Subbarama Dikshitar in his preface to his Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (SSP) mentions a number of personalities who played a major role in enabling him to complete the treatise. They are:

• The past rulers and members of the Royal family of Ettayapuram (profiled by Subbarama Dikshitar in his Vaggeyakara Caritamu – entries 67 to 71)
• Sri Cinnasvami Mudaliar
• Rao Bahadur Jagannatham Chettiar the then Divan of Ettayapuram
• Sri Radhakrishna Iyer, the then Principal of the Maharaja’s College, Pudukottai.

Subbarama Dikshitar singles out his benevolent patron His Highness Raja Jagadveera Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa who ascended the Ettayapuram throne in December 1899, in his preface saying he was eternally in gratitude to the Raja for having provided him with the support to bring out the SSP and thus making him famous. It was to this ruler that Chinnasvami Mudaliar earnestly appealed to convince Subbarama Dikshitar to document all that he knew. And it was under this Raja’s direction that Subbarama Dikshitar embarked on the creation of the SSP. And on top the Raja sanctioned a princely sum of Rs.10,000/, arranged for importing the typesets and the machinery so that Vidya Vilasini Press could complete the production of the entire treatise with all its notations.

The photo on the left features a  page from the original Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini, capturing the notation in telugu of the tana varna in Atana that Subbarama Dikshitar had composed on Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa(1878-1915)

December 2010 marks the Raja’s 132nd birth anniversary as well the 111^th anniversary of his coronation in the year 1899 which was when the groundwork was done by Chinnasvami Mudaliar to get the task of collating the SSP started. According to Dr. T. S. Ramakrishnan, the actual work began on 21 December 1901 (a full two years later) and ended with the publication of the SSP on 15^th February 1904. This article is to commemorate the memory of Raja Venkatesvara Ettappa and that of the Royal House of Ettayapuram without whom the magnum opus would not have seen the light of the day. And the musical tribute is through a chef-d’oeuvre conjured up by Subbarama Dikshitar, a bewitching cauka varna in the raga Surati, along with 3 rare compositions of an Ettayapuram ruler.

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL HOUSE OF ETTAYAPURAM:

Ettayapuram is today a small town in the district of Tuticorin in Southern Tamilnadu. Prior to the British annexation in the year 1775 (appr), it was a principality ruled by Poligars/Kings with quasi independence having the Vijayanagar Kings or the Nayaks of Madura as their overlords. We do have historical accounts of this royal family from the British chronicler Robert Caldwell. In the local language, we have the historical account of one Swami Dikshitar (circa 1860) who was patronized by the Ettayapuram Royals, called “History of Ettayapuram” which provides the lineage of a total of more than 30 rulers, till 1870. Apart from this, as mentioned in the introduction, Subbarama Dikshitar has provided a brief biographical sketch of the Royals of Ettayapuram in his Vaggeyakara Caritamu. The Ettayapuram Royals have also been profiled by Sri A Vadivelu (a chronicler of Indian royal families from the last century), Dr T S Ramakrishnan (a past member of the Experts Committee of the Music Academy) and Dr V Raghavan.

The members of the Royal House and the rulers during the period of 1775-1905 are given in the genealogy chart below for  reference. Quite a few musical books and historical accounts, given the commonality of names of the different Rajas, give a confusing account of the Rajas mixing them up and also wrongly attributing compositions. For example, many publications blindly attribute all available compositions to Kumara Ettendra. For the sake of clarity I have documented the correct Raja name as attributed by Subbarama Dikshitar and cross-validated with other accounts as found in the references section, in the footnote.

The history of the Royal House of Ettayapuram apparently traces back to circa 856 CE. However, evidence in the form of historical documentation is traceable only from circa 1423 CE onwards. There is a stone inscription in the town of Devikapuram dateable to 1479 AD that mentions of Ettappa Nayaka making available devadasis to the temple. There are also stone inscriptions dating to 1690 which talks of the acts done by Nayakas of Ettayapuram.

Throughout this article and also in all historical accounts, the principality of Ettayapuram is referred to synonymously as a palayam or zamindari or estate or samasthana(m) and those in-charge are addressed as King, Raja, Zamindar and poligar. The names of the rulers/zamindars are usually prefixed by Jagadveera and the common suffixes include Ettappa, Ettendra, Ayyan, Pandian and Nayaka(n).

Genealogy chart of the Ettayapuram Rajas CE 1775-1904

The Rajas of Ettayapuram were originally called  Nayaks/ Nayakkar with a common surname of Ettappa Nayaka and were a warrior clan hailing from the Chandragiri region which is in modern day Andhra Pradesh. They had been local chieftains who then moved into the Madurai region and became a vassal of the Pandyan Kings in 1423 CE. According to Robert Caldwell (‘A History of Tinnellvely’ p.49)  Kumaramuttu Ettappa Nayaka, an ancestor of the Ettayapuram Rulers fled from Chandragiri with his huge retinue to the Madurai region fearing reprisal from the Bahmini Kings. They perhaps represented the first wave of Telugu speaking people to migrate to the Tamil hinterland. The Pandyan Kings conferred the title of ‘Jaga(d)veera Rama’ on these chieftains which is used by them till today. The 20^th Ruler in this line was one Raja Jagaveera Ramakumara Ettappa Nayaka who in January 1567 (vide Henry Heras’s ‘The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara’) founded the present day Ettayapuram and moved his headquarters there. Bishop Caldwell in his book ‘Political and General History of Tinnelvelly’ records the year as 1565.

During the 1500’s, when the Vijayanagar Empire was at its zenith these chieftains of Ettayapuram became poligars (or palayakkarar in Tamil i.e royalty paying Chieftains) under the overall suzerainty of the Vijayanagar Kings. The Nayakas of Madura and Tanjore were higher in terms of their pecking order while the Nayakas of Ariyalur, Gingee, Udayarpalayam and Ettayapuram were next in line. The Nayakas of Ettayapuram were on very friendly terms with the Nayakas of Madura and in turn they were conferred the title of ‘Ayyan’ oor the support and friendship that was extended. They Nayakas of Ettayapuram were also granted the village of Kazhugumalai in 1500’s. The temple of Lord Subramanya was constructed by the Ettayapuram rulers there and the Lord enshrined therein became the presiding deity of the Royals from then on. During early 1800’s when the British consolidated their hold over Southern India, the Ettayapuram rulers like the rest of the others followed suit and became vassals of the British and became kist/peshcush paying Zamindars.

The Rajas/Zamindars of Ettayapuram (those who are given in the genealogy chart above) have been profiled in detail by Subbarama Dikshitar in his Vaggeyakara Caritamu and I refer readers to the same available in English online. The Rajas were patrons of music, arts and literature. Subbarama Dikshitar lists out a number of great musicians and poets who ornamented the Nayaka Court at Ettayapuram.

The famous Tamil poet Kadigaimuttu Pulavar, who was patronized by the Royals, wrote a panegyric of a 100 Tamil verses on Raja Venkatesvara Ettappa (marked as Ruler 2 in the genealogy chart above), was patronized by the Ettayapuram Royals. Below is an excerpt from that work called ‘Samudravilasam’ extolling the Raja.

Extract from Kadigaimuttu Pulavar’s panegyric ‘Samudravilasam’ (Tamil)

MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS OF THE RAJAS:

As Subbarama Dikshitar points out, the Rajas and the family as whole were great patrons of arts and culture. Some of the rulers were also composers in their own right, such as Rama Kumara Ettappa Maharaja or Kumara Ettendra (as he is named in the SSP), who ruled between 1840 and 1850. The SSP lists out 13 compositions of this Raja Kumara Ettappa (herein after referred only as Kumara Ettendra) such as ‘Gajavadana Sammodita’ in Todi, ‘Karunananda Catura’ in Neelambari and ‘Sivananda Rajayoga’ in Surati with the ankita ‘kartikeya’.

The discography section features three of his compositions. See Foot Note 1 for a compilation of the compositions of the Rajas of Ettayapuram.

Some of compositions of Kumara Ettendra given the style and also considering the fact that they were on Lord Subramanya have been mistakenly attributed to Muthusvami Dikshitar himself by the Taccur Brothers in their works/publications.

The compositions of the Rajas have been encountered very rarely in the concert platform. ‘Gajavadana Sammodita’ in Todi has perhaps been the sole exception and that too these days the piece has become a rarity. Dr T. S. Ramakrishnan in his Music Academy Lecture demonstration on 18^th December 1976, rendered a number of rare compositions along with his daughters, accompanied on the veena. The compositions that were rendered were:

• Ashtangayoga prabhava – Sankarabharanam
• Nityananda Kartikeya – Asaveri
• Sarasadala Netra – Atana
• Karunarasa madhura – Mukhari
• Karunarasalahari – Yadukulakhamboji

Apart from the musical contributions, the Rajas have also contributed to arts and literature especially. G U Pope’s and L D Barnett’s “Catalogue of Tamil Books in the British Museum Library’ in two volumes, bear out that Raja Venkatesvara Ettappa had written a Tamil drama  in three acts called ‘Gnanavalli – A Creeper of Wisdom’ with an English translation by S A Tirumalai Kozhundu Pillai, published in 1915. Subbarama Dikshitar also lists out the contributions and literary acumen of the personalities from this family in the Vaggeyakara Caritamu.

The name of these Rajas came to be sullied in history in relation to the episode of the capture of Kattabomman, the polygar of the neighboring Pancalamkurici, dating to the year 1799. See Footnote 2.

A BRIEF PROFILE ON RAJA RAMA VENKATESVARA ETTAPPA AND HIS DEWAN JAGANNADAM CHETTIAR:

It would be befitting to formally record what is known of these two eminent personalities instrumental in the publication of the SSP. Profile # 71 of the Vaggeyakara Caritamu of Subbarama Dikshitar is of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa.

Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa was born in December 1878 as the first son of Raja Rama Kumara Ettappa who reigned between 1875 and 1890. When Rama Kumara Ettappa died in circa 1890, Venkatesvara Ettappa was a minor and hence could not ascend the throne. The British instrumentation of Court of Wards was invoked and the minor Raja was placed under the care of a group of Englishmen and an Indian. Mr.Potts, Mr.Ellison, Mr. Morrison, Mr.Payne and Sri.Jagannadam Chettiar were handpicked by the Court of  Wards to handhold the minor Raja till he attained the age of 21. Till the minor Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa attained majority in 1899, this group of tutors kept a watchful eye as guardians and ensuring he was educated and well informed. He was taken around the country and to Sri Lanka to make him worldly wise as well. The affairs of the Zamindari Estate, was in the meanwhile first handled by Sri Venkata Royar and then by Sri Sivarama Iyer as the Dewan or Manager working under the supervision and control of the British Collector. Sri Sivarama Iyer was also  the tutor/guardian of Raja Bhaskara Sethupati who was profiled in an earlier article.

The photograph on the left ( circa 1900 ), features Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa Nayaka(the benefactor who funded the publication of the SSP) in his royal regalia. To his right is Dewan K Jagannadam Chettiar on whose authority the SSP was published. Photo Courtesy: ‘Aristocracy of Southern India’ by A.Vadivelu

Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa’s paternal uncle (brother of Raja 6 in the genealogy chart), Venkatesvara Ettendra Pandian took significant interest in running the zamindari during the Raja designate’s minority. This Venkatesvara Ettendra Pandian is also mentioned by Subbarama Dikshitar as a great patron and connoisseur of music and arts. Apparently there were litigations galore between Rama Venkatesvara and his uncle as well. It may not be out of place to mention here that Krishnasvamy Ayya (whose compositions are notated in the SSP) was a solicitor/advocate, who had his residence in Tirunelveli and it was he who handled litigations in connection with the Zamindari and provided legal advice to the Royals.

Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa attained majority in the year 1899 and he became the Zamindar/Raja in December of that year. His marriage was also performed just before this coronation. Upon his ascension, Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa made K Jagannadam Chettiar as the Manager of the Estate/Dewan. Jagannadam Chettiar was also honored with the title of ‘Rai Bahadur’. Records indicate that he was an officer of marked ability, unblemished reputation and long experience. Jagannadam Chettiar during 1904 retired from service on a hefty pension and was succeeded by Mr. S T Shanmugham Pillai who had earlier served as a Deputy Collector.

Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa was also a patron of Subramanya Barathi the renowned tamil poet and freedom fighter. Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa Nayaka  died circa 1915.

In the Prathamabhyasa Pustakamu and Vaggeyakara Caritamu, three kritis are recorded as having been composed by Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa. They are:

1. ‘Muruga Tarukilaya’ – Raga Khamas
2. ‘Va Va nee valli manala’ – Raga Bhairavi
3. ‘Engal Valli Deivanai’ – Raga Mohanam

In the SSP the lyrics of the first composition are also found notated additionally under ragas Anandabhairavi and Vasanta. The second composition is also notated under Sankarabharanam. Did Subbarama Dikshitar set the lyrics to these ragas? One does not know. The third composition is found notated in the 1905 work of Subbarama Dikshitar, Prathamabhyasa Pustakamu and was probably composed post 1902.

COMPOSITIONS BY SUBBARAMA DIKSHITAR ON HIS BENEFACTOR:

Subbarama Dikshitar has composed two varnams, a padam and a daru in honor of these two personages.

1. ‘Sri Raja Raja Maharaja’ – Purnacandrika – Ata tala – Tana varnam
2. ‘Sri Raja Raja Maharaja’ – Atana – Ata tala – Tana varnam ( same sahitya as the above)
3. ‘Imdemdu vaccitira’ – Begada – Misra eka – Padam
4. ‘Emani Pogadudune’ – Pharaz – Adi – Daru

Notes:

• Compositions 1 and 2 are found in the SSP, 3 in the Anubandha and 4 in the Prathamabhyasa Pustakamu.
• Compositions 1-3 are in honor of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa.
• In the case of composition 3, the telugu lyrics have been composed by Sri Jagannadam Chettiar and Subbarama Dikshitar has set it to music and is in honor of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa.
• Composition 4 is an ode on Sri Jagannadam Chettiar composed by Subbarama Dikshitar. This daru is constructed with a crowning makuta svara or muktayi svara passage which has sahitya as well.

No known renderings of these compositions exist.

MUSICAL TRIBUTE AND DISCOGRAPHY:

In this section, four compositions are sought to be presented as a musical tribute to the munificent benefactor Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa and his Royal House.

The first is a cauka varna composed by Subbarama Dikshitar on his patron Raja Muttusvami Jagadveera Rama Ettappa who ruled between 1858-1868. This Raja is marked with the number 5 in the genealogy chart above and is profiled by Subbarama Dikshitar in the Vaggeyakara Caritamu under serial number 69. Also known as Muddusvami Ettendra this Raja was the grandfather of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa who ascended the throne in 1899 and was instrumental in funding the publication of the SSP.

The text of this cauka varna is available in full in all its regal splendor in the SSP. Set in rupaka tala and the raga Surati, the varna is a connoisseurs delight. It is also encountered in the dance circuit and is performed in full as the center piece.

Before we present the rendering of this composition, Prof S R Janakiraman talks first of raga Surati and how Subbarama Dikshitar has handled the elongated dhaivatha of raga Surati in the varna. It’s not without reason that the Professor says that the varna is a veritable encyclopedia of Surati.

