'Jagadguro Dayanidhe' in Atana composed by Harikesanallur Dr L.Muthiah Bhagavathar
Harikesanallur Dr.L.Muthiah Bhagavathar’s life history
Early life
‘Gayaka Shikamani’ Harikesanallur L.Muthiah Bhagavathar was born on November 15, 1877 at Punalveli village (near Srivilliputtur), to musician Lingam Ayyar and Anandam Ammal. Muthiah Bhagavathar’s grandfather was Muthu Subba Bharathi, a composer-musician and his maternal uncle was the scholar Mahamahopadhyaya K. Lakshmana Suri. When he was six years old, Muthiah lost his father and came under the tutelage of his maternal uncle. In 1886, he was put under Muthu Ganapadigal of Thiruvaiyar for learning Vedas. But the young Muthiah had his heart set on learning and mastering carnatic music. Even as a boy, his voice attracted many people and they encouraged him to learn carnatic music. He was greatly attracted by the music performances of great stalwarts of carnatic music such as Mahavaidyanatha Iyer and Patnam Subramanya Iyer. He left his uncle’s place and went in search of a guru to learn carnatic music. He met a well known vidwan in Thiruvaiyar, viz., Sambasiva Iyer, who was a disciple of Pallavi Duraisami Iyer, a direct disciple of Saint Thyagaraja. He took him as his student and trained him in both the grammar and practise of music. He was one of his favourite students. He studied under Sambasiva Iyer for 7 years (some sources say 10 years) and became highly proficient in his art.
Muthiah Bhagavathar and Sri T.S.Sabesa Iyer (son of Sambasiva Iyer) accompanied their guru to many concerts. When his guru had gone for a concert in Chennai with his son, young Muthiah happened to meet a cook who was impressed with Muthiah’s voice. The cook arranged a small concert in his rich master’s house. Everyone who attended the concert was impressed by his voice and the rich master presented a shawl and silver coins as a token of appreciation. This event separated him from his guru (for reasons not elaborated here).
Back to Harikesanallur
Muthiah Bhagavathar then visited many teachers who found him extraordinary and blessed him immensely. They said that he had learnt all that can be taught and advised him to develop himself through rigorous sadhana. Muthiah Bhagavatar returned to Harikesanallur (Tirunelveli district) in 1893 from Thiruvaiyar and completely devoted himself to music. He had a remarkably beautiful voice with a capacity to reach three octaves and to execute very fast passages with ease. He became a recognized performer of carnatic music within a short period of time, in Tirunelveli.
to be continued…
[Note: I happened to read a tamil book ‘L.Muthiah Bhagavathar Vazhkai varalaru’ which mentions about his practice routine. He woke up at 4:00 AM and practised for many hours everyday. It is important to note that his practice sessions included the basic lessons in carnatic music. My guru Shri TNS had also said the same in his Harikatha on Muthiah Bhagavathar. My guru insists all students to practise the basics saralivarisai, jantavarisai, etc. regularly. He teaches his unique way of merging all alankarams and janta varisais.
Early life
‘Gayaka Shikamani’ Harikesanallur L.Muthiah Bhagavathar was born on November 15, 1877 at Punalveli village (near Srivilliputtur), to musician Lingam Ayyar and Anandam Ammal. Muthiah Bhagavathar’s grandfather was Muthu Subba Bharathi, a composer-musician and his maternal uncle was the scholar Mahamahopadhyaya K. Lakshmana Suri. When he was six years old, Muthiah lost his father and came under the tutelage of his maternal uncle. In 1886, he was put under Muthu Ganapadigal of Thiruvaiyar for learning Vedas. But the young Muthiah had his heart set on learning and mastering carnatic music. Even as a boy, his voice attracted many people and they encouraged him to learn carnatic music. He was greatly attracted by the music performances of great stalwarts of carnatic music such as Mahavaidyanatha Iyer and Patnam Subramanya Iyer. He left his uncle’s place and went in search of a guru to learn carnatic music. He met a well known vidwan in Thiruvaiyar, viz., Sambasiva Iyer, who was a disciple of Pallavi Duraisami Iyer, a direct disciple of Saint Thyagaraja. He took him as his student and trained him in both the grammar and practise of music. He was one of his favourite students. He studied under Sambasiva Iyer for 7 years (some sources say 10 years) and became highly proficient in his art.
Muthiah Bhagavathar and Sri T.S.Sabesa Iyer (son of Sambasiva Iyer) accompanied their guru to many concerts. When his guru had gone for a concert in Chennai with his son, young Muthiah happened to meet a cook who was impressed with Muthiah’s voice. The cook arranged a small concert in his rich master’s house. Everyone who attended the concert was impressed by his voice and the rich master presented a shawl and silver coins as a token of appreciation. This event separated him from his guru (for reasons not elaborated here).
Back to Harikesanallur
Muthiah Bhagavathar then visited many teachers who found him extraordinary and blessed him immensely. They said that he had learnt all that can be taught and advised him to develop himself through rigorous sadhana. Muthiah Bhagavatar returned to Harikesanallur (Tirunelveli district) in 1893 from Thiruvaiyar and completely devoted himself to music. He had a remarkably beautiful voice with a capacity to reach three octaves and to execute very fast passages with ease. He became a recognized performer of carnatic music within a short period of time, in Tirunelveli.
to be continued…
[Note: I happened to read a tamil book ‘L.Muthiah Bhagavathar Vazhkai varalaru’ which mentions about his practice routine. He woke up at 4:00 AM and practised for many hours everyday. It is important to note that his practice sessions included the basic lessons in carnatic music. My guru Shri TNS had also said the same in his Harikatha on Muthiah Bhagavathar. My guru insists all students to practise the basics saralivarisai, jantavarisai, etc. regularly. He teaches his unique way of merging all alankarams and janta varisais.
The slokam given at beginning is taken from Shankara digvijayam
Great .. very nice to read Sri Muthiah Bhagavathar's life story! :)
ReplyDeleteOne doubt I had, in the slokam you sing at the beginning, the way you sing 'shankaracharya rupa' in the end sounds different from the usual Atana .. what swaras are you singing there?
Thanks!
Thanks. It is nice that you had noted the sangathi. It is a special prayogam in atana which uses kakali nishadam.
ReplyDeleteregards
Kamakshi
Kamakshi,
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice of you to have revealed some practicing techniques which was taught to you by your teacher. You need great energy to sing this Raga. If you have sung "Ela nee Daya Radha" in any of your kutcheris, please upload it. Next time when I visit Chennai, I will buy some CDs of yours.
Thank you
Raji