93 Indian musical treatise gives such a long lists of the qualifications of Uttama Vaggeyakaras that it will be difficult to bring any composer under this category after the Trinity. Theory books no doubt have in mind a dhatu-matu-kara possessing all the lofty qualities who alone can be called an ideal ‘Vaggeyakara’. For example, he is expected to posses a knowledge of poetics, ability to compose gitas quickly, a knowledge of prosody, deep scholarship in music and so on. A person who overburdens the sahitya by a profusion of words to the detriment of the dhatu is called ‘Madhyama Vaggeyakara’. Inspite of his having composed excellent words, if the dhatu he frames up were of a mere order, he is called an ‘Adhama Vaggeyakara’. Despite these lofty ideals, there have been many excellent composers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries after the period of the Trinity. Some of their disciples and their disciples were good composers and Patnam Subramanya Iyer was even hailed as a “Second or Chinna Tyagaraja”. The Twentieth Century also produced many luminaries in the musical field like ‘Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’ and ‘Muthaiah Bhagavatar’. But in the second half of the century only two composers emerged as outstanding writers of musical forms and they are Mysore Vasudevacharya and Papanasam Sivan. These two had the unique good fortune of hearing their compositions sung in their own life time by maestros like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. Their compositions were also published in more than one volume while they were alive and these were sold in thousands. There are many things common between these two master composers. Both of them came from a humble parentage but were able to master the Sanskrit language while they were quite young.
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93
Indian musical treatise gives such a long lists of the
qualifications of Uttama Vaggeyakaras that it will be difficult to
bring any composer under this category after the Trinity. Theory
books no doubt have in mind a dhatu-matu-kara possessing all the
lofty qualities who alone can be called an ideal ‘Vaggeyakara’. For
example, he is expected to posses a knowledge of poetics, ability to
compose gitas quickly, a knowledge of prosody, deep scholarship in
music and so on. A person who overburdens the sahitya by a
profusion of words to the detriment of the dhatu is called
‘Madhyama Vaggeyakara’. Inspite of his having composed
excellent words, if the dhatu he frames up were of a mere order, he
is called an ‘Adhama Vaggeyakara’.
Despite these lofty ideals, there have been many excellent
composers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries after the
period of the Trinity. Some of their disciples and their disciples were
good composers and Patnam Subramanya Iyer was even hailed as a
“Second or Chinna Tyagaraja”.
The Twentieth Century also produced many luminaries in the
musical field like ‘Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar’ and ‘Muthaiah
Bhagavatar’. But in the second half of the century only two
composers emerged as outstanding writers of musical forms and
they are Mysore Vasudevacharya and Papanasam Sivan. These two
had the unique good fortune of hearing their compositions sung in
their own life time by maestros like Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.
Their compositions were also published in more than one volume
while they were alive and these were sold in thousands.
There are many things common between these two master
composers. Both of them came from a humble parentage but were
able to master the Sanskrit language while they were quite young.
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This enabled them to write sahitya full of literary beauties. While
Vasudevacharya had the benefit of direct tutelage under Patnam
Subramanya Iyer, Sivan picked up the essence of good music by
long association with Konnerirajapuram Vaidhyanatha Iyer. These
two composers were humble by nature and true devotees of God.
Papanasam Sivan (26th septermber 1890 – 1st October
1973) is one of the great composer of Indian classical music. He
was born on 26th September 1890 as the second son of
Ramamrutham Iyer and Yogambal Ammal at Polagan village,
Nannilam Taluk in Tanjore district. His elder brother Rajagopalan
was M.G.Ramachandran’s father-in-law. His father’s younger
brother was a great Sanskrit scholar and his maternal grand father
was also musically knowledgeable. His mother, who had a gifted
sweet voice for music, had learnt more than 600 songs of famous
composers of the day. Sivan imbibed this talent hereditarily from
his mother and his maternal grandfather, who was also a good
musician. All this was impressed in his childhood psyche to explode
into the colossal figure at a later stage.