Prof SRJ -Surati -Ragalakshana

According to Prof S R Janakiraman , the following are salient aspects of the raga:

1. The raga called as Sorata or Surati is clearly a post 1700s raga with a skeletal arohana/avarohana murrcana of SRMPNs/sNDPMGRS which it shares with Kedaragaula.
2. And without doubt it’s a documented melody of Muddu Venkatamakhi and not of Venkatamakin as the raga is not found in the Caturdandi Prakashika.
3. It is to be noted that the avarohana murrcana sNDPMGPMR is a later day refinement. On the authority of the kritis of Muthusvami Dikshitar and of the adi tala tana varna of Veenai Kuppaier, ‘Ento Prema’ we can say that sNDPMGRS is the older or in terms of today, a rather visesha avarohana krama.
4. In this raga, the notes gandhara and dhaivatha are not intoned at their respective svarasthanas as applicable for Kedaragaula/Harikambhoji mela. Rather the gandhara is rendered close to/as madhyama and the dhaivatha close to the nishada itself. Surati is thus a raga to be dealt with and understood from lakshya rather than lakshana.
5. The dhaivata that is found documented in Subbarama Dikshitar’s composition is elongated in its intonation, rare and has been so used in Muttusvami Dikshitar’s Surati compositions including ‘Angarakam’ and ‘Sri Venkatagireesam’.

Sami Entani – Surutti – Varnam by Prof S.R.Janakiraman

Apparently the composition was learnt by the Professor from Tiruppamburam Svaminatha Pillai in the company of Sangita Kalanidhi T K Govinda Rao. Years ago in an Academy concert as Sri Govinda Rao was rendering this mammoth composition, he beckoned over to Prof Janakiraman who was in the audience to join him in rendering the remaining portion of the varna! In sum this composition in its pristine glory exemplifies the greatness of Subbarama Dikshitar as a musicologist and as a composer par excellence.

Next is a composition of Kumara Ettendra’s ‘Karunananda Catura’ in Neelambari. Vidushi Padma Varadan the daughter of renowned musicologist and veena vidvan Sri Rangaramanuja Iyengar, who passed away some time back, renders this gem of a composition. This rendering is a one to cherish for its singular beauty and aesthetic presentation of a very high order.

The source of this patham of the composition ‘Karunananda Catura’ could be interesting to know. This composition of Kumara Ettendra dates back to the time when Balusvami Dikshitar was the Court Musician or astana vidvan of the Ettayapuram Court. Whether he played any role in contributing to this creation, particularly in terms of the musical setting, is not known. For example, the cittasvara section of the Todi composition of Kumara Ettendra, ‘Gajavadana Sammodita’ with its emphasis on the different shades of the gandhara svara is a creative addition of Balusvami Dikshitar. In this case Subbarama Dikshitar clearly marks it as a composition of Kumara Ettendra himself. It is not known for sure how this Neelambari composition went on to ornament the repertoire of the legendary Veena Dhanammal. Was it through Satanur Pancanada Iyer/Panju Iyer by any chance as it was also known to Tiruppamburam Svaminatha Pillai  also given that Panju Iyer taught both Dhanammal and Tiruppamburam Natarajasundaram Pillai? One does not know. Dhanammal’s Friday musical soirees featured for sure a rendering of this composition on the veena to the solitary accompaniment of her lilting voice. Rangaramanuja Iyengar for sure must have learnt it as rendered by the femme royale of our music of the last century and passed it on to his daughter. Not surprisingly, Vidushi Padma Varadan renders vocally the song even as she plays it on the veena in a style typical of Dhanammal herself.

Karunananda Chatura – Neelambari

Attention is invited to the madhyama sruti rendering of this composition which gives Neelambari a different lilt and hue.

This section concludes with the renderings of two other compositions of Kumara Ettendra which are extremely rare. Featured first is a rare rendering of Kumara Ettendra’s composition in Surati, ‘Sivananda Rajayoga’. Again this recording is from an AIR Concert of Vidushi Padma Varadan from the year 2008.

Sivananda Rajayoga – Surutti – Krithi

Incidentally these two compositions namely ‘Karunananda’ and ‘Sivananda’ seem to be part of a set of compositions (the ‘Ananda’ series) which are listed in the SSP as composed by Kumara Ettendra. The others in this so called series are ‘Nityananda’- Asaveri, ‘Nikhilananda’ – Saveri and ‘Paramananda’ – Bhairavi. It’s worth noting here that the text of this Surati kriti features the word ‘pranava hrimkara’ being repeated four times as the starting point for each of the carana lines of the kriti.

Presented finally is Kumara Ettendra’s Sriraga composition ‘Shadadhara tatva’ rendered by Vidushi Srirangam Gopalaratnam.

ShadaDharachakra – Sri

As one can see that the composition is melodically modeled on Muttusvami Dikshitar’s Sriraga composition ‘Sri Muladhara cakra vinayaka’. While Dikshitar’s creation does not feature the vakra dhaivatha usage, this composition as per practice utilizes the dhaivatha via the murccana PDNP just once in the kriti and once in the cittasvara section.

REFERENCES:

1. Subbarama Dikshitar(1904)- Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini
2. Subbarama Dikshitar(1905)- Pratamabhyasa Pustakamu
3. Burton Stein(1990)– Vijayanagara Vol 1- Pages 77-80 published by Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521266932
4. Anthony Good (2004) – Worship and the ceremonial economy of a royal South Indian Temple, Edwin Mellen Press
5. A. Vadivelu (1903)- Aristocracy of Southern India- Volume I, pp 154-178
6. Dr T.S Ramakrishnan(1973)–‘Subbarama Dikshitar & his contributions’- JMA Volume XLI pages 194-207
7. Dr T.S Ramakrishnan(1976)- ‘Compositions of Kumara Ettappa Maharaja’ – Lecture Demonstration, JMA Volume XLVIII, pages 28-29
8. Prof S.R. Janakiraman(1995) – ‘Raga Lakshanangal’ Volume I published by the Madras Music Academy, pp 132-134

CREDITS/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

1. The audio recordings and photographs in this blog post have been used purely for educational/research purpose and is covered by fair use and the copyrights for the same vests with the authors/performers as applicable.
2. I am grateful to Sri Naresh Keerthi for providing me with a copy of the recording of ‘Shadadhara cakra’ in Sriraga.

FOOTNOTE 1: LIST OF COMPOSITIONS OF THE ETTAYAPURAM ROYALS

1.    Ashtanga yoga prabhava —Sankarabharanam—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

2.    Enduku (padam)—Kambhoji—Misra Eka—Kumara Ettendra

3.    Gajavadana sammodita vira gajavalli ramana—Todi—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

4.    Iha para sadhana —Nata—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

5.    Kamalasanadi chintita –Brindavana Saranga—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

6.    Karuna sara madhura prasada kamala vadana—Mukhari—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

7.    Karunananda catura sahasradala —Nilambari—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

8.    Karunarasa lahari katakshena—Yadukulakambhoji—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

9.    Muruga tarugillaiya –Khamas—M/Eka— Rama Venkatesvara Ettapa
Muruga tarugillaiya —Anandabhairavi—M/Eka— Rama Venkatesvara Ettapa
Muruga tarugillaiya —Vasanta—M/Eka— Rama Venkatesvara Ettapa

10. Muruga unai nambinenayya —Rudrapriya—Rupaka—

11. Nikhilananda nitya pradipa —Saveri—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

12. Nityananda kartikeya nityam manasa—Asaveri—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

13. Paramananda sara pravaha parvati ramana—Bhairavi—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

14. Sarasa dala netra svaminatha sarvaloka—Atana—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

15. Shadhadhara tatva —Shri—Adi—Kumara Ettendra
Shadhadhara tatva —Kharaharapriya—Adi—Kumara Ettendra (Taccur Singaracar’s publication)

16. Siva guru nathanai —Mukhari—Adi— Raja Venkatesvara Ettendra

17. Sivananda rajayoga prakasha shivakama vallisuta—Surati—Adi—Kumara Ettendra

18. Va va va ni valli manala –Sankarabharana—Adi—Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa
Va va va ni valli manala —Bhairavi—Adi— Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa

19. Engal Valli Deivanai — Mohanam—Adi– Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa (Prathamabhyasa Pustakamu)

The references to the Rajas in the above listing are as under:

• Kumara Ettendra refers to Kumara Ettappa Maharaja (name found in the SSP), the raja listed with number 3 in the genealogy table above and 67 in Subbarama Dikshitar’s listing in Vaggeyakkara Caritamu.
• Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa refers to the Raja listed with number 7 in the table and 71 in Subbarama Dikshitar’s listing.
• Raja Venkatesvara Ettendra refers to the Raja listed with number 2 in the table & number 66 in Subbarama Dikshitar’s listing in Vaggeyakkara Caritamu

Of the above barring the two compositions the source/publication of which are given in braces, the rest are found notated in the SSP and its anubandha.

For an academic analysis of the compositions of the Ettayapuram Royals, readers may please refer to the Journal of the Music Academy Volume LXII 1991, pages 82-94, ‘Compositions of the Ettayapuram Rulers’ by Dr Gowri Kuppusvami and Dr N Hariharan.

FOOTNOTE 2: THE ETTAYAPURAM RAJA & THE KATTABHOMMAN EPISODE

It needs to be mentioned here that popular historical/folklore accounts also reference the Rajas of Ettayapuram in poor light in the context of the episode relating to Veerapandiya Kattabhomman the chieftain/poligar/palayakkarars of Pancalamkurici. So much so that in Tamil vernacular, the word ‘Ettappan’ is used to signify a person who performs an act of betrayal or treachery. The popular version of the story/events is that Veerapandiya Kattabomman, the recalcitrant poligar of Pancalamkurici, who had defied the British Raj was caught by the British with significant assistance from Raja Muthu Jagadveera Ramkumara Ettappa (1784-1816) and executed. This popular version is recorded for posterity by Ma.Po.Sivagnanam (1980) in his work ‘The First Patriot Veerapandiya Kattabomman’ which for all purposes is relied upon as authentic account by the general public. We do have older versions of this incident by Caldwell and others as documented in the ‘Political and General History of Tinnelvelly’.

The facts as it appears documented is that, right from day one the Rulers of Ettayapuram were not at all on friendly terms with the polygar of the neighboring Pancalamkurici namely Kattabomman. Kattabomman and his kinsmen seem to have raided the villages under Ettayapuram as well as other neighboring polygars and were plundering them regularly. And on top Kattabomman was refusing to submit himself to the British sovereignty. In the face of such belligerence, the British launched an offensive to capture Kattabomman and sought the assistance of all the friendly poligars of the area. The chief support thus came from the Ettayapuram Raja. Accounts have it that Kattabomman even came down to Madras and had an audience with the British Governor. He offered gifts to the Governor and in turn was showered with gifts and pardoned by the British. The truce apparently was short lived with the Pancalamkurici polygar reverting to his ‘old ways’ in the eyes of the British. With the British Collector Mr.Lushington at the helm of affairs, the operation to quell Kattabomman took place between 17^th August and 21^st Oct 1799 and it set Kattabomman on the run. And in the end he sought refuge with Raja Tondaiman of Puducottai who took him into custody and handed him over to the British.

Thus it is indeed open to question whether such an unfortunate consequence of being branded a traitor or performer of an act of betrayal can be fastened on to the Ettayapuram Ruler who had provided overt logistical support to the British and had not acted covertly/treacherously. And neither does history record the Ettayapuram Rajas as having played any role whatsoever in the final capture of Kattabomman at Puducottai. And yet reality is that it has come to stay as part and parcel of Tamil history that it was the act of betrayal by the Raja of Ettayapuram that cost Kattabomman his life with their royal name being besmirched with the taint of treachery and betrayal. Readers may refer to Kanakalatha Mukund’s ‘The View from Below: Indigenous society, Temples and the early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700-1835’, published by Orient Longman, pp 176-185 and “A Manual of the Tinnevelly District in the Presidency of Madras” by A J Stuart pages 54-58 which sums up the entire sequence of events as documented by Caldwell and in traditional tamil ballads. The account of the British Collector Mr.Lushington and his appreciation of the role played by the Rajas of Ettayapuram as a loyal tribute paying principality are recorded in the pp 543-546  of  “The Fifth Report from the Proceedings of the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company ( Madras Presidency)” Volume 2 (1812).

Interestingly this question came up for judicial resolution before the Madras High Court in 2008 when a Tamil movie was named ‘Ettappan’ and the descendants of the Ettayapuram royal family sought to restrain the producers from naming the film so with a negative connotation.

FOOT NOTE 3: OTHER COMPOSITIONS OF SUBBARAMA DIKSHITAR IN HONOR OF THE ROYALS OF ETTAYAPURAM

1.    ‘Sareku’ – Anandabhairavi – Adi – Cauka Varna – In honor of Raja Muttusvami Ettappa

2.    ‘Sami Entani’ – Surati – Rupaka – Cauka varna – In honor of Raja Muttusvami Ettappa

3.    ‘Sri Maharajasrita’ – Atana – Adi- Tana varna – In honor of Venkatesvara Ettendra Pandian ( brother of Raja numbered as 6 in the genealogy chart)

4.    ‘Sri Raja Raja’ – Atana – Ata – In honor of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa

5.    ‘Sri Raja Raja’ – Purnachandrika – Ata- In honor of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa

6.    Parikkani – Kalyani – Adi- Svarasthana padam – In honor of Raja Rama Venkatesvara Ettappa

7.    Enduku rara – Ragamalika – Adi – In honor of Raja Muttusvami Ettappa

8.    Manathodinagi – Ragamalika – Adi – In honor of Raja Muttusvami Ettappa

Balasvami Dikshitar during his tenure as astana vidvan of the Ettayapuram Court has composed on his patrons or has set lyrics to music as under:

1.    Neeve rasikashikhamani – Rudrapriya –Adi – Daru – Balasvami Dikshitar on Raja Venkatesvara Ettendra ( Raja with number 2 in the genealogy table above)

2.    Collakel – Sriranjani – Adi – Tamil padam – Mukku Pulavar & Balasvami Dikshitar-( Raja with number 2 in the genealogy table above)

3.    Sarasa durai unnai – Sama – Misra Eka – Tamil padam – Mukku Pulavar & Balasvami Dikshitar-( Raja with number 2 in the genealogy table above)

4.     Virakamu – Vamsavati – Adi – Cauka varna – Muttukumara pulavar & Balasvami Dikshitar (In honor of Raja Muttusvami Ettappa)

Adiyapayya (Adippayya or Adiyappa Iyer/Ayya), whom Subbarama Dikshitar refers to in awe as a Margadarshi or trailblazer for the genre of tana varnas, shall forever be remembered just for his magnum opus, the Bhairavi ata tala varna “Viribhoni”. This varna has captured the imagination of both lay rasikas and the cognoscenti spanning across centuries. Sangita Kalanidhi Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer, an acknowledged authority, even advances a hypothesis that it was this varna and its popularity that propelled Bhairavi to the forefront, enabling it to capture popular imagination and thus eclipsing its sibling Manji.  Adiyappaya will also be remembered as the guru/preceptor of the great Trinitarian Syama Sastri. The worthy disciple went on to craft another monumental classic in Bhairavi, the svarajati.

We have a historical account of Adiyappayya by Subbarama Dikshitar. Later day writers like Prof Sambamoorthi, Dr S Seetha and Dr B M Sundaram too have documented details about him both from oral traditions and from manuscripts from the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore. Dr.U.Ve.Saminatha Ayyar also records  a short biographical sketch of his while listing the eminent personages who adorned the Udayarpalayam Zamindari.This post is a consolidation of the information on Adiyapayya available to us together with a discography of his compositions.

