm

till 2am, thrilling the milling crowd who had gathered around him.

Earlier, when he headed for Trivandrum on hearing of his

mother’s illness, on the way he had to walk a long distance. When

he entered a place called ‘Thensamudram’ ( ), he

became totally exhausted and became unconscious. After

sometime, when he opened his eyes he found a bearded old man

who poured milk into his mouth exhorting him to drink. He got up

slowly, thanked the old man and started his journey by foot to

Trivandrum. Such occurrences were quite frequent in his life.

Once, after finishing his concert, he and his friends were

traveling in bullock carts towards Mannaarkudi. It was a dark night

and the area was notorious for dacoits. As their carts were moving

on the road, suddenly a gang of dacoits with burning torches

stopped them. He and his friends got down and were frightened as

they were wearing gold chains and ear rings and had cash of

Rs.3,000/-. Suddenly Sivan raised his voice and sang aloud

‘Niyamarkum kudiallom namanai anjom’ (ந

ந ). On hearing the song, the watchmen from the near

groves moved with lamps and the dacoits took to their heels. They

thus continued their journey unharmed. Such instances, when

unexpected help came to him from unknown persons, demonstrate

how God was always following him whenever he went on

Pilgrimage.

As a composer, Sivan ranks with the great giants who

followed the Trinity in the middle of the nineteenth century. Though

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he had not learnt music under any regular tutor or Tamil in any

school, the spontaneous outburst of divine songs as also their

expert rendering by him is proof enough, that but for divine grace,

he could not blossomed into a genius. He never searched for word

or tunes or beats and still the extempore songs that came out of his

lips showed how appropriately the words, raga and tala were in

their place effortlessly. He did not use any lexicon or dictionary for

choosing rhyming words. The rhymes, rhythm, alliteration and

notion in his compositions sometimes have the word ‘Ramadasa’

referring to himself as he was called ‘Ramayya’. The three parts of

classical songs namely Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam were so

attractively linked that when sung, they threw people in ecstasy.

Sivan commenced his composing career when he was twenty.

Ha has composed all types of songs from Varnam to Mangalam

required for full recitals. They were so composed by him to give

melodious ragas with enchanting bhavams and intense in meaning.

Naturally every recital evoked interest from beginning to the end

due to the beauty of the compositions. Almost all eminent vidwans

of yester year’s viz. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram

Vishwanatha Iyer, Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar, Musiri

Subramanya Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer and others have

sung numerous compositions of Sivan in their performances. Sivan’s

composition covers a wide gamut of songs from Varnam, Kritis and

Operas to Padams, Javalis, Tillanas, Nondi chidu, Vazhinadai chindu

and Mangalam.

Sivan composed nearly 2,000 songs of various types including

film songs. His composition covers varieties of ragas, including 20

Melakarta ragas, 67 janya ragas and in different talas. Sivan sang

mainly in praise of God, interspersed with philosophical thoughts

about the suffering of worldly life. Almost all the Sivan songs are in

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Tamil except for about 50 Sanskrit compositions. His songs

contained beautiful lyrics and for people proficient in the Tamil

language, it was a great and fulfilling experience to listen to his

lyrics.

The first song he composed was ‘Unnai tudikka arultaa

innisaiyudan’ ( ) in the ragam

Kunthalavarali, on Lord Tyagaraja, meaning - ‘Give me the

grace to sing your praise with sweet melody’. The raga

Kunthalavarali befitted the words and the tune mesmerized the

crowd. This was soon followed by ‘Sikkil meviya’ ( ) on

Lord Muruga and ‘Malarinai tunaiye’ ( ) – meaning

‘within the flowers there is your protection’. This was only the

beginning of his long musical career. In course of time, he picked up

enough knowledge of Tamil prosody to make his songs replete with

literary beauties. Simizhi Sundaram Iyer, a great vidwan called him

the “Tamil Tyagaraja”. Soon, his songs attracted the attention of

vidwans like Ariyakudi and Madurai Mani Iyer who published his

pieces and made them concert-worthy.

He composed both Tana varnam and Pada varnams. They

have been so composed to suit both music and dance concerts.

‘Nee inda mayam’ (ந ) (Dhanyasi) and ‘Swami nee’

( ந ) (Sriranjani) are very popular Padavarnams in dance field.