Ramayya lost his father in 1898 when he was just seven years
old and since the family was afflicted by adversity. Sivan with his
mother and his elder brother migrated to Trivandrum. Travancore
was then a Ramarajya and Dharmarajya and a heaven for refugees.
The family was able to find free boarding, lodging and education.
Ramayya had his education in Maharaja Samskrita Kalasalai and
secured degrees of “Sastri” when he was 16 and “Upadhyaya”
when he was 18, the latter being equal to a post graduate degree.
As a boy Sivan had a high pitched musical voice and could
sing sweetly. From the age of ten years, he regularly attended the
bhajans conducted by the famous musician Sri Nilakanta Sivan and
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absorbed the essence of devotional singing. He also picked up
phraseology in Tamil, a language which he had not studied at that
time. He was greatly impressed by the devotional rapture with
which Nilakanta Sivan used to conduct his bhajans.
While at Trivandrum, Sivan came under the influence of
eminent musicians. He impressed a well known musician Nurani
Mahadeva Bhagavatar (known as Swara Kudukai), son of Palaghat
Parameshwara Bhagavatar, and learnt music under him. The
dakshina offered by the young Sivan was a daily basketful of vilva
leaves for his guru’s pooja. Then he learnt music from Samba
Bhagavatar who taught him seven varnams. With this his formal
education came to an end. He did not give up - his continuous
participation in bhajan singing, listening and learning was a great
sadhakam – an ongoing process. Through Neelakanta Sivan’s
bhajans, Sampradaya kriti’s, Swati Tirunals kriti’s which were
constantly echoed in the Padmanabha Swami temple; Ramayya had
absorbed in the form of bhajan, Tevarams, Arutpa, Thayumanavar
songs and Neelakanta Sivan songs – these were deeply embedded
in Ramayya’s clear mind. Whenever and wherever he sang them he
was greatly admired and revered.
But a sudden reverse took place in the Sivans education as
the scholarship enjoyed by him and many young scholars were
abruptly stopped by Sir P.Rajagopalachariar. Sivan had to
discontinue his studies and could not obtain the degree
“Mahamahopaadhyaya”.
A call came from Vidwan Nemam Natesa Iyer who had heard
Ramayya’s potential and love for music. Leaving his mother at
Trivandrum, he came to Palaneri village in Tiswohi district at the
invitation of Nemam Natesa Bhagavatar to learn classical music. But
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his life for ten days at the new place saw him doing domestic work
with no chance of learning music and the news of his mother’s
illness saddened him. But very shortly she died and this left him
shattered at the age of twenty. With great difficulty he returned to
Trivandrum only on the ninth day after his mother’s demise. After
recovering from the shock of bereavement, he took leave of his
brother and left for his native village Polagan. It was 1910. He used
to tour the district by foot and conduct bhajans in all the temple
festivals. By singing his own compositions as devotional songs
rapturously, he used to attract large crowd.
He reached Kumbakonam and stayed at Sadguru Swamigal
matam at Marudanallur. The prayers and bhajans concerts were
held in the holy presence of Periya Swamigal and Periya Kuzhandai
Swamigal. The matam was the place where Bhagavatar tradition
bhajans were conducted elaborately and the Sivan involved himself
fully in all the religious activities and discourses. During the Tamil
month of Margazhi, daily concerts were held. Unchavruthi bhajans
and discourses were arranged in a grand manner. Sivan engaged
himself in all the celebrations even as the acquired profound
knowledge and practice of great music expositions. He had also
sung on several occasions in the holy presence of Periya Swamigal.
Away from home, disinterested in material objects he engaged
himself in pursuit of spiritual elevation and expertise in classical
music. Later he left the matam and started visiting all the holy
towns participating in musical discourses and composing numerous
songs.