Adiyapayya – His Life time:

In so far as the time period that Adiyappayya lived, we have four important references:

1. Subbarama Dikshitar in his Vaggeyakara Caritamu says that he was Madhva Brahmana, hailing from modern day Karnataka who lived during the times of the Tanjore Mahratta kings Pratapasimha (regnal years 1739-1763 as per historical records, while according to Subbarama Dikshitar it is 1741-1765) and Tulaja II(1763-1787). Subbarama Dikshitar in the SSP, under raga Huseini gives the composition “Emandayanara” with the ankita “pratapasimha” and credits Adiyappayya as the composer. Based on Subbarama Dikshitar’s record, Adiyappa’s life time can be placed as 1725-1775. Dr Seetha too in her seminal work “Tanjore as a Seat of Music” echoes Subbarama Dikshitar as to Adiyapayya’s timeline.
2. According to the book Gayakasiddanjanam (1904) of Taccur Singaracar, Adiyappayya was a musician of the Pudukottai Court and his period was 1750-1820.
3. Prof Sambamoorthi in his biography on Syama Shastri(1762-1827) records that Adiyappayya was over 50 years , when the 18 year old Syama Sastri came under his tutelage. Extrapolating based on this evidence, Adiyappayya must have been born no latter than 1730.
4. According to Dr V Raghavan, Adiyappayya lived even during the reign of Tulaja II. Thus Adiyappayya might not have lived beyond 1780 or thereabouts.

All the above historical references point to Adiyapayya having lived during the period of 1725-1780. In all probability, Adiyappaya must have been a contemporary of Melattur Veerabadrayya, the other ‘margadarshi’ who  was a guru and musical preceptor of Ramasvami Dikshitar (1735-1817). Subbarama Dikshitar in his work adds that Adiyappayya followed the footsteps of Veerabhadrayya when it came to the style of music. According to Dr B M Sundaram,  Adiyapayya must have lived for a long time in Tanjore and later in Pudukkottai. In Pudukottai, he must have been patronized by King Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1730-1769), perhaps. A descendant of his was part of the Pudukottai Court.

His Family/Descendants:

Subbarama Dikshitar lists out one Veena Krishnayya as a son of Adiyapayya. Veena Krishnayya was adept in playing veena and was also a composer prabandhas such as saptataleshvaram. Krishnayya’s son was Veena Subbukutti Ayya who was another veena expert. When Subbarama Dikshitar composed & presented his Ramakriya varna and the Sankarabharana kriti “Sankaracaryam” extolling Sri Mahadevendra Sarasvathi, the 65^th Pontiff of the Kanci Kamakoti Peetam at Kumbakonam (which was then the seat of the mutt) circa 1860, Subbukutti Ayya was also present in the sadas. Additionally Dr Seetha in her work, mentions in the context of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer (1844-1893) that when he performed the raga Darbar in the Court of Raghunatha Tondaiman, the Rajah of Pudukkottai ( the reigning Raja should have been Ramachandra Tondaiman who ruled between 1839-1886. I am unsure how Dr Seetha says it was Raghunatha Tondaiman) Vina Subbukutti Iyer who was in the Court along with the other assembled expert vidvans, appreciated Vaidyanatha Iyer’s rendition.

Veena Subbukutti Ayya/Iyer seems to have visited Svati Tirunal Maharaja’s Court as well.

King Ramachandra Tondaiman in Durbar (1858)

Photograph by Linnaues Tripe. Courtesy V&A

Prof Sambamoorthi records that the great Veena virtuosos Veena Seshanna (1852-1926) and Veena Venkataramana Das of Vijayanagar are the descendants of Adiyapayya. No reference is given regarding the prefix Pachimiriya or Pacchimiriyan. Perhaps the epithet represents his native village or is a familial name.

His Disciples:

Syama Sastri, Pallavi Gopala Iyer and BhUlOka Gandharva Narayanasvami Iyer are recorded as Adiyappayya’s illustrious disciples by almost all authorities.  A yati by name Sangeeta Svami is recorded by Prof Sambamoorthi as the first musical guru of Syama Sastri. It is further recorded by him that it was this Sangeeta Svami who recommended that Syama Sastri develop his musical skill /prowess by hearing to Adiyappayya. Prof Sambamoorthy also records the (apocryphal?) betel juice episode as a part of Syama Sastri’s life history which involved Adiyappayya.

Pallavi Gopala Iyer was another illustrious disciple, who has been covered in an earlier blog in this series. Bhuloka Gandharva Tanjore Narayanasvami Iyer is the third disciple of Adiyappayya. He is recorded as having been patronized by the Udayarpalayam Zamindar, Kaci Yuvaranga BhUpati. According to Dr B M Sundaram, Narayanasvami Iyer too was a composer of great merit. Again we do not have any compositions of him, handed down to us.

Dr.U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer records that Ramaswami Iyer of Tanjavur sent his sons Periyatirukkunram Subbarama Iyer, Ghanam Krishna Iyer to Tanjavur to be educated under Pachimiriyan Adiyappayya. They too turned out to be master composers. Dr U Ve Sa further records that Adiyappayya appreciated the compositions of Subbarama Iyer and called him by the epithet “Chinna Srinivasan” alluding to another composer of great merit from Srirangam.

His Music:

As mentioned earlier according to Subbarama Dikshitar, Adiyappayya was well versed in music and Telugu and he followed the footsteps of Melattur Veerabadrayya who was probably an iconic figure of that generation. Adiyappayya was the one to standardize “Pallavi” as a unique platform for musical exposition comprising of raga alapana, tana or madhyamakala rendering followed by the Pallavi. His two disciples namely Pallavi Gopala Iyer and Syama Sastri went on to become exponents nonpareil in this genre. Prof Sambamoorthi also records the story of a pallavi contest involving vidvan Bobbili Kesavvayya and Adippayya’s illustrious disciples held in the Tanjore Court.

Adiyappayya – The Vaggeyaka/Composer:

He was a composer of kritis which were ornate with exquisite gamakas and composed with the ankita  ’sri venkataramana’. Subbarama Dikshitar further adds that he followed the path of Veerabhadrayya in his compositional style. U.Ve.Svaminatha Iyer further notes that Adiappayya has composed in many languages including Telugu, Sanskrit, Marathi and Tamil and had visited Udayarpalayam during the reign of Kacchi Yuvaranga and had composed on him in ragas such as Nattakuranji and Sahana and that  musicians such has Pudukkottai Veena Subbayyar have sung two  of his compositions.

None of the kritis composed by him has been handed down to us. As of date we have only the following three compositions ascribed to him:

1. The ata tala tana varna in Bhairavi, “Viribhoni”
2. The ata tala tana varna in Pantuvarali ( mela 51- Kamavardhani), “Madavati”
3. The rupaka tala svarajathi in Huseni, “Emandayanara”

In the context of Adiyappayya’s available compositions, the following merit our attention.

• The standard colophon of Adiyappayya ‘sri venkataramana’ (according to Subbarama Dikshitar) is not found in any of the above compositions. Compositions 1 & 2 have ‘sri rajagopala’ as mudra while the third composition, the svarajati has ‘pratapasimha’ as the ankita representing the patron of Adiyappayya, namely the Mahratta King of Tanjore Pratapasimha. The ankita ‘rajagopala’ (of different varieties) has also been used by Moovanallur Sabhapatayya, who is said to have lived during the times of the Trinity, slightly latter than Adiyappayya.
• Compositions 1 & 3 are found documented in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini with Subbarama Dikshitar  ascribing authorship to Adiyappayya.
• While Composition # 1 is universally acknowledged as Adiyappaya’s, as we will see presently there is some ambiguity or rather, lack of unanimity on the other two compositions.
• Composition # 2 was brought to light by Vidvan Mysore Chennakesavayya, a disciple of Tiger Varadacariar and was published by the Madras Music Academy. Vidvan N Chennakesavayya published a number of rare varnas from out of his family’s manuscripts dating back to early 19^th century. As a member of the Experts Committee of the Music Academy, he did a number of lecture demonstrations on some of these rare compositions. The authorship of this varna has been ascribed to Adiyappayya on the strength of the ankita found within the composition and as such no other independent source of reference or authority is available. Dr Seetha in “Tanjore as a Seat of Music’ unequivocally says that “Viribhoni” is the only composition of Adiyappayya as available to us.
• On composition # 3, Subbarama Dikshitar ascribes authorship of the Huseni svarajathi to Adiyappayya with an accompanying footnote to the effect that the sahitya for the jatis were done by Melattur Venkatrama Sastri. This attribution is controversial and disputable on more than one ground. Dr  V Raghavan and Dr B M Sundaram on different grounds negate, directly or indirectly the attribution of this piece to Adiyappayya. An additional aspect is the fact that this svarajati is a scaled down version of the legendary Melattur Veerabadrayya’s original Huseni svarajati raising the question as to Adiyapayya’s authoring a composition of such a nature. The svarajati and its companion pieces (composition having the same dhatu (musical setting) but different matu (lyrics)) namely ‘Emayaladira’, ‘Pahimam Bruhannayike’ etc are ascribed to members of the family of the Tanjore Quartet and forms part of their family manuscripts.

So considering all these factors, this svarajati is not held by the musicologists, historians and the cognoscenti in the same breath as “Viribhoni” as Adiyappayya’s composition, not withstanding Subbarama Dikshitar’s attribution in the SSP. The Bhairavi varna and the svarajati, will be dealt in a seperate blog post on Bhairavi and  the Pantuvarali varna is presented in the discography section of this post.

DISCOGRAPHY:

In this section let us look at renderings of the two masterpieces of Adiyappayya. While the Bhairavi varna is frequently encountered and is synonymous with Bhairavi even for a lay listener of classical music, the Pantuvarali varna “Madavati’ is seldom heard. The Bhairavi varna is almost always presented in its truncated form.

Madavati in Pantuvarali:

Lets first take up Madavati. Vidushi Mythili Nagesvaran who learnt music from Vidvan Chennakesavayya ( amongst many other including Jayammal, Savitri Rajan & others) presents the varna in a chamber recital circa 1990. As mentioned earlier this varna made its way out of obscurity when it was presented by Vidvan Chennakesavayya in the portals of the Music Academy. Given the rarity of the varna, link is provided to the notation of the composition as well for the benefit of the readers of this blog.

Clip 1 : Madavati-Pantuvarali Varnam – As rendered by Smt.Mythili Nageshwaran

Notation : English version of the Notation of the  Pantuvarali Varnam as notated by Vidvan Chennakesavaiah

In the past, there has been a confusion as to the raga Pantuvarali & whether the name referred to Subhapantuvarali or to the scale which is presently assigned to Kamavardhani. The version of this varna as documented and available to us is only the scale of Mela 51.

CONCLUSION:

Current day performers should learn these long forgotten and rare masterpieces, polish and burnish them and present them with absolute fidelity in their concerts and that would be the best homage one can ever provide to the great composers of our past. One hopes that this Pantuvarali varna will be resurrected and sung and will be passed on to the next generation in the same way as Adiyappayya’s Bhairavi varna.

REFERENCES:

1. Subbarama Dikshitar (1904) – Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini – Reprinted in Tamil by the Madras Music Academy, India
2. DR B M Sundaram (2002) – “Varna Svarajathi” – Published by Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Tanjore, India
3. Dr S Seetha (2001)- “Tanjore as a Seat of Music “- Published by the University of Madras, India
4. Chennakesavaiah. N (1964) -” Four Rare Compositions” – Edited and published in the Journal of the Madras Music Academy Vol XXXV, Pages 175-179 Madras, India
5. Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer – ‘Ragas Lalita and Manji’ – Journal of the Music Academy XXVIII- Pages 122-125
6. Prof Sambamoorthi – ‘Great Composers – Book 1′ Seventh Edition (2004)
7. Dr U Ve Svaminatha Iyer – ‘En Caritiram’ – series of books published by Dr U Ve Sa Library, Chennai ( 2008 Edition)
8. Savithri Rajan & Michael Nixon – ‘Sangita Sarvartha Sarasangrahamu’ – Edited and published in the Journal of the Madras Music Academy Vol LII, Pages 169-188 Madras, India

Patrons have played a very great part in our past in fostering Carnatic Music. Composers and musicians have been sustained, patronized & honored by both the Royals as well as the aristocratic/business magnates of the last few centuries. They were one of the essential components of the musical ecosystem of India. Given the social milieu it would be uncharitable to just say that they did this as a quid pro quo/in return for the singers/composers creating compositions in their praise. Some of these patrons themselves were musicians/composers themselves, such as King Shahaji or Maharaja Svati Tirunal. Then there were those who were lovers of music and so sustained the art and the artistes themselves such as the Rajas/Zamindars and nobles who also came to be recorded as the nayakas in the compositions such as the padas, cauka varnas etc. Well-known amongst them are the Raja of Karvetinagar, the Zamindars of Udayarpalayam and the Rulers of Ettayapuram. The Rajas, nobles and chieftains who have been sung upon include the known & the unknown. And the list of such patrons is quite a lengthy one.

And one amongst them is Rajah Bhaskara Sethupati of Ramanathapuram(1868-1903) of the Royal House of Ramnad. The contribution of the Sethupathis to art & culture and to Tamil has now been almost forgotten. As Bhaskara Sethupathi’s brief life time would show us, he was a sort of a confluence of the orient and the occident. Given his education and background, he should have risen to be one of the “model” Zamindars of the British era, but it was never to be as he indulged in philanthropy so much that the coffers of his Zamin ran dry. And finally the pressure telling on him perhaps, Bhaskara Sethupathi died prematurely when he was just 35 years old.

In this post, I intend to cover this great patron and analyse two compositions – a varna and a ragamalika composed in his honor by Subbarama Dikshitar. And this post is being made this month, which marks the death anniversary of this patron who died in December 1903, when he was just 35 years young. 

Stamp released by the Government of India in Dec 2004 on his death centenary

PROFILE OF BHASKARA SETUPATI:¹

The erstwhile Southern coastal Indian Kingdom of Ramanathapuram or Ramnad had been ruled by the Sethupathis – translated to mean the ‘Overlords of the Causeway’. Tradition has it when Lord Rama, crossed over to Ceylon over the bridge built by his vAnara army, he built the temple for Lord Ramanatha as a thanksgiving upon his victory. He also appointed the first Sethupathi to protect the piligrims who would be using the causeway. Since then, they were traditionally been referred so and ruled over the “marava” country, which is the land mass between Madurai and the sea, in Southern India. They have always been till date the administrators of the Ramanathasvami temple with all hereditary rights. Famous kings of this lineage include Raghunatha Tevar or Kilavan Sethupathi (1673-1708) and Muthuramalinga Sethupathi I (1760-1794) and during the latter’s reign the Sethupatis lost their sovereignty completely to the British and ended up being a mere Zamindari, paying rent(kist/peshcush) to the British as their vassal.