He composed Kirtanas on Deities of several temples. He employed

different varieties of talas like Adi, Roopakam, Chapu, Jhampa, Eka

and Triputa in his compositions. He has also used the chatusra and

tisra styles for rendering. He has also composed many kritis with

Samashti charanangal and chittai swarams. He had incorporated his

nominative Mudra ‘Ramadasa’ only in songs where he personally

pleaded with the God. He had employed Raga mudras in songs for

the movies also. The beautiful chain of swaraksharam came easily

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for him in his compositions.

Like Arunagirinathar, Sivan freely mixed Sanskrit with Tamil

for the sake of euphony. His conviction was that, such a mixture

was essential for maintaining Yati and Prasa in kritis. His songs

were hailed for the quality of ‘Antya prasam’ forging a phenomenal

combination of a letter or a word coordinating with the start of

Pallavi. He has also composed a dictionary ‘Vadamozhi Sorkadal’

( ) under the Sanskrit title ‘Sanskrita Bhasha

Samudraha’ consisting of 20,000 words in 7 parts. He had

intended it as a treasure for the use of vidwans, students, Sanskrit

learners and composers.

Despite all these qualifications, his songs came in book form

only in 1934, when he was 44 years old and even this due to the

efforts of Rangaramanuja Iyengar and Venkatachari. It was only

then that vidwan like Ariyakudi Came forward to record his

compositions on gramophone disc. The Tamil journal published his

Kritis with swara notation by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. The

second volume came out in the year 1949 published by his

daughter. In this preface to this volume, Sivan calls the 32 years

after 1934 as a ‘Period of darkness’.

Sivan considered Rajapuram Vaidhyanatha Iyer as his guru for

learning Karnatic classical music. He followed his guru wherever he

performed recitals and sometimes the guru himself invited him to

render songs. Gradually, he became an expert and gave solo

recitals in full length in temples, in marriages and sabhas for his

admirers. If he commenced singing at 9 pm sometimes he

continued till 2 am or 3 am and the people listened to him in rapt

attention till the end. Unless specifically requested, he would not

render his compositions. Generally he would sing the kirtanas of the

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Trinity, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Arunachalakavirayar besides

religious songs such as Tevaram, Tiruvasagam, Thayumanavar

padal and Thiruppugazh.

Sivan drew inspiration from the eminent Tamil composer

Nilakanta Sivan. He learnt and popularized many compositions of

Nilakanta Sivan. His language was simple and elegant and moving.

His compositions deal with the various aspects of bhakti and reveal

different bhavas. The famous composition ‘Enna tavam’ ( )

in Kapi raga and Adi tala, picturises the amazement at the

greatness of the divine infant Krishna and the good fortune of

mother Yashoda who fed, cradled and punished this child. In

Bhagavata, Yashoda is described as the luckiest among lucky

mother as she is given to feed, fondle, and even punish the savior

of the world, whom the great munis attain only through tapas. The

musical and the literary beauty of the composition is praise worthy.

The essence of Kapi raga is revealed throughout this composition

the affection of a mother towards her child is revealed through the

sahitya. The lyrics are so beautiful and ideal and have given ample

scope for abhinaya. Hence dancers present this as a padam. The

fondling and cradling of Krishna, his childhood pranks, construction

of the world, tying of Krishna to the mortar etc are present through

abhinaya.

Entirely different from the above composition in its bhava is

‘Naan oru vilaiyaattu Bommaya’ (ந )

in the raga ‘Navarasakannada’. Here the composer is asking the

universal mother, “Oh mother of the universe! Am I a toy for

you to play with? I have suffered enough in this world. Are

you not moved by my pitiable condition? I am exhausted, I

can play no more. I have submitted fully at your feet.” This

composition has such a depth of feeling which moves our heart. The

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listener’s heart melts at the pathos and anguish in the song. The

selection of raga Navarasakannada also is very apt. the sancharas

reveal the underlying bhava of the composition to its maximum.

Many of his compositions have become favorites with singers

and listeners. Compositions like ‘Kaapaali’ (Mohanam), ‘Kaana

kan kodi’ (Kamboji), ‘Gajavadana’ (Sriranjani), ‘Paraatparaa’

(Vachaspathi), ‘Kartikeya’ (Thodi), ‘Isane’ (Chakravakam),

‘Sivakaama Sundari’ (Mukhari), ‘Dayavillaya’ (Kharaharapriya)

etc are ideal examples of such Kritis.

When Sivan settled in Madras in 1929, Rukmini Devi Arundale

was among the first to recognize his genius. She appointed him as a

music teacher in Besant high school, and subsequently at

Kalakshetra. Sivan was associated with Kalakshetra from 1934-39,

where Rukmini Devi was also one of his student. Perhaps this

sojourn at Kalakshetra inspired Sivan to compose several pada

varnams that are now part of standard repertoire in Bharatanatyam.

Papanasam Sivan has enriched the field of dance by his

compositions. ‘Idadu padam thookki’ ( ) (Khamas),

‘Ananda nadamidum’ ( ந ) (Kedaragaula), ‘Natarajan

un thiru’ (ந ) (Vasantha) etc are ideal dance

compositions. The brisk Madhyamakala sahithya and solkattus

enable the dancers to perform adavus. The selection of ragas like

Khamas, Kedaragaula and Vasantha are highly suitable for dance.

In addition Sivan has to his credit five ragamalikas out of which one

is in 23 ragas. They are ‘Karpaga valli’ ( ), ‘Kosalai

pudalvane’ ( ), ‘Maalai sutruvan’ (

), ‘Maarajanaka’ ( ) and ‘Madhusudhana’

( ).

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The padavarnam in Mayamalavagaula and Pantuvarali are

excellent as dance varnams. These compositions provide full scope

for abhinaya and for performing jatis. Sivan has composed in both

major, minor and rakti ragas. The popular ragas handled by him are

Atana, Anandabhairavi, Abheri, Abhogi, Bhairavi, Begada, Bilahari,

Dhanyasi, Hamsadwani, Hindolam, Kapi, Kalyani, Kambhoji,

Khamas, Mayamalavagaula, Pantuvarali, Sankarabharanam, Varali,

Thodi, Surutti, Mohanam, Vasantha etc. He has also composed in

apoorva ragas like Paras, Ramapriya, Balahamsa, Sivaranjani,

Karnataka Behag. He has to his credit some pieces in Hindustani

Behag, Brindavana Saranga etc. his Padams are unmatched in

devotion fervor. The diversity, depth and quality of his works prove

the range of Sivan as a composer.

Sivan greatly adored Sri Tyagaraja and whenever he sang

‘Entharaani tana’ (Harikamboji), ‘Nannu vidachi’ (Ritigaula), ‘Ni

dayaraada’ (Vasantha bhairavi), ‘Shyama sundaraanga’

(Dhanyasi) and ‘Kalinarulaku’ (Kunthalavarali) people visualized

how Saint Tyagaraja would have immersed himself like the Saint.

He has also composed some songs similar to Tyagaraja

keertanai. He has paid a tribute to him by adopting his music and

mode of presentation in songs like ‘Karunai seivai’ (

) (Hamsadwani) modelled on ‘Raghunaayaka’, ‘Nin arul

iyambalaagumo’ (ந ) (Pantuvarali) modelled

on ‘Ninnu nera namminaanura’, ‘Manakkurangu’ ( )

(Abhogi) modelled on ‘Manasu nilpa’.

Like Saint Tyagaraja’s kritis, Sivan’s compositions are

saturated with bhakti. The predominant feature of all his

compositions is the raga element and the fine blending of sangita

and sahitya. The Ragaroopa trait in his works has no parallel in

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contemporary compositions. Tamil language with his inherent

genius for music and felicity ideally suits its purpose of presenting

ideas with feelings and emotions. The quantity of his output is quite

substantial but there is not a single song or bhajan which lacks in

devotion or sincerity of feeling.