Having become popular for his spreading devotional music and
patronized by prominent men of the day, he was invited by
Ettayapuram Maharaja to sing in his court. The Maharaja who was
impressed by his outstanding performance showered him with gifts
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and desired him to stay. But Sivan who was not attracted by worldly
pleasure, politely left without carrying the gifts.
He continued traveling and came to the village Ganapathy
Agraharam. It was 8pm as Sivan sang “Anna purani” (
) composed by Taayumanavar. His elaborate singing stunned
all the people in the temple. When he came out of the temple, the
distinguished philanthropist Sambasiva Iyer and his friends hailed
him as ‘Siva’ the God, even as he appeared radiant with ashes on
his forehead. From that day he was called “Sivan”.
In 1917, Sivan made a paada yatra of Tamil Nadu singing soul-
stirring songs at Shrines. Wherever he lived, he organized street
bhajans during festivals. According to him, the festivals he attended
included ‘Masi Makham’ at Thiruchendur, ‘Laksha Deepam’ at
Thirunelveli, ‘Thai Poosam’ at Thiruvidaimarudur, ‘Panguni
Uthiram’ at Kazhugumalai, ‘Adi Pooram’ at Nagapattinam and
‘Saptha Sthanam’ at Tiruvaiyaru. This habit never left him till his
death. After he settled down at Mylapore in 1930, he was
conducting bhajans during the month of Margazhi around the Kapali
temple in the shivering cold of the early morning. His shrill voice
used to pull people out of their snug beds and make them join his
bhajans. When he was not able to walk around the temple, he had a
chair carried behind him for resting in between bouts of singing.
Sivan developed a taste for classical Karnatic music after
hearing Konerirajapuram Vaidhyanatha Iyer, also known as Madurai
Vaidhyanatha Iyer. He was also fascinated by the maestro’s
powerful music that till the latter’s death in 1921, Sivan followed
him wherever he went and drank deep at the fountain of his music.
He, however, did not do gurukulavasa as is commonly believed. But
the impact of Iyers music on young Sivan was enough to make the
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latter imbibe the essentials of classical music. Sivan did not know
Telugu and once when Iyer was singing ‘Andarivale dati dati
vadariti’ the anupallavi of ‘Enduku Peddala’ in raga
Sankarabharanam, Sivan staged a walkout as a protest and decided
to compose songs in Tamil. Towards the end of his life, he realized
the greatness of Tyagaraja and declared at a conference that “if
there was no Tyagaraja, there will be no Karnatic music”.
Papanasam Sivan had been invited to several holy places to
lead bhajan groups around the temples and give music concerts in
Tamil Nadu, throughout the year. In 1921, advocate Nagai
Sundaram invited him to Panguni uthiram festival of Sri Kapali
temple at Mylapore. Sivan was captivated by Lord Kapaleshwarar
and Goddess Karpagambal and thus started his bhajan in Mylapore
which continued till his last days. He first sang ‘Kaana kan kodi
venum’ ( ) in the raga Kambhoji composed on
‘Kapali’ enchanted everyone in the audience. Thereafter he started
organizing daily bhajans in Tamil month of Margazhi and people
thronged in the early morning braving the chill wind only to
accompany him in the bhajans and drink the honey of devotional
music. His closest disciple Panangudi S.S.Mani known as Mani
Bhagavatar accompanied him daily playing Tambura.
His contribution to bhajan type of music performance was
phenomenal. When he sang, people became ecstatic hearing the
melody of his songs and happily walked with him all along the route
singing along with him and enjoying the intense devotion expressed
in his singing.
From 1912 to 1959, Sivan was leading the bhajan team as
participant of Thiruvaiyaru Sapthasthana going round by foot nearly
18 miles around seven villages , enthralling his disciples , admirers
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and the people for nearly 24 hours continuously.
Sivan used to say ‘people say body and soul are born
together. But I am born with body, soul and bhajan. I can
bear any pain if only I can perform bhajans. The moment I
am unable to perform bhajans I shall cease to exist’. Such
was his involvement in doing bhajan concerts. Even during the days
when he was busy writing for movies, he never stayed away from
the Margazhi bhajans for which people remember him to this day.