Bhaskara Sethupati was born on 3^rd November 1868 as the first son of Raja Muthuramalinga Sethupathi II (regnal years 1862-1872) and his wife Muthathaal Nacciyar. In 1830, when Raja Ramasvami Sethupathi died without leaving behind a heir, his wife Rani Parvathavardhini Nacciar ruled the Zamindari. She was assisted by her brother Kottasami Thevar. At the end her life time, Rani Parvathavardhini Nacciar took in adoption the second son of her sister, by name Muthuramalingam who was then a minor to succeed as the Zamindar. Till his majority, his elder brother Ponnusvami Thevar ruled as his Regent. There were several legal wrangles which were witnessed during this period, challenging the adoption.  Ponnusvami Tevar acting as Manager played a major political role in ensuing that his younger sibling duly became the Sethupati. And even after Muthuramalinga had attained majority, Ponnusvami Thevar (who died in 1870) continued to guide the young Muthuramalinga Sethupathy II in running the affairs of Ramanathapuram. Both the brothers were great lovers of Tamil and Music. Ponnusvami Thevar’s son was the famous Panditurai Thevar (Zamindar of Pazhavanattam, 1867-1911) who founded the 4^th Tamil Sangam at Madurai. Muthuramalinga Sethupathy II was adept in the arts & in Tamil. Muthuramalinga Sethupathy II passed away suddenly in 1872 when his son Bhaskara Sethupathy was barely 4 years old. As per the then existing British administered system, the minor heir was placed under the custody of the Court of Wards till such time he attained majority.

Bhaskara Sethupathy in the traditional regalia as a Maharaja (Photo Courtesy: Pamela G Price)

The “Court of Wards” was an instrument of control used by the British government purportedly to ensure that minor Zamindars, who were “deemed” incapable of running the Zamindari were ‘tutored’ and trained up to become model Zamindars to subserve their interest . By the late 19^th century, as a policy and as a practice, the British resorted to this instrument of control very frequently when a minor became a Zamindar. The Court of Wards as an institution which functioned under the control of the Board of Revenue in Calcutta operated in every district and was headed by the district collector, an Englishman. The classic situation of when the Court of Wards would step in to administer a Zamindari was when the proprietor of the estate namely the Zamindar died leaving behind minor sons. Even in cases where a Zamindar was found unfit to run the affairs of the estate, upon the report of the District Collector, the Board of Revenue was empowered to step in to manage the estate. The Court of Wards apart from taking the responsibility of managing the estate also took charge of educating the heir apparent, the minor Zamindar. While the district collector was the nominal head, the tasks were run by a motley group of Englishmen and local learned Indians or the “natives” to put in the then English parlance.

Bhaskara Sethupathi was taken to Madras to be educated both in English and in Western manners and etiquette. He had an English tutor who put him through the learning of the English classics and music as well and apparently Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivan Hoe” was one of his favorites. Bhaskara Sethupathi learned to play piano as well. To make him worldly wise, the Court of Wards made him travel to different parts of India and Ceylon as well, accompanied by his tutor. Well trained in the Western ways, Bhaskara Sethupathi did make his tutor proud as is obvious from his certification to the Court of Wards upon attainment of majority. Bhaskara Sethupathi was formally anointed by the then British Government as “Maharaja” & took over the Zamindari on 3^rd April 1889. Earlier in 1888 he married Sivabhagyam Nacciar, daughter of one of his kinsmen.

Bhaskara Sethupathi though western educated had his moorings in Indian culture and arts. There is a kriti in the raga Suratti which this Raja has apparently composed on Goddess Padmasini Thayar at the temple at neighboring Tiruppullani kshetra. He was devoted as a true Sethupathi, to Lord Ramanatha of Ramesvaram and to Goddess Rajarajesvari, the tutelary deity of the Sethupathis. He was so greatly enamored of Svami Vivekananda & his teachings. He funded the Svami’s historic trip to the Parliament of Religions at Chicago. Though Sethupathi was the original invitee to the Conference, he chose  instead to send Svami Vivekananda and the rest is history. Svami Vivekananda too held Sethupathi in high esteem and called him a ‘Rajarishi’. And when the Svami returned back from Chicago and set foot at Pamban in Ramesvaram on Jan 26^th, 1897, he was given a tumultuous welcome and to commomerate the same Bhaskara Sethupati constructed a 40ft high monument inscribed with the words ‘Satyameva Jayate’, which went on to become the motif of the Indian State some 50 years later!

Bhaskara Sethupathy funded many charitable/philanthropic activities and events. S Tiruvenkatachari in his book, “Setupatis of Ramnad”, wrote that Bhaskara Setupati became a “byword for benevolence, charity and phenomenal generosity”. His giveaways were truly phenomenal in the literal sense of the word. Rs 10,000 to the Indian National Congress,  Rs 40,000 to the Madras Christian College, an endowment for educating less privileged students in his alma mater etc. A thorough and meticulous person, he maintained a personal dairy, the contents of which, provides a great insight into his character. Even during his minority he maintained this habit and in 1890, publishers G W Taylor of Madras brought it out as a book, “My Trip to India’s Utmost Isle”. ¹

His unbridled philanthropy together with the practice of supporting/employing individuals with dubious credentials as a part of the paraphernalia of the Zamindari, which he failed to dispense with, put an enormous drain on the Zamin’s finances. He also inherited a debt of more than Rs 350,000, a legacy of his stepmother, the Senior Rani who had borrowed heavily. Expenses to fund the cost of litigation that was launched against him by his younger brother too had to be covered. The inevitable result was that the finances of the Zamindari fell into complete disarray. He had started borrowing from the wealthy Nattukottai Chettiars and the temple endowments to fund his spree of philanthropy, by mortgaging the property and other assets³. And ironically so, the great man who was well learned otherwise but had failed in the maths subject in high school, didn’t get his numbers right and so went literally bankrupt. Barely 26 years old and with creditors knocking at his doors, Sethupathy was forced to put the Zamin Estate under trust for his minor son. ¹

Neither did the people who were beneficiaries of his munificence help him in any way. In fact a few of them petitioned to the Collector at Madurai about the impudent extravagance of the Sethupathy, which finally spelt the death knell, literally so. He is said to have remarked during his last days thus, “I have within the last four years spent forty lakhs and though I have thus been foolishly extravagant, the leeches that drunk my blood are not a whit more grateful to me.” ¹

The congratulatory letter that Bhaskara Sethupathi wired to his illustrious contemporary Sri Jagadveera Rama Venkateshvara Ettappa ( see his profile as captured by Subbarama Dikshitar in his Vaggeyakara Caritamu) on his coronation as the Maharaja of Ettayapuram Zamindari at the end of his minority, in December 1899, is eye opening on more than one count. This Rajah of Ettayapuram too was a product of the Court of Wards and is well known in musical history as the benefactor who funded the printing & publication of Subbarama Dikshitar’s “Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarshini” on the earnest appeal of Chinnasvami Mudaliar. And that appeal was made to the Ettayapuram King during that coronation in December 1899, which Subbarama Dikshitar refers to in his Introduction to the SSP.

Below is the text, verbatim of the congratulatory letter that Bhaskara Sethupathi wrote⁴:

“My heartfelt congratulations to you, on your assumption of charge of your ancient and historical estate. My fervent prayers to Sree Ramanatha and to Kalugachala Shanmuga Moorthi to grant you long life and continued prosperity and to make you and your truth flourish. I have little in the way of advice except to beg you most earnestly as the son of one who was most devoted to me as a brother, to take my complete failure as a Zamindar as sufficient warning to you in your future career and to remind you of the words of Lord Ripon to the Nizam, “Look to your finances”, an advice which I disregarded but which I must beg you bear in mind to avoid the consequences. I suffer by disregarding it. You know what great affection and regard I have for you personally and it is that that prompts me, even presses me to wire to you thus opening my heart to you. Your manager, Mr.Sivarama Iyer is in a way my guardian and I have fatherly regard for him. I regret his leaving you. I am performing Abhishekam and Archanai in your name this day grandly to my Lord Sri Ramanatha and to our Divine Mother and will send you prasadam. Be ever loyal to our Sovereign and Her Government and use your wealth, power, and influence to benefit others, and to injure none and above all, be devoted to the feet of Him who from Kalugachalam protects you all, and thus you will be happy now and ever.”

Some clarifications/additional information here would not be out of place.

• While Lord Ramanathasvami at Ramesvaram is the family deity of the Ramnad Sethupatis, Lord Subramanya at Kazhugumalai or Kazhugachalam or Kankagiri (about 22 kms from Kovilpatti in Southern Tamilnadu) is the presiding deity of the Ettayapuram Royals. The Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini records a number of compositions created by the Ettayapuram Rajas as well by Balusvami Dikshitar and Subbarama Dikshitar on this Lord Kartikeya. We do have one kriti ‘Subramanyena Rakshitoham’ published by Kallidaikurici Sundaram Iyer, in the raga Suddha Dhanyasi attributed to Muthusvami Dikshitar, composed on this deity.
• An examination of Bhaskara Sethupathi and his persona would show that he in fact played two parts & with finesse – one as a loyal vassal of His Majesty’s Government and secondly as a nationalist who sympathized with the Indian National Congress. Two contradictory roles/approaches ,yet apolitical and it probably reflected his desire to remain relevant in the politics of the then Provincial Madras.

The text of the letter above gives a wholesome perspective of Bhaskara Sethupati. His erudite knowledge and use of English language, his moorings in Hindu beliefs and above all his open admission as to his misjudgment in running the affairs of the Ramnad Estate & his goodwill toward Venkatesvara Ettappa stand out in his letter.

Early in the year 1900, when the estate was in dire financial straits, the Pontiff of  the Sringeri Mutt is said to have played a key role in ensuring that the Estate was bailed out and Bhaskara’s son Rajesvara Sethupathi was safely put in charge of whatever was remaining. All these events perhaps took its toll on Bhaskara Sethupati’s health and quickly led to his untimely death on 27^th December 1903. When he died, the great Tamil scholar the revered Mahavidvan R Raghava Iyengar (1878-1960) wrote a eulogy in Tamil thus:

SengaiyyAl vAri aLitthAyE SetupatI !

EngayyA engatkku inimEl idam?

Translation: Oh Setupati, the one who gave away all, with your noble hands! Where do we now go?

And the other great titan U Ve Svaminatha Iyer during his visit to the Ramnad Court composed this couplet on this benevolent patron, in Tamil:

vinniR siranthidu pARkkarar pOl virumbum indha

manniR sirundUyar pARkkara bUpathi vAzhiyavE !

MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS HAVING A NEXUS TO RAMNAD:

A number of musicians/composers have been patronized by the Ramnad Royal House. Kundrakkudi Krishna Iyer (1816-1889), Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer (1844-1893), Patnam Subramanya Iyer (1845-1902), Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar(1860-1919) and Subbarama Dikshitar are the notable ones.  In fact for Bhaskara Sethupati’s ascension to the Ramnad throne, the triumvirate of Krishna Iyer, Patnam and Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer performed together.

We have quite a few compositions composed on some of the Ramnad Royals as below:

1. “sAmi nI vEga”, a tana varna in Ata tala in the raga Nattakurinji with the ankita “kottasAmi bhUpala”, composed by Patnam Subramanya Iyer in praise of Kottaisami Thevar the brother of Rani Parvathavardhini Nacciar who ruled Ramanathapuram.⁶
2. “sAmi nInnE” in Atana with the ankita “ugrapAndia bhUpAla” on Panditurai Tevar(1867-1911), the Zamindar of Pazhavanattham and the paternal cousin of Bhaskara Setupati, also composed by Patnam Subramanya Iyer.⁶
3. “Nadhru dhru deem”, tillana in Sindhubhairavi composed by Pooci Srinivasa Iyengar again on Panditurai Thevar.
4. ‘kamalAkshi ninnE koriyunnadi’ , a tana varna in Kambhoji set to jhampa tala composed by Kundrakudi Krishna Iyer on Bhaskara Sethupati’s father Muthuramalinga Sethupathi. This apart he has composed a few pada varnas as well on both Muthuramalinga Sethupati and Bhaskara Sethupati.
5. “srI rAjadhirAja” -Ata tala tana varna composed by Subbarama Dikshitar in the raga Balahamsa, in praise of Bhaskara Sethupati himself.( See Foot Note 1)
6. “gAravamu ganna dUraiyani” – Ragamalika in 9 ragas set in rupaka tala, composed by Subbarama Dikshitar again on Bhaskara Sethupati
7. ‘edO pArAmukam’ a Tamil svarajati in the raga Khamas composed on Bhaskara Setupati and ascribed to the Tanjore quartet descendant Sangita Kalanidhi Ponnayya Pillai.

Some interesting points need attention here:

• Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, Patnam Subramanya Iyer and Kundrakkudi Krishna Iyer were a trio belonging to the same (performing) generation roughly who indulged in ‘vyavahara’ laden music, in other words indulging in complex svara and rhythmic pyrotechnics as a part of their pallavi renditions.  All the three of them were recipients of honours from the Ramanathapuram Court. We do have accounts that they constantly competed actively on & off the concert stage. Interestingly we have a a unique varna from each of them in raga Kambhoji. Krishna Iyer’s aforesaid varna is in jhampa tala, a rare one. Similarly Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer’s Kambhoji creation “Pankajakshi Neepai” is littered profusely with beautiful svaraksharas. One can indeed wonder if they produced them in (friendly ?) rivalry!
• All the above three performed together, setting aside their professional rivalry at the request of Bhaskara Sethupathi on the occasion of his ascension as King. The three of them sang together the famous Todi pallavi ‘Ganalola Karunalavala’, which incidentally was derived from the pallavi line of the kriti in the same raga, composed by Chinnasvami Dikshitar, brother of Muthusvami Dikshitar and is found notated in the SSP. Sulamangalam Bagavathar in his memoirs recalls that the rendition of the pallavi by the three titans in unison was a veritable treat, fit for celestials ! (See Foot Note 2)
• The reference of both Patnam Subramanya Iyer & Pooci Srinivasa Iyengar to the great Panditurai Tevar as “UgrapAndya” is hardly surprising. King Ugrapandya was the last of the Madurai/Pandyan sovereigns who had presided over the last (Third) Tamil Sangam (College of Poets). Panditurai Tevar was the key force behind the 4^th Tamil Sangam which set helped set up with the participation of U Ve Svaminatha Iyer, R Raghava Iyengar, Paridhimarkalignar, Shanmugham Pillai & others. Also Panditurai Tevar’s father was a close associate of Tamil Mahavidvan Meenakshisundaram Pillai, the preceptor of U Ve Svaminatha Iyer.
• It was Panditurai Tevar/Ponnusvami Tevar who had apparently recommended and also sponsored Pooci Srinivasa Iyengar to learn under Patnam Subramanya Iyer. Apart from Patnam and Pooci Iyengar, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and his brother Ramasvami Sivan were closely associated with the Ramanathapuram Royals.
• We have a varna in Mohana by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bagavathar “Manamohana” in ata tala with the raja mudra of “Mudduramalinga” which Dr B M Sundaram, says as alluding to Muthuramalinga Sethupati, Bhaskara’s father. Muthuramalinga Sethupathi passed away in 1872 while Muthiah Bagavathar was born only in 1877.  I am unsure how this varna can be ascribed as having been composed so.
• The Royal House of Ramnad also patronized a descendant of the Tanjore Quartet,  Vadivelu Pillai-  a grandson of the Quartet Sivanandam. by making him an AstAna vidvan. We have a beautiful Svarajati in the raga Khamas ‘ edO pArAmukam’ composed probably by this Vadivelu Pillai or by his brother’s (Kannusvami Pillai) son Sangita Kalanidhi Ponnayya Pillai (1889-1945) . This composition in which Bhaskara Setupati is portrayed as a nAyakA is again a  very rare one. The svarajathi made its way out of oblivion from the private manuscripts of  the famous dance guru K P Kittappa Pillai and was subsequently published by the Music Academy.

The Balahamsa varna and the navaratna ragamalika are the ones that Subbarama Dikshitar composed on Bhaskara Setupati, which find place respectively in the SSP and its Anubandha. Interestingly both have an oral tradition as well and for the present blog post I will take up these two compositions of Subbarama Dikshitar, both of them being beautiful in themselves.

BALAHAMSA VARNA:

The Balahamsa varna of Subbarama Dikshitar is a veritable encyclopedia of the raga Balahamsa. Its sahitya runs as under:

Pallavi

srI rAjadhiraja sannuta mahAraja sevita

srI rAmanAtha padAmbhoja

Anupallavi

srI rAjarAjeshvari krUpa pAtra sudhIndra

srI bhAskara setUpatI sArvabhauma bOgha dEvEndra

Carana:

kAmini nInnE koriyunnadirA

Anubandha:

kAmUni kEli dhani nElu kOra

This apart the, composition has sahitya for the muktayisvara and the ettugada svaras apart from having an anubandha.  In the text of the varna, Subbarama Dikshitar invokes the name of Lord Ramanatha of Ramesvaram, given that the Sethupathis are the considered the guardians of the mythological bridge Ramasethu that was built and are also the traditional patrons of the Ramanathasvami Temple. Subbarama Dikshitar also refers to Bhaskara Sethupathi as a recipient of the benign Grace of Goddess Rajarajesvari . One may think that its a casual mention of a Goddess from the Hindu pantheon & nothing more. A little more study of the history of the Ramnad Royals would show that She is the tutelary diety of the Sethupatis. And so it would be appropriate to digress here a bit to know more about this Goddess worshipped by the Sethupathis.

SRI RAJARAJESHVARI AT ‘RAMALINGA VILASAM’ :

Goddess Rajarajeshvari, was the tutelary deity of the Royals of Ramanathapuram. She had a temple within the precincts of ‘Ramalinga Vilasam’ the royal residence of the Sethupathis, which can be visited even today. In fact the Goddess with similar names/form has been the family deity of the Royals of the neighboring Sivaganga and also of the Tanjore Kings, reminding us of Goddess Camundesvari and how she is the family deity of the Wodeyar Kings of Mysore. Goddess Rajarajeshvari of the Ramanathapuram Palace used to be worshipped daily by the ruling Sethupathy and also grand pujas for her were held on occasions such as the Navaratri celebrations. The Sri Rajarajeshvari icon that was worshipped by the Setupathis of Ramnad is in the form of Mahishasuramardhini or Durga with eight hands and is mounted on an emerald/maragatha peetam. Legend has it that the golden figurine was gifted to the Sethupatis by the Nayaks of Madura. The green emerald base was got from the Kings of Mysore, during a conquest and it itself was originally supposed to have been sourced by the Sankaracharya from Himalayas. The worship of this Rajarajeshvari icon during the Navaratri celebrations of the year 1892 is recorded in detail in Chapter V of the book “Kingship and Colonial Practice in Colonial India” by Pamela Price, published by Cambridge University Press. This Royal icon never leaves the precincts of the Palace, ‘Ramalinga Vilasam” and was only worshipped by the Sethupathy & members of his royal family and on rare occasions a few esteemed guests of the Royals were invited to witness the puja. The Goddess & King Sethupathis shared a common external identity, that as together, they preserved dharma and ensured peace and prosperity in the Kingdom. Even today akin to the Dussehra Festival done royally in Mysore, the Navaratri celebrations in Ramnad are celebrated grandly, see news report here.²

U Ve Svaminatha Iyer in his chronicles records his participation in one such Navaratri celebrations on the invitation of Raja Bhaskara Sethupati. He records the gala event during which a special 1008 shankhabhisheka was performed to the Godesses.

Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Sethupathi (1710-1725) offering obeisance to Goddess Rajarajesvari – A Mural Painting in “Ramalinga Vilasam” the Royal Palace of the Ramanathapuram Rulers (Photo Courtesy: “The Courts of Pre-Colonial South India” – by Jennifer Howes)

Bhaskara Sethupathy was deeply devoted to Goddess Rajarajeshvari. In his personal dairy, in an entry dating to January 1893, Bhaskara Sethupathy recorded that one of his life ambition was to completely renovate her temple. And in that year he offered a bejeweled cup and a sari weaved in gold, which he had purchased in Madras ! ¹ Apparently till then animal sacrifices were made to this deity, which was stopped by Bhaskara Sethupathi with the guidance and benign blessings of the Sankaracharya of Sringeri.

As referred earlier, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer (1844-1893) was patronized by the Rajas of Ramanathapuram, particularly by Bhaskara Sethupathi’s father Muthuramalinga Sethupathi II (1862-1873). It is worth noting here that Vaidyanatha Iyer is never known to have a sung on a mortal. One can surmise that probably one evening, during a visit to the ‘Ramalinga Vilasam’, Vaidyanatha Iyer must have been probably invited to witness the puja of this Rajarajeshvari and he went on to compose his Janaranjani composition “pAhimAm srI rAjarAjeshvarI” in praise of the deity!

Pahimam Shrirajarajeshwari-janaranjani-Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer

Though this kriti does not have any reference in its sahitya to Ramanathapuram or its Royals, still the nexus seems worth imagining at least! And another interesting reference in this connection is the pallavi rendered by Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer during the coronation celebrations of Bhaskara Sethupati. As before mentioned, after Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer along with Patnam Subramanya Iyer and Kundrakudi Krishna Iyer finished rendering the Todi pallavi, ‘Ganalola karunalavala’, Bhaskara Sethupati requested Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer to render one more pallavi in the Simhananda tala, egged on by the assembled vidvans. The veteran composer/singer composed one in praise of  Goddess Rajarajesvari, in a trice , in the 108 akshara tala and rendered it splendidly.

This also leads one to another interesting trail of thought as to the circumstance in which Subbarama Dikshitar might have composed the varna on Bhaskara Sethupati. As a matter of fact apart from these compositions given in text/notation in the SSP we do not have any record of the time and place in which Subbarama Dikshitar must have met Bhaskara Sethupati. The piece could have been composed by Subbarama Dikshitar in April 1889 to commemorate the coronation of Bhaskara Sethupati when he formally became the Raja of Ramnad at the end of his minority.

Also there is one other piece of information with which we can surmise/imagine another probable scenario! Bhaskara Sethupati as is obvious from his personal dairies ,was a Devi upAsakA. In the entry made in January 1893 he had indicated that he wanted to learn and practice Sakti Tantra. Indeed so in that same year the Sethupathi conducted the kumbhabishekam of the Rajarajesvari temple. And Subbarama Dikshitar perhaps met Bhaskara Sethupati on the occasion of that consecration. We well know that Subbarama Dikshitar was a practitioner of Sri Vidya cult and was initiated into it very early in life. This could have made the young & hardly 25 year old Sethupathi to look upon the sage-like looking Subbarama Dikshitar as his guru/preceptor to guide him in the worship of Devi.

Let us first hear the rendering of this very rare varna by Prof S R Janakiraman and his disciple Sriram Kannan in this video clipping below recorded a few weeks ago.

The Professor’s enviable repertoire traces back to two illustrious lineages as exemplified by Sangita Kalanidhi Flute Svaminatha Pillai and Tiger Varadacariar. While SSP additionally gives the sahitya for the muktayisvara and for the ettugada svaras, the same is not rendered by Prof SRJ. Attention is invited to the rendering of the concluding portions of the varna, i.e the sequential rendering of the last avarta of ettugada svara followed by the anubandha sahitya, the anupallavi, the muktayi svara and finally ending with the pallavi sahitya, which marks the logical conclusion to the rendering. This varna is a classic example of the older form of which the Bhairavi ata tala varna ‘Viribhoni’ is a prime example. Though the extant renderings of the Bhairavi varna is a truncated one, the SSP has the text & notation of the complete varna together with the anubandha.

ANALYSIS OF BALAHAMSA⁷

The varna contains older/archaic phrases not in vogue and presents a picture of what Balahamsa was, once upon a time. In the SSP itself, we have the following compositions given from this raga.⁴

• (Muddu)Venkatamakhi’s gitam in matya tAla
• Muthusvami Dikshitar’s Guruguha Vibakthi kriti, “guruguhAd anyam na janEham” set in jhampa tAla
• Subbarama Dikshitar’s aforesaid Tana varna in ata tAla
• His sancari in matya tAla

While we do have good number compositions of Tyagaraja and that of the post trinity composer Mysore Sadasiva Rao, Subbarama Dikshitar’s creation is the lexicon for this raga & contains a number of phrases which have since gone out of vogue. From a historical perspective Balahamsa finds first mention in King Shahaji’s ‘Ragalakshanamu’ followed by Tulaja’s ‘Sangita Saramruta’. Subbarama Dikshitar’s interpretation is completely aligned to the older version as given by Shahaji, with vakra murccanas. Barring a sequential SRGM and PDNs, other prayogas abound, to put it simply.

In the SSP, Balahamsa is defined by Subbarama Dikshitar thus:

1. Upanga and sampurna with nishada being varjya in the arohana, under the Kedaragaula raaganga.
2. Rishabha is the jiva and nyasa svara and sadja is graha svara.
3. Salient murccanas include SRPMR,  SRGMPMR, dSRMGR, SRMGRGS, RSndpdSR and GMPMR (tara sadja svara is denoted in lower case, madhya stayi in upper case and mandhara stayi svaras in lower case italics. Those in bold font are svaras to be emphasized)

It needs to be noted that the contemporaneous version of Balahamsa as evidenced by the kritis of Tyagaraja and Sadasiva Rao has its roots in Govindacarya’s definition of Balahamsa with the arohana/avarohana being S R M P D s/s N D P M R M G S as an upanga janya under Harikambhoji mela. And also instead of rishabha, madhyama and dhaivatha are seen in profusion. The melodic difference between the Balahamsa  as documented by Subbarama Dikshitar on one hand and that found in the version propounded by Govindacarya is best exemplified by the Mysuru Sadasiva Rao’s kriti.

Sangita Kala Acharya Smt Seetha Rajan renders Sadasiva Rao’s “Evarunnaru” in this concert excerpt here: Evarunnaru – Balahamsa

Attention is invited to the marked difference in the treatment of the raga in this composition. And it does make us wonder when this change to raga lakshana of this raga took place. Suffice to state that this raga is another member of that list which represent a difference in treatment as evidenced by the compositions of Tyagaraja on one hand & Dikshitar on the other.

Prof.S.R.Janakiraman follows up & touches upon some of the musical aspects and an anecdote around this raga :

Balahamsa-Raga-An Introduction By Prof.S.R.Janakiraman

SOME POINTS ON BALAHAMSA:

• It’s interesting to note that the final avarta of the not-sung citta svara of the Guruguha vibhakti krithi ‘Guruguhad anyam’,starting with the phrase SRMPDPs is reproduced almost verbatim by Subbarama Dikshitar in his varna in the muktayi svara section. The conception of  Subbarama Dikshitar of this raga is closely aligned to Muthusvami Dikshitar’s.
• The ragas Natanarayani and Mahuri have melodic overlap with Balahamsa.  While Natanarayani goes as SRGSRMPDs/sDPMGRS and Mahuri goes as SRMGRMPDs/sNDPMGRS, despite the presence/absence of nishada, they would sound identical as they are all purvanga pradhana raga. They differ on the jiva svara – Rishabha is the jiva svara for Balahamsa and Madhyama for Mahuri.
• Muthusvami Dikshitar also employs additional motifs in Balahamsa such as the the drop from the madhya sadja to the mandhara pancama and a similar jump from the madhya pancama to the tara sadja. Similar such approach is seen in Natanarayani as well, such as dropping from madhya rishabha to mandhara dhaivatha, vide the Dikshitar composition ‘mahAganapate pAlayasumAm’ as notated in the SSP.

NAVARAGAMALIKA -’gAravamuganna doraiyani’⁸

We move over next to the ragamalika composed by Subbarama Dikshitar. This navaragamalika or a garland of 9 ragas is set in Kalyani, Todi, Saveri , Atana , Neelambari , Manirangu, Kambhoji, Mukhari and Mohana. The setting of this composition is similar, in that it is conceived as an expression of the unifocal love of a damsel named Kalyani, whose longing for the nAyaka (Bhaskara Sethupathi) is conveyed to him through her friend. Subbarama Dikshitar has skillfully woven in the raga names in the telugu sahitya appropriately. In this composition Kalyani’s friend while addressing the nAyaka, first invokes the benign grace of Lord Subrahmanya, then proceeds to describe Kalyani and her yearning for him and finally ends by appealing to him to accept her. Similar to the Balahamsa varna, here too Dikshitar refers to the Sethupathi as the recipient of Goddess Rajarajesvari’s grace, thus:

vIra dAsa mukhari sEtu vibhU bhAskara mahipAla

sakala sUrAsura sEvita shrI rajarajEsvari karunA katAksha labdha

nikhila bhAgya dhurandharudagu srI bhAskara

The translation of the telugu lyrics of this rAgamAlikA can be read here.

Vidushi Rama Ravi who traces her repertoire to her mother as well as to the scion of the Dhanammal family, Prof T Vishvanathan has also rendered this composition. This is part of a commercial release by Carnatica.

And finally we have Prof S R Janakiraman rendering the rAgamalikA.

Garavamu-Ragamalika – Prof.S.R.Janakiraman accompanied by Ashwin & Rohin Iyer

In the sahitya of this composition Subbarama Dikshitar gives the lyric as  ”tirunElu srI kArtikEya divya mOhana shikivAhana”. It’s a puzzle as to which town/temple does ‘tirunElu’ imply! Does it refer to Tirunelveli? And if so which temple there, does it refer to and what is the nexus between that temple/kArtikEya and Bhaskara Setupati, to be so mentioned in this composition? Wish one knew the answers!

CONCLUSION:

Today Bhaskara Sethupathi is all but a distant & fading memory. The memorial he constructed to commemorate Svami Vivekanda’s return from America and his philanthropy may soon be completely forgotten. But Subbarama Dikshitar has immortalized him by these two compositions  thus etching his memory forever on the fabric of our music.

Subbarama Dikshitar’s Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini contains many of his compositions in praise of royal patrons. Some of them are listed below:

1. ‘sAmi entanI’ – Surati – Rupaka – Cauka Varna in praise of King/Prince Muddusvami Ettendra of Ettayapuram one of the several pieces that have been composed by Subbarama Dikshitar, quite naturally so as he was the Asthana Vidvan of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam.
2. ‘enduku rA rA’ – Ragamalika – Rupaka -In praise of King/Prince Muddusvami Ettendra of Ettayapuram
3. ‘nI sarilErani’ – Ragamalika – Tisra Eka – In praise of King Rama Varma of Travancore
4. ‘kAmincina kalAvati’ – Ragamalika -Tisra Eka – In praise of Sri Ananda Gajapati Raju, the Maharaja of Vijayanagaram
5. ‘sArasAgrE sarasa’ – Daru – Natanarayani – Tisra eka – In praise of Zamindar Nagayasvami Pandiyan of Periyur

Foot Note 2:

According to Prof Sambamoorthy ( ‘Kundrakkudi Krishna Iyer’ – An article in “The Hindu” dated 25-10-1970), the trio of musicians rendered the pallavi “Setupati Jaya Jaya Ravikula Raja Vijaya Raghunatha Sri Bhaskara Sami” in raga Bhairavi, Jhampa tala with atitagraha, at ¾ count with Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer as the senior performer.

REFERENCES:

1. Pamela G Price(2002) – “Kingship and Colonial Practice in Colonial India” published by Cambridge University Press
2. Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bagavathar (2005)-”Cameos – Memoirs of Sulamangalam Vaidyanatha Bagavathar” – Published by  Sunadham, Chennai
3. David West Rudner (1994) – ‘Caste & Capitalism in Colonial India -The Nattukottai Chettiars’ -University of California Press
4. A Vadivelu (1903) -”Aristocracy Of Southern India” Vol I -Published by Vest & Co, Madras
5. Subbarama Dikshitar (1904) – Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini – Reprinted in Tamil by the Madras Music Academy, India
6. Dr B M Sundaram (2002) – “Varna Svarajathi” – Published by Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Tanjore
7. T V Subba Rao & S R Janakiraman(1993) – ‘Ragas of the Sangita Saramruta of King Tulaja’ – Published by the Madras Music Academy
8. K C Kamaliah(1977) -’Subbarama Dikshitar’s Navaragamalika’ – Journal of Music Academy Vol XLVIII, pages 186-191
9. Dr B M Sundaram (1984/85 ) – Mudras in Tana Varnas – Lecture demonstration at the Krishna Gana Sabha
10. Jennifer Howes (2002) -”The Courts of Pre-Colonial South India”-Royal Asiatic Society Books Series, published by Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7007-1585-5

WHO WAS PALLAVI GOPALA IYER?

Per Prof Sambamoorthy and Dr B M Sundaram as well, Gopala Iyer was the son of Tsallagali Veeraraghava Iyer as mentioned in my previous post. I should confess that I had not looked to into Dr Sita’s magnum opus, “Tanjore as a Seat of Music” to see what she had to say. Dr Sita provides a brief profile of Pallavi Gopala Iyer under pages 179-180 of her work and therein there is no mention of his forefathers or descendants. Further in pages 256-262, of her thesis/publication, she profiles the famous Minister of the Tanjore Court, Varahappa Dikshita Pandit (1795-1869) along with his descendants and therein she makes a mention of another/different Gopala Iyer who was called Tsallagali Gopala Iyer and he was the son of Tsallagali Veeraraghava Iyer. They were a famous line of vaineekas attached to the Tanjore Court. In sum, there seem to have been two different Gopala Iyers in question, in the Tanjore Court. Also according to Dr Sita, Tsallagali Gopala Iyer belonged to the period of King Sivaji and thus he belonged to a time much latter than Pallavi Gopala Iyer.

The point I want to place on record is that as per Dr Sita, Pallavi Gopala Iyer had nothing to do with Tsallagali Veeraraghava Iyer whose son Tsallagali Gopala Iyer is a different musician from a different time period altogether. My original post refers to Pallavi Gopala Iyer as the son of Tsallagali Veeraghava Iyer, which is based on the account of Prof Sambamoorthy and Dr B M Sundaram. It also needs to be mentioned here that historians/researchers typically refer to the Modi records found in the Saravathi Mahal Library in Tanjore to verify or reconstruct history. Dr Sita provides a facsimile reproduction of a Modi record in her work as an example.  Interpreting those records/scripts has a great bearing on the final conclusion/deduction and this may probably account for the divergences that one notices in the two sets of accounts about Pallavi Gopala Iyer.

DISCOGRAPHY:

Secondly, since my original post I came across the rendition of the kriti , “shrI ramA ramani” in the raga Mohanam which is found in Rangaramanuja Iyengar’s Kritimanimalai, attributed to Pallavi Gopala Iyer. Vidvan Sanjay Subramaniam, accompanied by Vidvan S D Sridhar on the violin and Vidvan Trivandrum Vaidyanathan on the mrudangam, opens his All India Radio Concert, broadcast by Chennai A Station on 26^th June 2009@ 8:45 AM, with this kriti of Pallavi Gopala Iyer.

http://www.sangeethamshare.org/tvg/UPLOADS-1201—1400/1225-Sanjay_Subramanian/

Apparently this composition was fairly well encountered in concerts decades ago and musicians including G N Balasubramaniam (GNB) used to render it elaborately. As one can see this kriti is structured in the old kriti template, akin to Needumurtini in Nattakurinji  which is as under:

Pallavi – 1 avarta of adi tala

Anupallavi  – 1 avarta of adi tala

Caranam – 2 avarta of adi tala

Additionally we can see that the kriti template has multiple caranas (at least two) and a cittasvara section spanning 2 avartas of adi tala. This seems to have been the classic structure from the pre-trinity days. Another example from that period is ‘Sphuratute’ in Devagandhari of Paidala Gurumurti Sastrigal notated in the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini(SSP). Many of kritis of Melattur Veerabadrayya are in this template as well, barring the cittasvara section. These proto-kriti form comes to us from an age when compositions such as varnas, svarajatis and padas dominated. The trinity perhaps went on to impart a slightly more expansive kriti template, investing sahitya for atleast an additional avarta of tala in the anupallavi and couple of more for the caranams. Muthusvami Dikshitar contributed an additional segment called the madhyama kala sahitya portion as an appendage to the carana. It would’nt be out of place to mention a very odd form for a kriti as utilized by Dikshitar for the kriti ‘Sri Meenakshi Gauri’ in the rare raga Gauri. This kriti as documented in the SSP has a number of oddities bunched together:

• The pallavi itself has a madhayama kala sahitya portion
• The pallavi is immediately followed by a portion of svaras called muktayisvara
• The anupallavi(samashti carana) has four rupaka tala avartas of madhyamakala sahitya followed by 4 avartas of cittasvaras.

Pallavi Gopala Iyer is one of the composers from the pre-trinity period who adorned the Tanjore Court and was a vaggeyakara par excellence, in his own right. We do have accounts of him from Subbarama Dikshitar and also from manuscripts and references in the Sarasvathi Mahal Library of Tanjore and from Prof Sambamoorthy. Subbarama Dikshitar has also recorded for posterity, the notation for a number of his compositions which offers us an invaluable glimpse of the music of those days bygone and which help us understand raga lakshana as it existed in the run up to the times of the Trinity.

HIS LIFE & TIMES:

In his “Vaggeyakara Caritamu”, Subbarama Dikshitar states that Gopala Iyer adorned the Tanjore Court during the times of King Amarasimha(1787-1802) and King Serfoji(1802-1832)¹. Prof Sambamoorthy places the timeline of Pallavi Gopala Iyer as the latter part of 18^th century and first quarter of 19^th century. Given this and other collateral evidences, he should have lived circa 1750-1820. And thus he was in all probability slightly elder to the Trinitarians.

Here is his biography in brief as dealt with in the records and accounts available to us:

Gopala Iyer hailed from “northern regions” according to Subbarama Dikshitar. He was the son of one Callagalli Veeraraghava Iyer. Gopala Iyer also had a brother by name Sanjeeva Iyer. The honorific title “Callagalli” (telugu) came to be conferred, probably because the music that Veeraraghava Iyer sang was like pleasant cool breeze, as the term implied in Telugu! Both the sons of Veeraraghava Iyer were enrolled under no less a teacher as Patchimiriam Adiyappayya, the legendary composer of the classic Bhairavi Ata tala varnam, “Viribhoni”. From amongst the all time greats of Carnatic Music, the honorific title “mArgadarshi” or “Trail Blazer” has been conferred on 4 icons :

1. Karvetinagar Govindasamayya – for his magnum opus adi tala tana varna in Navaroz and probably for the ‘pedda varnamu’, “SarigadAni pai” in raga Mohana as well.
2. Melattur Veerabhadrayya (for his now lost classic, the Huseni Svarajathi “Sami Ninne” in Adi tala)
3. Sesha Iyengar (for his immortal set of 60 krithis, selected no less by the Lord at Srirangam) and
4. Patchimiriam Adiyappayya ( for his Bhairavi ata tala tana varna)

Adiyappayya’s other illustrious disciples include Syama Shastri, Ghanam Krishna Iyer and “bhUlOka gAndharva” Narayana Svami Iyer (of the Udayarpalayam Samasthanam). Needless to say each one of Adiyappayya’s disciples went on to make a mark in the world of music with their contribution!

Prof Sambamurthy with authority credits Adiyappayya as the first to systematize the art of rendering raga, tana and pallavi as an organized mechanism of exposition. And he went on to teach that to his worthy disciples. Gopala Iyer became so adept in it that he became the first to be conferred the title “Pallavi” in recognition of his mastery over this  (then) new art form. This title also adorns the name of many other latter musicians/composers including Pallavi Duraisvami Iyer, Pallavi Sesha Iyer etc. And Pallavi Gopala Iyer was one of the prominent gems of the Tanjore Court, which at that point in time had more than 360 vidvans ornamenting it!

Pallavi Gopala Iyer also seems to have had a son by name  Krishnayyar who too was a musician of merit. This apart we have no other personal details available about Gopala Iyer or about his descendants.

GOPALA IYER – THE VAGGEYAKARA:

Gopala Iyer’s colophon was “Venkata”. Apart from having been part of the Tanjore Court, he also visited the Mysore Court during the reign of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (1799-1868). His compositions sport the raja mudra as an ankita as well.The following are the compositions that are available to us through the Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini (SSP), its anubandha and manuscripts found in the Sarasvati Mahal Library.

Varnas:

1. Vanajakshi – Kalyani – Ata tala (Mudra : Kasturiranga)
2. Kanakangi – Todi – Ata tala
3. Intacalamu – Kambhoji – Ata tala

Kritis:

1. Amba Nadu – Todi – Adi tala (Mudra : Venkatapati Sahodari)
2. Hari sarva paripurna -Misra Eka (Mudra : Varada Venkata Sriramana)
3. Mahishasura mardhini – Kalyani – Tisra Eka (Mudra : Varada Venkata Sriramana)
4. Needu carana pankaja – Kalyani – Adi (Mudra : Varada Venkata )
5. Needu Murtini – Nattakurinji – Adi (Mudra : Venkatesa)

Apart from the above ,we have the following compositions ascribed to Gopala Iyer available to us from Sri Rangaramanuja Iyengar’s Kritimani Malai Vol IV.

1. Mahatripura Sundari – Bhairavi – Rupaka
2. Sri Rama ramani manohara – Mohanam – Adi
3. Shripura nivasini – Mohanam – Rupaka

Amongst these compositions, the tana varnas in Kalyani and Todi are heard in the concert circuit along with the Todi, Kalyani (‘Needu carana’) and Nattakurinji krithis.

Also there are 2 other daru’s found in the Tanjore Sarasvati Mahal collection -”Sringara Na Mohana” in the raga Begada and “Vintadanara” in Madhyamavathi, both of which sport “kasturiranga” as an ankita/mudra. One cannot but wonder if they could also be Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s. Again we do not know for sure.

AN ANALYSIS OF GOPALA IYER’S CREATIONS:

According to Prof Sambamoorthy, as a composer Pallavi Gopala Iyer was the first or perhaps one of the earliest to adopt the so called “sampurna varika” style of approach. Under this approach in a composition every note is invested with kampita gamaka, totally eschewing flat notes. Indeed this is a very interesting point of discussion. Gopala Iyer purposefully applied it on the then “auttara ragas”, namely Todi & Kalyani . In that era long bygone, these 2 ragas along with Pantuvarali were treated as auttara/turuska/northern/videsi ragas. The transformation of Todi and Kalyani is one of the remarkable examples of the dynamics of our music system during the run-up the period of the Trinity.

Clip 1: Musiri Subrahmanya Iyer’s Rendering of Ambanadu – Todi

Perhaps one can surmise that in the hands of Pallavi Gopala Iyer, Todi and Kalyani got a royal treatment with the result they became mainstream ragas along with the Sankarabharanams, Bhairavis and Kambhojis and the Trinitarians subsequently went on to compose some of their greatest gems adopting the approach Gopala Iyer took.

Prof Sambamoorthy also credits Gopala Iyer of reformatting the then existing structure of a tana varna, to its current modern form. And this view is also advanced by Prof S R Janakiraman in one of his lecture demonstrations.

Older structure of a tana varna ( circa 1750):

The varna was structured with a pallavi, followed by anupallavi & muktayisvara, followed by ettugadda Pallavi/carana & its sets of ettuagada svaras, followed by a small sahitya portion called anubandha. The ettugada svaras were composed in increasing avartas of the tala in which the tana varna was composed.

The pallavi line was first rendered, followed by anupallavi with a round of muktayi svara as its appendage. This was then followed by the ettugada pallavi or carana which was used as a refrain to render the 4 or 5 sets of ettugada svaras. After the last ettugada svara was sung, the ettugada pallavi/carana/refrain was sung followed by a portion of sahitya called anubandha. After singing the anubandha, the anupallavi was to be sung followed by the muktayi svara and finally the pallavi line had to sung once to conclude the rendering.

Examples:

• “Viribhoni” – Bhairavi – Ata tala – The notation as provided by Subbarama Dikshitar in the SSP for the ettugada section and for the anubandha can be referred. As one can notice , modern day renditions are a truncated version of the original template.
• Many of the varnas found in the SSP including those composed by Subbarama Dikshitar himself (“Intamodi”- Durbar- Ata, “Varijakshi” -Sahana – Ata et al ) follow this conventional but lengthy format.
• Another older varna dating to the early half of the 18^th century, which can be cited as an example is “Nenarunchi” – Bilahari – Ata of Sonti Venkatasubbayya as also the tana varnas of Ramasvami Dikshitar.

Current/Modern Form:

A tana varna today is structured with just the pallavi, followed by anupallavi & muktayi svaras and end with the ettugada pallavi/refrain with 3 to 5 ettugada svaras with upto a maximum of 3 tala cycles in the last ettugada svara sequence. The anubandha portion no longer exists. In terms of rendering, a tana varna is concluded with the singing of the last ettugada svara sequence with the ettugada pallavi refrain.

Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s varnas are the earliest examples of this modern form, which is bereft of the anubandha portion. In fact his ata tala tana varna in Kambhoji “Intachalamu” is one of the smallest of its breed with the following structure:

• Pallavi, Anupallavi, muktayi svara section each with 2 cyles/avarthas of ata tala
• Ettugada pallavi – 1 cycle/avartha of ata tala
• Ettugada svara 1 – 1 cycle/avartha of ata tala
• Ettugada svara 2 – 1 cycle/avartha of ata tala
• Ettugada svara 3 – 2 cycles/avarthas of ata tala

Prof Sambamoorthy, also goes on to add that much latter Veena Kuppier, also applied Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s modified form for all his varnas by dispensing with the anubandha portion. However it needs to go on record that this is not entirely true. Quite a few varnas of Veena Kuppier do have the anubandha and this is recorded for posterity by the notation and text of the varnas as published in the invaluable ‘Pallavi Svarakalpavalli’ by his equally illustrious son Tiruvottriyur Tyagier. In fact the famous Sankarabharana Adi tala varna “Sami Ninne” taught to all beginners, has a short and beautiful anubandha with the following sahitya:

“nEnarUnci nE nI mAruni kelI kUdi maninca rA kUmArA”

Vidushi Seetha Rajan, true to tradition renders the varna completely with the anubandha  in this clipping below in a “varnas only” concert !

Clip 2: Sami Ninne – Sankarabharanam

DISCOGRAPHY:

The ata tala tana varna in Kalyani has been a staple concert starter for many vidvans. Prof Sambamoorthy rates the varna as one of the best vocalizers to kick start a concert. Gopala Iyer’s conceptualization of Kalyani in his gem-of-a composition is a veritable lesson in Kalyani for any listener or learner. The varna sports the mudra “mA kasturi ranga”. Prof Sambamoorthy opines that it refers only to Vishnu, the father of manmatha & not on any mortal or King. Interestingly there is another varna “(Y)Enthani vedinaga” in the raga Navaroz which also sports the mudra “kasturiranga” as well and in some of the publications it is attributed  (perhaps without authority) to Maharaja Svati Tirunal.

According to Prof Sambamoorthy, it seems Gopala Iyer composed this Kalyani varna even when he was under the tutelage of Adiyappayya. The disciple took the courage to sing this in front of his revered guru, who heard it with rapt attention. And then Adiyappayya apparently remarked that it was a ‘schoolboy’s composition’, probably out of goodwill, lest his illustrious disciple were to become proud should he praise him profusely ! The master must have undoubtedly been secretly happy with his ward’s attainment, no doubt!

Clip 3: Architect of modern day recital format (which starts with a varna), Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar begins his concert  with the Kalyani varna

In the Todi varna “Kanakangi” which is attributed by Subbarama Dikshitar to Pallavi Gopala Iyer, the ankita/raja mudra that one finds therein is “Tulajendruni tanayudaina Sarabhoji maharajendra..”, composed on Sarabhoji II who ruled between 1802-1832. Interestingly Dr B M Sundaram on the strength of the manuscripts of the Tanjore Quartet & the publication “Tanjai Peruvudaiyan Perisai” ascribes it to Ponniah .

Clip 4: Sangita Kalanidhi K V Narayanasvami renders the Todi varna “Kanakangi“

Gopala Iyer’s another magnum opus is his Nattakurinji composition “Nidu Murtini”. This composition along with the Kambhoji varna “Intachalamu” and the Kalyani varna “Vanajakshi” is found in the SSP and Subbarama Dikshitar upholds them as authority/examples of raga lakshana for those ragas. Nattakurinji is one of the old ragas of our system with a documented textual tradition. One of the oldest compositions in Nattakurinji is the varna “Inta aluka” in Ata tala composed by Kuvanasamayya, one of the Karvetnagar brothers, dating to circa 1700! The varna is found documented in the SSP (1904) and the much older printed publication Sangita Sarvaarta Saara Sangrahamu (1852). Gopala Iyer interprets Nattakurinji in his own inimitable way. Attention is invited to Gopala Iyer’s version of Nattakurinji especially the repeated emphasis on the vakra sancara MNDNs and its exquisite citta svara.

Clip 5: Prof S R Janakiraman renders the kriti “Needumurti ni” here :Needumurtini – Nattakurinji

The Prof opines that Gopala Iyer was the first to add cittasvara as a section/appendage to krithis. However Dr Sita in her article says that Kavi Matrubhutayya (circa 1850, slightly earlier to Gopala Iyer) was possibly the first to add the cittasvara feature to krithis as exemplified by the beautiful cittasvara of his classic ‘Neemadi callaga’ in Anandabhairavi.

Moving over next to Gopala Iyer’s other Kalyani piece “nIdu carana”, according to Prof Sambamoorthy it is a composition on Goddess Anandavalli, enshrined in the temple on the Vennar river banks at Tanjore. Muthusvami Dikshitar has composed on this diety, refer his kriti “Chayavatim Anandavallim” in the raga Chayavati, the asampurna mela equivalent of Suryakantham. We also have another krithi of Dikshitar (“Agasteesvaram”)in the raga Lalitha on the Lord Shiva at this temple.

Clip 6: Sangita Kalanidhi M S Subbulakshmi renders Needu carana

Prof Sambamoorthy opines that the dhatu/musical setting of  the pallavi “Needu carana” is very unique/beautiful and has been thrust on Tyagaraja’s compositions “Sundari nee divya rupa” and “Vasudevayani”. According to him the present dhatu of the pallavi of these two songs is spurious, being derived from Needu carana. The original dhatu of the pallavi of “Vasudevayani” starts off as  GMPDNs only and not as one hears today! And Svati Tirunal’s “sArasa suvadhana” too is a similar victim!

I have not heard the renditions of the other krithis of Gopala Iyer namely  ‘Harisarva paripurna’ in Kambhoji and ‘Mahishasura mardhini’ in Kalyani. I would be grateful if somebody were to share any recordings of these 2 compositions. The tana varna in Kambhoji is again a rare one and luckily we do have authentic renditions and I intend covering that in the next post!

PS: I have drawn much of the content of this blog post from the references cited below and for the sake of brevity I have not indicated them in the body itself. Also thanks are due to Sri Lakshman Ragde for providing the listing of Pallavi Gopala Iyer’s compositions.

References:

1. Subbarama Dikshitar (1904) – Sangeetha Sampradaya Pradarshini – Reprinted in Tamil by the Madras Music Academy, India
2. Prof.P. Sambamoorthy (1970) – “Pallavi Gopala Iyer” – Published in the “The Hindu” dated 12^th April 1970
3. Dr B M Sundaram (2002) – “Varna Svarajathi” – Published by Sarasvathi Mahal Library, Tanjore
4. Dr S Sita (1970)- “Kavi Matrubhutayya” – Published in the “The Hindu” dated 6^th December 1970

The following is a list of articles and lecture demonstrations that KVR did during his life time:

List of his articles/publications:

1. Ramachandran K.V. (1938) – “The Melakarta – A Critique” – The Journal of the Music Academy IX, pp. 31-33, Madras, India.
2. Ramachandran K.V. (1946) – “Gopala Nayaka” – The Journal of the Music Academy XVII, pp. 66-73, Madras, India.
3. Ramachandran K.V. (1950) – “Carnatic ragas from a new angle – Sankarabharana” – The Journal of the Music Academy XXI, pp. 88-99, Madras, India.
4. Ramachandran K.V. (1950) – “Carnatic Ragas and the Textual Tradition” – The Journal of the Music Academy XXI, pp. 99-106, Madras, India.
5. Ramachandran K.V. (1950) – “Apurva ragas of Tyagaraja’s Songs” – The Journal of the Music Academy XXI, pp. 107-109, Madras, India.
6. Ramachandran K.V. (1952) – “Subandhu’s Overtones” – The Journal of the Music Academy XIII, pp. 121-125, Madras, India
7. Ramachandran K.V. (1954) – “Grace Notes of Dance” – The Journal of the Music Academy XXV, pp. 93-100, Madras, India.
8. Ramachandran K.V. (1992) – “Nuances of Bharatanatyam” – The Journal of the Music Academy LXIII, pp. 118-138, Madras, India.
9. Ramachandran K.V. (1949-1950)- Correspondences on Art & Literature with Colin McPhee, documented by the UCLA for its Ethnomusicology Archives
10. Ramachandran K.V. (1931) – “Frescoes of Kerala” – Triveni, Mar-Apr 1931
11. Ramachandran K.V. (1931) – “Ragini Devi & Indian Dance” – Triveni – Issue dated Nov-Dec 1931
12. Ramachandran K.V. (1933) – “Hindu Origins of Javanese Music” – Triveni – Issue dated Jan-Feb 1933
13. Ramachandran K.V. (1933) – “Music & Musical Research” – Triveni – Issue dated Jul-Aug 1933
14. Ramachandran K.V. (1935) – “Dance Traditions Of South India – Part I” – Triveni, Jan-Feb 1935
15. Ramachandran K.V. (1935) – “Dance Traditions Of South India – Part II – Triveni, May-June 1935
16. Ramachandran K.V. (1939) – “The Music of the East & West” – Triveni – Issue dated June 1939
17. Ramachandran K.V . (1950) – “Music & Dance in Kalidasa” – A Monograph published by him as a small book based on the text of his lecture during the Kalidasa Day celebrations of the Madras Sanskrit Academy on 19^th October 1950. It was published in Vol XVIII, Part II of the Journal of Oriental Research, Kuppusvami Sastri Research Institute, Madras

Each one of his lecture demonstration or article is a monograph in its true and literal meaning. From a musical angle for this blog post, I would like to take up one of his great contributions, which was the discovery of Sangraha Cudamani manuscript. As would be obvious from his latter day writings/lec-dems, he became one its staunchest critic and also an opponent of the system that it had ushered in namely the formal linearization of raga scales and the scheme of the 72 Krama Sampurna Mela ragas.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE SANGRAHA CUDAMANI:

KVR was a voracious researcher of Sanskrit texts and manuscripts and he was a regular at the Adayar Library . It was his meticulous research in this library’s manuscript collection which yielded him the Sangraha Cudamani manuscripts in the year 1927. Dr V Raghavan another illustrious contemporary of KVR acknowledges it in his Music Academy article in 1933². After having discovered it KVR turned it over to DR V Raghavan and to Pandit Subrahmanya Shastri. The original manuscript written in Telugu script bore the name “Sangita Sastra Samkshepa” and in the opening verses/colophon, it was made out that the work was part of the Skandapurana, that God Shanmukha wrote it and that it is called Sangraha Cudamani. Subsequent to its discovery, Pandit Subrahmanya Shastri set out to make extensive corrections to the grammar of the entire work and had it published by the Adayar Library in the year 1938. Today,thanks to the archiving project undertaken by the Govt. of India one can read the Sanskrit edition of the Sangraha Cudamani here .

The discovery of the Sangraha Cudamani was preceded by the discovery of another related manuscript namely the “Meladhikara Lakshana” from the Tanjore Sarasvathi Mahal Library, a review of which was done by Sangita Kalanidhi T. L.Venkatrama Iyer⁴ . It would be interesting to note that it was during the same period, T L Venkatrama Iyer was also instrumental in getting the entire/available Caturdandi Prakshika (CDP) & having it published by the Music Academy. Parts of the CDP were already available, thanks to Pandit Bhatkande who had made a copy from Subbarama Dikshitar when he met in Ettayapuram during his tour of Southern India to document the history of Indian Music. Both the Meladhikara Lakshana and the Caturdandi Prakshika has been commented upon by Bhatkande in his seminal work ‘Hindustani Sangeet Paddhati’ and offers a very instructive comparison of the works as against those of others.

KVR’s CRITICISM OF THE SANGRAHA CUDAMANI³:

KVR strongly believed that the 72 melakarta scheme as formulated with lists of janya ragas in the Sangraha Cudamani was not in accordance with our musical tradition, the tradition of Tyagaraja, Muthusvami Dikshitar and Syama Shastri. He made it known in his monographs that the work was most probably the handiwork of Taccur Singarachar himself. The Music Academy lecture of his in the year 1937 titled “The Melakarta – A Critique”³ is an eminently readable/re-readable authority on why Sangraha Cudamani should not be relied upon as codifying the grammar of our music.

In his seminal paper, KVR advances the argument that 40 years after the death of Tyagaraja, Taccur Singaracar, edited much of the composer’s songs and fixed up the ragas of compositions that he didn’t know himself, by drawing raga names from the Sangraha Cudamani. KVR proceeds to literally rip apart the credentials of the work. He argues that the original manuscript was much like a “nadi grantha” full of errors, without any reference to who composed it and when. It was Pandit Subrahmanya Shastri of Tanjore who practically rewrote the entire text. Dr V Raghavan concurs as well in his work that the Sanskrit of the Sangraha Cudamani was “absurd”²!

And KVR concludes his raison-de-etre in this characteristically pungent but forthright style:

“….He (Pandit Subramanya Shastri) was able to correct the grammatical blunders (in the Sangraha Cudamani), but who could correct the musical one? From this nucleus (the Sangraha Cudamani), grew the immense (72) mela karta system. Those who have written about this work, were not able to determine its age and so have tentatively assumed that it belonged to the first half of the 19^th century, though without any basis for the supposition. It is worth noting that even these enthusiasts did not have the courage to assign the work to a period earlier than the 19^th century….”

KVR in that lecture demonstration opines that in comparison to the textual tradition that has come forth and considering facts such as inclusion of newer ragas like Behag in the list, the Sangraha Cudamani is contemporaneous with Singarachar himself! KVR also avers that, Walajapet Ramasvami Bagavathar (Walajapet Venkatramana Bhagavathar’s grandson) confided to him that ragas that KVR had disputed were in fact arbitrarily assigned to Tyagaraja’s compositions, without any enquiry whatsoever from dubious sources.

I would request readers of this blog to read and re-read this monograph of KVR which has been republished again by the Music Academy in its Platinum Jubilee Commemoration Volume.

THE AFTERMATH:

But KVR’s was unfortunately one of the lone voices of his times. The Sangraha Cudamani had marched on to become the de-facto reference standard and the holy grail of modern Carnatic musicology. And KVR would have definitely rued the day he had discovered it in the Adayar Library archives. It can be reasonably surmised that KVR brought out his discovery into the public domain as he found an eerie similarity between the ragas erroneously assigned to Tyagaraja’s compositions and those found verbatim in the Sangraha Cudamani. He would never even have dreamt that the proof that he produced would go on to undo whatever he had fought for and stood for !

In so far as his view that quite some Tyagaraja’s kritis were short changed of their ragas, KVR wasn’t in the minority. K V Srinivasa Iyengar another aficionado of those days and the brother of Tiger Varadacariar, himself in his publications (on a very different basis) bemoaned the fact that the music of Tyagaraja’s compositions had already been mutilated, beyond redemption. Mudicondan Venkatrama Iyer addresses some of these changes in his articles in the Journal of the Music Academy as well.Today, Sangita Kalanidhi Vedavalli , a chip of the old block , has been treading the lonely path to defend the Taraginis, Abheris, Ardradesis et al on one hand and “Nagumomu”, “Nadatanumanisham” et al on the other, from the onslaught of “change”.

The havoc that was wrought, which KVR ascribes to the mischief of Sangraha Cudamani and to Taccur Singarachar, had 2 major fallouts.

1. Incorrect ragas were arbitrarily assigned to many a composition. Today quite a few compositions of Tyagaraja are sung in ragas in which the composer did not originally compose in, as we know!
2. Raga lakshanas of ragas which had existed for centuries which the trinity invested their krithis with, had been arbitrarily changed. Today on this count we have known instances of ragas which have been mutilated and the kritis of the trinity are taught and sung in the truncated version.

Its indeed a very sad fact that Tyagaraja’s compositions bore the brunt of this rampage as the saint-composer in supreme confidence, thought it fit to keep the raga of the composition a closely guarded secret, which proved to be the proverbial Achilles heel. Be that as it may, it’s important to understand the true import of KVR’s (and of his ilk including Sangeeta Kalanidhi Vedavalli as well) anger and anguish and differentiate it from true musical innovation and orderly change.

As an illustration I would like to quote a few actual instances as illustrations of the 2 points which have been highlighted by KVR:

1. Raga Lakshana of Sindukannada a.k.a Kesari (as found in the kriti “Nannukanna talli”) – As per raga lakshana, the raga is supposed to be rendered with D1 whereas it is rendered with D2. Per KVR the raga should be rendered with D1 only.
2. Raga of the composition “Sogasujuda Tarama”: The raga lakshana of Kannadagaula, a hoary raga (dealt with by Sahaji and Tulaja in their musical works) is embodied in the Tyagaraja composition “Orajupujuchedi nyayama”. In his lec-dem, KVR avers/alleges that the Gandhara and Nishada svaras occurring in the dhatu of Sogasujuda Tarama were ‘changed’ (‘filed off’- is the word he uses) to make its raga lakshana aligned to that of “Orajupu”. Today “Sogasu juda” has been passed off as having been composed in Kannadagaula. One wonders what the original raga of ‘Sogasu Juda Tarama’ was!
3. Raga of the composition “Kalaharana”: This composition of Tyagaraja is rendered presently with S R2 M1 P D2 S/S D2 P M1 R2 S as a janya raga of Harikhamboji/Kedaragaula Mela. KVR forcefully and with the evidence of authentic oral tradition asserts that the raga of this composition was Suddha Saveri derived from the 1^st ragangam/melakartha Kanakambari/Kanakangi with the suddha svaras S R1 M1 P D1 S/S D1 P M1 R1 S, which is known by its present name “Karnataka Suddha Saveri”. It’s worth noting here that Subbarama Dikshitar in his SSP clearly outlines the very same point. It’s a clear case where the name of the raga has been flipped and the kriti (Purandara Dasa’s gitam ‘Analekara’ as well as Tyagaraja’s ‘Kalaharana’ in the instant case) been shortchanged with a new melodic hue.

KVR firmly believed and with conviction that Carnatic music shared many a common thread with other musical genres/forms including Hindustani Music. He also made no bones of his staunch opposition to the belief that Tyagaraja and Dikshitar belonged to different schools and they practiced/composed on the basis of Sangraha Cudamani and Catudandi Prakasika respectively. And each one of these is a subject/thread worthy of a separate analysis/blog post(s). Apart from musical history and textual tradition, on the musicological side KVR’s elucidation of musical concepts like mela, raganga etc and what they actually meant and aspects of musical delineation as found in our authentic texts such as Kaku, alapa & sthayavaghas are eminently readable and merits a follow-up blog post.

CONCLUSION:

With the passing way of much of the traditional & direct sishya parampara musicians and musicologists, the very fact that quite a number of ragas of kritis and lakshanas of ragas have been changed arbitrarily during the second half of the 19th century and into the 20th century perhaps, will one day be completely forgotten, buried in the sands of time. But I am sure KVR’s incisive and well researched tomes published this far will survive the ravages of time and serve as sign posts for researchers and students of music in the future, of these regrettable changes that had taken place in our world of music.

EPILOGUE:

KVR loved padams, rendered exquisitely by Veena Dhanammal and members of her family. The King amongst our ragas, Sankarabharanam was his other love. And it comes as no surprise that he chose to do a lecture demonstration of this raga in the Music Academy in 1950. Personally I had been awed by this particular lecture demonstration which has been published and republished by the Music Academy in its Journals. In this gem of a lec-dem, he succinctly concludes with the following paragraph & I quote him verbatim:

“….According to Somanatha, the raga (Sankarabharana) was Shiva himself donning red silk, ashes on forehead and lotus garlands around his neck. He, who chose the sacred peepul among trees, Sama amongst the Vedas was said to have chosen Sankarabharana among the ragas, to reveal himself. India has forgotten more music than other countries have created. The melodies of human composers like Jayadeva and Purandaradasa have passed out of racial memory and are entombed in the silence of oblivion. But Sankarabharana, famous before Sarangadeva’s age (13^th Century), stands athwart the centuries, timeless and eternal like the Himalayas or the Sanskrit language. I am sure you will all agree with Pandit Subbarama Dikshitar that according to elders, Sankarabharana was the greatest amongst the ragas.”

I would like to conclude this blog post with a possibly apt musical homage to the great soul, combining the two – a padam in Sankarabharanam, ‘Manini Vinnave’ a rarely rendered composition in misra capu/triputa tala. This padam, which depicts a kalahantarika nayika repenting for her folly after having quarreled with her lover, is traditionally considered to be that of Karvetnagar Govindasamayya(1670-1730). Subbarama Dikshitar in his ‘Vaggeyakara Caritamu’, calls Govindasamayya a Margadarshi (“A Trailblazer”) for the genre of Tana varnas. Along with two other all-time greats, Patchimiriyam Adiyappaya and Sesha Iyengar, Govindasamayya shares the same sobriquet.

The padam is traditionally sung starting with the anupallavi ” Maname Bushanamu” first. Padam lovers have always wondered at the fact that its dhatu/eduppu (Maname Bushanamu) is uncannily similar to eduppu of the Muthuswami Dikshitar magnum opus “Akshayalinga Vibho”. Could Dikshitar have gained inspiration for this eduppu from ‘Manini Vinave’? No one can be sure. But experts like Dr B M Sundaram have always opined that Dikshitar’s childhood was spent in the company of nattuvanars and dancers at Tiruvarur who used to interact very closely with his father Ramasvami Dikshitar. One can reasonably surmise that in that musically surcharged atmosphere, Dikshitar must have grown up hearing such great classics rendered by the artisans like Tiruvarur Kamalamuttamal. And so it doesn’t come as a surprise that some of the older padams and compositions like ‘Manini Vinave’ could have in probability inspired Dikshitar.

I have chosen to present the composition in the Veena Dhanammal family version/patantharam, as taught by Kamakshi Ammal. In the clipping below, the composition is rendered by Vidushis Mythili Nageshvaran and Seetha Rajagopal. Accompanying them is Vid R K Sriramkumar on the violin and Vid Umayalpuram Mali on the Mridangam, recorded circa 1990.

Maname Bhushanamu-sankarabharanam

Vidvan Mythili Nageshvaran is KVR’s niece and Vidvan Seetha Rajagopal is KVR’s daughter. They had their musical training under Jayammal and Kamakshiammal respectively. For those of us who may not know, Vidvan Mythili Nageshvaran who is sadly no more with us, was a repository of many a rare varnas, kritis and padams learnt from authentic sources like Mysore Chennakesavayya , Savithri Rajan et al apart from Jayammal. During the 80′s and 90′s both Mythili Nageshvaran and Seetha Rajagopal, learnt and also sang with Smt Mukta.

Vidushi Mukta singing with Vid.Mythili Nageshwaran( on her right) and Vid.Seetha Rajagopal ( to her left), circa 1985

Here are the lyrics of this wonderful padam⁶:

Pallavi:

mAnini vinavE nAmanda buddhitOnu mATADaka uNTinE

Anupallavi:

mAnamE bhUSaNamu mAnavatulakella mAnameDalina venuka prANa mETike

Caranam 1:

iragu poragu vrAta hitavugA nEnenci sarasunitO pondu cAlu pommanTinE

marugEla cenaTula mATalu nEvani teravA nA bratukiTTi teragAyE inkanElE

Caranam 2:

mApu rEpu vibhuDu mariyAdatO nannu dApuna jErcuka dayatO nElucuNDaga

prApu dorikanani paNatulandaru eDabApiri ika nA bhAgyameTluNDunO

Caranam 3:

agaru gandhamu mEna naladi kaugiTa jocci vagakADu nanu kUDi oddikaiyuNDaga

maguva EmEmo nA manasu khEdinciri vagalEla cirutani vAsuDunnADu

BIBLIOGRAPHY/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

1. I am greatly indebted to Mrs Seetha Rajagopal, daughter of the Late Sri K V Ramachandran for having provided me with first hand account of many of the details about him, photographs and other materials for this blog post.
2. Dr V Raghavan (1933) – “Later Sangita Literature” – The Journal of the Music Academy IV, pp. 16-24 & 50-84, Madras, India.
3. Ramachandran K.V. (1938) – “The Melakarta – A Critique” – The Journal of the Music Academy IX, pp. 31-33, Madras, India.
4. T L Venkatarama Iyer(1930) – “Meladhikara Lakshana – A Critical Review” – The Journal of the Music Academy I, pp. 41-46, Madras, India.
5. Thanks are due to Sri Lakshman Ragde for providing me the lyrics of the padam “Manini Vinave”.

K V Ramachandran (1898-1956) or KVR for short, was truly a colossus. His knowledge and contribution spanned the entire range of Indian fine arts including dance, music and literature. He was a feared critic of his days, a connoisseur of chaste music and a well-read man. My introduction to his name first, was via two of his lecture demonstrations recorded for posterity in the Journals of the Madras Music Academy. One was on the 72 Melakartha Scheme and the other was a veritable treatise on the raga lakshana of Sankarabharana. His incisive & methodical approach in examining data on the lines of professional research, the single-minded determination to get to the truth and above all presenting them lucidly in chaste English, will be obvious to those who read these invaluable tomes.

His death anniversary fell on 26^th March and I dedicate this blog post to recap his contribution with special reference to his discovery of the manuscripts of the Sangraha Cudamani in the Adayar Library collection.

HIS FAMILY & BACKGROUND¹:

KVR - A Portrait

KVR was born sometime in the year 1898. He hailed from the village of Kaarathur (part of the K series of villages near Coimbatore). He was born into a fairly large family. Elder to him were sisters were Kanakammal (wife of Dr.Seethapathi Iyer of Mylapore) and Kamalammal. Younger to him were Alamelu and Swarnammal (a Tamil writer of yesteryears, who wrote under the pen name of Guhapriyai). Krishnaswamy and Bharati were his two brothers. KVR graduated from the Presidency College, Madras with a BA Honors Degree in Chemistry. He was taught by Saravapalli Radhakrishnan in Presidency College who latter went on to become President of India. Dr. T T Krishnamachari who later became Finance Minister in Pandit Nehru’s cabinet, was KVR’s classmate. In 1925 or thereabouts KVR got married to Chellammal, who hailed from the neighbouring Kolinjivadi village. They had 4 daughters.

KVR with assistance from a number of benefactors/friends including Dr. Rangachari (of Mylapore, after whom a street is this Chennai neighborhood is named) started the South India Chemical Co. The firm’s manufacturing unit was located in his residential premises at Luz in Mylapore ( and for those who may want to know, the house is reportedly more or less the same, located right opposite the Kamadhenu theatre and its presently houses the central Bank of India , Mylapore branch and the ubiquitous Rex Fashions of Mylapore). Assisted by his daughters, he ran the facility single handedly, manufacturing the famous “Kesavardhini” brand hair oil, agarbathis and soaps.

A man of strong views, KVR was a scholar, a critic and a musician as well. He was the last of his breed, a lover of dance and music, especially the music of Veena Dhanammal and that of her daughters. He was a regular at the Friday soirees at Dhanammal’s house along with the rest of the city’s elite club of listeners. He also greatly admired the music of Dhanammal’s daughter and mother of Brinda and Mukta, Kamakshi Ammal. Kamakshi Ammal was the companion of Soundararaja Iyengar who was incidentally KVR’s neighbor in Luz. Apart from Dhanammal, KVR was also a great fan of Saidapet Tirumalacar, another musician of merit of those years. Dhanammal and Saidapet Tirumalacar learnt music from Satanur Pancanada Iyer of the Dikshitar sishya parampara. Tirumalacar used to perform in the chamber recitals at Dr Seetapathi Iyer’s house. Dr.Seethapathi Iyer’s wife (KVR’s sister) was also Tirumalacar’s disciple and she has also done lecture demonstrations in the Music Academy. Apparently KVR also had copies of the notations of several compositions from both Tirumalacar and Dhanammal. He always quoted from them as authority during his lecture demonstration on raga lakshanas and of our music’s oral tradition.

KVR’s access to Dhanammal’s family and the respect he commanded with them was so great that for his Music Academy lecture Demonstrations, Brinda and Mukta used to sing. During the period of the Second World War, when Madras was evacuated, KVR moved to Coimbatore & took residence in the house of Palladam Venkatramana Rao there. Latter he moved to his own residence, “Ashrama” at Crosscut Road. It was during the same period that Kamakshi Ammal was also staying with her son at nearby Palghat where he was working. Every weekend KVR used to fetch Kamakshiammal to Coimbatore from Palghat & made her teach his daughters. She taught several kritis and padams and javalis starting with “Siva Siva Enaradha” in Pantuvarali of Tyagaraja, “Nee Sari Sati” in Kalyani and “Amba Neelambari” in Neelambari of Ponniah of the Tanjore Quartet. Seetha Rajagopal (KVR’s daughter), even today recalls with misty eyes, Kamakshiammal’s moving rendition of the Dasar padha , “Na Ninna Dhyana” in Kanada in madhyama sruti.

KVR remained in the cultural limelight till the very last and he passed way on 26th March, 1956 at Coimbatore, leaving a void which has remained unfilled till date.

Vidushis Brinda & Mukta singing at KVR's daughter's wedding (circa 1945)with Kamakshi Ammal in the background, just behind Brinda

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

1. He conducted the Natyakala Conference ( held at Egmore) in the year 1954 and for some years as well till his death.
   

   KVR (seated) at the Conference with celebrities from an other age ( 1954)

2. He produced musical programs which were broadcast on All India Radio titled “Balakanakamaya” and “Ragasudha”. Sri. T Sankaran’s mother Chinnakutti Ammal despite her old age used to participate in these programs.
3. KVR ran a music-dance-literary journal titled “Silpashri” for quite some years. Every issue that came out was a reader’s delight. Writers and intellectuals contributed to Tamil literature through their articles in Silpasri. Contributors include Y Mahalinga Sastri, Dr V Raghavan, R P Sethupillai, Pandit Somasundara Desikar, Ma Krishnan, Va Venugopalan, T K Pattabhiraman, K Ramachandran, K S Venkatrama Sastri, Pandit U S Venkatarama Sastri & others.
4. He was an expert in the dance arts of varied forms such as Kuchipudi, Yakshagana, Kathakali and the Nautch (which latter metamorphosed into modern day Bharathanatyam). He contributed monographs and critiques for journals including “Triveni”. Interestingly given perhaps the reluctance of dance artistes to model abhinaya for him, he himself along with his wife performed some of the postures for camera, to serve as illustration for his articles!
   

   KVR & his wife strike different postures as illustration for one of his research articles ( Photo Courtesy: Triveni)

5. KVR was also an accomplished singer and in one instance rendered krithis, padams & javalis with his daughter at a recital in Sri T T Krishnamachari’s residence at Delhi. He had learnt many a compositions of Tyagaraja and Dikshitar from authentic sources including Saidapet Tirumalacar and Tiger Varadacariar and offcourse Veena Dhanammal, practically by hearing them as they taught his sister and Savithri Rajan. An ekasantagrahi, he was ! He apparently learnt “Kanukonti Nee”, the Tyagaraja composition from a beggar, after hearing him sing it so beautifully.
6. KVR doubled up as a guru, teaching compositions like ‘Pancamatanga’ in Malahari, ‘Hatakesvara’ in Bilahari, ‘Dakshinamurte’ & ‘Nagalingam’ in Sankarabharanam etc to his daughters, for whom he was the first musical guru. Syama Sastri ( the great grandson of the Trinitarian) was also roped in to teach the master’s compositions to KVR’s daughters at his Luz residence. The playful girls apparently used to run around & make merry even as Syama Shastri used to cajole them to sit and learn!
7. KVR also used to exquisitely play the Dilruba and in his Luz ( Madras) residence he had a roomful of exotic musical instruments.
8. His literary contributions spanned Sanskrit, Tamil and English ( as far as I know). He wrote under the pseudonyms of ‘BhArghavan’, ‘ Veethahavyan’ and ‘SAvEdasan’.

Continue to Part II of this post here