On a comparison with Saint Tyagaraja, we can find that the

title “Tamil Tyagaraja” conferred up on Sivan is very apt and

highly suitable. As individuals and composers, both occupy

prominent ranks as bhakta vaggeyakaras. Both of them are

wandering mystics, living the humble life. They never cared for

wealth, fame or position. Bhakti is the predominant feature in the

compositions of both. The underlying philosophy of both is

‘nishkama bhakti’. Sri Rama is the Ishta devata of Saint Tyagaraja

while Papanasam Sivan adopted Siva as the Ishta devata in most of

his compositions. We find different rasas and bhavas in the works of

these composing musical compositions is a three pronged process –

writing, tuning and singing. Papanasam Sivan was adept in all the

three. He combined in him all the three factors that made an ideal

vaggeyakara. Tyagaraja has to his credit many group kritis whereas

we do not come across group kriti’s in Papanasam Sivan’s

composition. In both we find ideal blending of bhakti with sangita.

The Saint was attracted by the Nature – The Sea, the

mountain, the forest and his poetic genius is brought out in his

composition ‘Kadalukku uvamai kadale’ ( ). He

has sung in the praise of the fishermen and their folk lore under the

moonlight.

Many of his compositions praise the contribution of trees to

man, like civilization and food without expecting anything in return.

His description of nature in songs meant for movie portray his

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strong love of nature and the similies employed by him though apt

for the movies still hold good for all times.

Songs like ‘Vasantha rutu mana mohanam’ (

), ‘Maan thurathi mayil aadum’ ( )

and ‘Kadiravan udayum’ ( ) Present the pictures of

sceneries in our mind. The song ‘Kegai varna thugai minna’

( ) describes koyal and peacock. His songs

‘Naada pranava vadivam jagame’ (ந ) and

‘Koodalin om kaarra naadam’ ( ந ) reveal the

blending of music in nature.

Sivan has also written a few songs for dramas. His

compositions ‘Sri Rama Charita Geetam’ had been sung by

Seergazhi Govindarajan in the long play record. His ‘Karaikal

Ammaiyar Charitham’ once directed by Sri K.C.Tyagarajan and on

another occasion by T.K Govindaram had been broadcast by All

India Radio. He composed a song drama ‘Bhakta Meera’ at the

request of late Sri Dhandayudapani Pillai.

Tamil film music owes a lot to Sivan. He has written many

songs for Tamil movies. About 800 of his compositions would be for

the film industry. He is perhaps the only Karnatic composer to have

worked so extensively for the film industry.

In the early days of Tamil cinema, the songs were almost

always set to Karnatic music ragas and Papanasam Sivan elevated

the music to further heights by his lyrics. He made Karnatic music

popular among common folk with his evergreen melodious songs. It

gave him the opportunity to introduce Karnatic music in the

powerful media of films.

His song ‘Manmada leelaiyai vendrar undo’ (

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) became a popular hit and has been sung in all

corners of Tamil Nadu even today. His songs revolutionized the film

industry. Infact many films filled box office only due to the music

hits of his songs.

His songs had romantic, serious, sentimental appeals to

the audience. He had written more than 1000 songs and set tunes

for several and set Tamil equivalents for the Hindi songs and tunes.

After 1939, Sivan left his assignments at Kalakshetra and was

patronized by the prominent producer Sri Vasan. In a shooting of

Gemini films ‘Chandraleka’, the music director suggested a

different word for the word ‘Mohanakara’ written by him and he

agreed. But as they tried many substitutes and failed, the producer

Vasan said, ‘who would change Sivan’s word?’ M.K Tyagaraja

bhagavatar had special regards for Sivan because all his

compositions sung by M.K.Tyagarajan on the screen became super

hits and brought fame to him.

Papanasam Sivan sang as playback for ‘Maa ramanan uma

ramanan’ ( ) in Hindolam Raga jointly with his

disciple Mani and solo ‘Thaye yezhaipaal’ ( ) in

Bhairavi ragam for the movie ‘Seetha Kalyanam’ and ‘Sarasa

poombadam’. His first song composed for the film was for the

movie ‘Seetha Kalyanam’ produced by G.K.Seshagiri and directed

by Murugadasa. Introduced by Dr.V.Raghavan to the director, Sivan

stayed at Pune composing songs for the movie. He has written

songs for more than 100 films based on Karnatic music and had

given compositions for several music.

Sivan seems to be a multi talented artiste. His songs were

interchangeable- i.e. songs written for cine situations were popular

in stage kutcheries and songs written for stage kutcheries were

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used in cine situations. Media kutcheri songs like ‘Saravanabhava

ennum tirumandiram’ ( ) has been used

in a film called ‘Kanniga’. Likewise songs like ‘Amba manam

kanindu unadu kadai kann paar’ (

), ‘Oru naal oru pozhudaagilum Sivan naamam uchcharikka

vendum’ ( ந ந ),

‘Chidambaranaatha thiruvarul thaaraai’ ( ந

) from cinema had been and still are used to sing in media

kutcheries.

Sivan had a rare talent which still is missing in modern cine

world. He used to write the Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam in full.

At the same time he also used to state the ragam and the talam

and even provide tune and notes for the songs. All the music

director had to do was to just get the orchestration composed.

That’s it! Do we have such personalities these days? He also used to

sit with the music directors to improvise on the song production.

When the songs of Sivan became popular, the Tamil fans

wanted to see him in movies. In 1935, the famous director

K.Subramanian made him act in the movie ‘Bhakta Kusela’. It was

his first movie. M.S.Subbulakshmi acted as Krishna, while Sivan

took the role of a poor person. His thin frame fitted the role well.

Then he took a bigger role as father a in ‘Thiaga Bhoomi’, a story

that was banned by the British when it appeared in Kalki. ‘Thiaga

Bhoomi’ is a National film in which both Sivan and his elder brother

Rajagopalan had acted together. In Bhakta Kusela he acted with

P.U.Chinnappa. His last film was Bhakta Desa. After that he went in

to religious services. The Patriot V.V.S.Iyer says that ‘Sivan had a

high pitched tremulous voice which used to get surcharged with

emotion provoked by the mood of the song’. No doubt characters

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were selected to suit his appearance but once he started acting, he

used to get transformed in to the roles he was depicting.

Sivan was attracted by the National congress. He attended

the stage congress meeting held under the chairmanship of late

C.S.Krishna Iyer. It was the time when many discarded the title

‘Sir’ conferred by the British government and joined the

Sathyagraha movement. The great leaders like S.Srinivasa Iyer,

A.Ramaswamy Iyengar, Sathyamurthy, Kasturi Ranga Iyer,

V.P.Madhava Rao participated in the meeting. He used to sing

National song in the meeting. He sang ‘Malaigalile uyarnda

malaiye’ ( ) and got the thunderous

applause from the audience.

On the day when Jalianwala Bagh massacre took place, he

addressed the meeting at the car street, inspiring patriotism among

the audience. He composed a song ‘Annaiyin kaalgalil

vilangugal’ ( ). He had the highest

admiration for Mahathma Gandhi and the movement. He acted as

Sambu Sastri in the play ‘Tyaga Bhoomi’ expressing his patriotic

involvement. His patriotism and love for Gandhi produced several

songs like ‘Bharatha punya bhoomi’ Eulogizing Gandhiji as

‘Thava pudalvar’ ( ) Mahathma of the universe and

unequalled symbol of peace as ‘Santha Swaroopini’ and ‘Can

Gandhiji can be repaid for his sacrifice?’. He also composed the

famous captivating song ‘Jaya berigal kottuvom’ (

) when India became independent praising leaders

Nehruji, Rajaji, Thilagar, Chidambaram, C.R.Das, Subramanya

Bharathi, Sathyamurthy, and worshipping Mahathma Gandhi.

On the day when great Mahathma Gandhi died, he remained

silent the whole day without even drinking water and shedding tears

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as the commentary on funeral arrangements came out in the All

India Radio.

Sivan was deeply committed to Tamil, Tamil Isai and the

freedom movement. In the kriti ‘Paamaalaikkinai undo’

( ) in the raga Harikamboji, Sivan pays tribute

to the great Tamil poet and freedom fighter, Mahakavi

Subrahmanya Bharathi. The phrase ‘Tamizh Nadu sei tava

payanaai vandavan’ ( ந ); speaks of

Tamil Nadu’s fortune in begetting a son such as Bharati. His song

‘Tamizh manam kamazha vendum’ ( )

even now makes every Tamilian proud.

Sometime, during the 60’s, Sivan composed a song ‘Kadalil

amizhndiduvom’ ( ) in the ragam Manirangu.

Sivan was requested to conduct bhajan during the temple festival in

Trichy. Those were the heydays of the Dravidian movement,

spearheaded by E.V.Ramaswamy Naiker (EVR). The Dravida

Kazhagam organized a ‘Pakuttarivu maanaadu’ (Rationalist

convention) to rival the temple festivities. Fearing for the safety of

Sivan, the temple trustees suggested to abandon the bhajan (the

bhajans are always held on the four streets that surrounds the

temple). Sivan refused saying; “it is his (EVR’s) duty to speak

and mine to sing”. On the day, he composed a kriti in Manirangu,

which describes God as bestowing man with the power of

discrimination (in Tamil, pakuttarivu - also the name of rationalist

movement).

Sivan was honored with many titles. When the Saint first

composed the song ‘Unnai thudikka arul tha’ (

) and ‘Malarinai thunaiye’ ( ) Maha vidwan

Sundaram Iyer conferred on him the title “Tamil Tyagaraja”. In

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1950 and in 1980, the Indian film society honoured him as ‘Sangita

Sahitya Kala Sikhamani’. In the same year when he was sixty, Sri

Paramacharya of Kanchi conferred him the title ‘Siva Punya

Sikhamani’. In 1962, he received the award from the president of

India. In 1963, Tamil Isai Sangam honoured him as ‘Isai

peraringhar’. In 1972, he received ‘Padma Bhushan’ from the

President of India. The Chennai Music Academy honoured him as

‘Sangita Kalanidhi’.

His songs certainly enriched cinema music, Tamil isai, media

kutcheries and Bharathanatyam. He is truly an Iyal-Isai-Nataka

vendar. Some people used to call him as ‘Tamil Tyagarajar’ and

others say ’Paatukku oru pulavar Bharathi – Tamil Isaikku oru

pulavar Papanasam Sivan’ ( –

ந ).

Sivan had many disciples under him. But the only disciple

Panangudi S.S. Mani Bhagavatar remained with Sivan under the

gurukulavasam and learnt music. However the famous singers like

M.S.Subbulakshmi, D.K.Pattammal, Madurai Mani Iyer, Thuraiyur

Rajagopala Sarma, Maruthuvakudi Gopi, D.K.Jayaraman,

S.Ramanathan came to him to listen and learn his songs.

Dr. Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer took him to Trivandrum and

with his assistance published songs with swaras every week in

Kalki. However, Sivan started suffering from asthma and had to

return soon.

For the roles in movies, M.S.Subbulakshmi, M. K. Tyagaraja

Bhagavatar, Vasundra, P.U.Chinnappa, G.N.Balasubramaniam,

Periyanayaki, M.L.VasanthaKumari, T.R.Rajakumari,

T.R.Mahalaingam, Dhandapani Desikar, P.P.Rangachari, Radha

Jayalakshmi, N.C.Vasantha Kokilam and Aswathama came to him

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and trained under him. Rukmini Arundale and many in Kalakshetra

took lessons under him. Banumathi Ramakrishna former director

and principal of Tamil Nadu Government Music College have also

learnt under him.

Sivan attained moksha on 1st October 1973, after he was

critically ill with asthma. The legendry composer Late Papanasam

Sivan left a great legacy to musician, the form of classical

composition steeped in devotion and excellent musical merit. His life

time was a total and absolute dedication to music. His compositions

have become so popular because of their simplicity and depth of

musical grammar, that no concert nowadays is considered complete

without rendering a few of them. His kritis which are mainly in Tamil

are considered to be the essence of the compositions of the great

Trinity form and content. They are known for their compassionate

tones seeking all the time divine blessings.

On the memorial day of Sivan, Sri.Y.G.Parthasarathy said

‘Saint Tyagaraja himself has been born as Sivan to sing in

Tamil to remove his disappointment for not having sung in

Tamil though born in Tamil Nadu’. That is the one of the

reason why he is called as the ‘Tamil Tyagaraja’.

Papanasam Sivan had prevailed over an era with his bhakti,

bhajan and dedicated singing. Like the saint Tyagaraja attained the

Samadhi on Bagula Panchami day, Sivan attained Samadhi on sukla

panchami day. It is a great coincidence that the Vaggeyakara who

had sung to Goddess as a beseeching child attained moksha on the

fifth day (Panchami) of Navarathri.