Sivan’s musical life can perhaps be summarized by the word
‘bhajanai’. So it is fit to conclude the feature with the song where
he orders his mind to do bhajanai invoking the name of Lord Rama:
‘Sri Rama nama bhajanai sei maname’, in the raga Atana. The
song describes the mahima of the Rama nama says ‘it is the name
that is always on the tongue of Ramadasa’.
It is no exaggeration that Sivan enjoyed absolute divine grace
in his entire endeavor. He himself often used to say ‘God favored
me’ this much for the day. As he always was wandering from one
holy place to another, God had been sending men to take care of
his daily needs. Once he went to a place called ‘Kazhugumalai’ to
participate in the ‘Panguni uthiram’ ( ) festival.
Suddenly he became sick, unable to eat and see, due to severe
stomach ache and eye disorder. He just sat in a corner in front of
Lord Muruga chanting “Muruga Muruga” by closing his eyes. Just
then a priest appeared and gave him a cup of gruel and ointment
for the eye. And what a surprise! Sivan who was semi-conscious
unable to even speak, suddenly became fully conscious and
energetic. The music from the Nadaswaram poured as honey into
his ears announcing the arrival of the Deity’s procession nearby.
Inspired by a new force, he spontaneously sang the song ‘Nava
siddhi petraalum Siva bhakti illaada’ (ந
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) in the raga Kharaharapriya composed by Nilakanta
Sivan.
As he sang and opened his eyes, a new force entered his body
and with renewed vigor he gave one song after another from 8pm
till 2am, thrilling the milling crowd who had gathered around him.
Earlier, when he headed for Trivandrum on hearing of his
mother’s illness, on the way he had to walk a long distance. When
he entered a place called ‘Thensamudram’ ( ), he
became totally exhausted and became unconscious. After
sometime, when he opened his eyes he found a bearded old man
who poured milk into his mouth exhorting him to drink. He got up
slowly, thanked the old man and started his journey by foot to
Trivandrum. Such occurrences were quite frequent in his life.
Once, after finishing his concert, he and his friends were
traveling in bullock carts towards Mannaarkudi. It was a dark night
and the area was notorious for dacoits. As their carts were moving
on the road, suddenly a gang of dacoits with burning torches
stopped them. He and his friends got down and were frightened as
they were wearing gold chains and ear rings and had cash of
Rs.3,000/-. Suddenly Sivan raised his voice and sang aloud
‘Niyamarkum kudiallom namanai anjom’ (ந
ந ). On hearing the song, the watchmen from the near
groves moved with lamps and the dacoits took to their heels. They
thus continued their journey unharmed. Such instances, when
unexpected help came to him from unknown persons, demonstrate
how God was always following him whenever he went on
Pilgrimage.
As a composer, Sivan ranks with the great giants who
followed the Trinity in the middle of the nineteenth century. Though
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he had not learnt music under any regular tutor or Tamil in any
school, the spontaneous outburst of divine songs as also their
expert rendering by him is proof enough, that but for divine grace,
he could not blossomed into a genius. He never searched for word
or tunes or beats and still the extempore songs that came out of his
lips showed how appropriately the words, raga and tala were in
their place effortlessly. He did not use any lexicon or dictionary for
choosing rhyming words. The rhymes, rhythm, alliteration and
notion in his compositions sometimes have the word ‘Ramadasa’
referring to himself as he was called ‘Ramayya’. The three parts of
classical songs namely Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam were so
attractively linked that when sung, they threw people in ecstasy.
Sivan commenced his composing career when he was twenty.
Ha has composed all types of songs from Varnam to Mangalam
required for full recitals. They were so composed by him to give
melodious ragas with enchanting bhavams and intense in meaning.
Naturally every recital evoked interest from beginning to the end
due to the beauty of the compositions. Almost all eminent vidwans
of yester year’s viz. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram