`First Lady' among Bhagavatars
SRIRAM VENKATKRISHNAN
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Discovered and nurtured by Tiruvaiyaru Krishnachar, Saraswati Bai rose to become a leading Harikatha exponent.
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She led a life of dignity, with her Big Street residence being a focal point for all visiting musicians.
The rolls of honour at the Music Academy, included a woman for the first time in 1950, when C. Saraswathi Bai was awarded a Certificate of Merit. Even as the striking figure, swathed in silk and bedecked with jewels rose to receive it on January 1, 1951, from T. T. Krishnamachari, the assembled audience, which included several male vidwans broke into applause. Bai must have smiled. For men had not always been so supportive.
Hailed as the first `Lady Bhagavatar,' Saraswathi Bai was born into an orthodox Madhva Brahmin family at Gooty on December 15, 1894. Family circumstances did not allow for a formal tutelage in music, but she learnt it while a well to do neighbour's daughter was being taught the Hindustani style. Having been married off early in life, Bai would have remained in the shadows had it not been for Tiruvaiyaru Krishnachar, a musician and Harikatha exponent who came forward to train her. Krishnachar, who was then teaching Sanskrit at the Madras Christian College, made the family move to Madras.
Bai's talents came to the notice of Sir C. Sankaran and Lady Nair, both of whom became her ardent champions. They organised a performance of her `Garudagarva Bhangam' at the Mahila Samaj, Egmore, which was where coincidentally D. K. Pattammal was to make her debut too, many years later. The performance, though a great success, led to insecurity among the male Bhagavatars in the Harikatha profession. They quoted obscure tenets that claimed that those who encouraged women artistes would go to Hell. A memorandum was sent up to the MCC demanding that Krishnachar's services be dispensed with for his `sinful act' of teaching Harikatha to a woman.
Muraiyur Shanmukham Chetty, a rich businessman who lived at the Mundagakanni Amman Koil Street, Mylapore, next organised a performance of Bai's in 1908.
The Bhagavatars organised a meeting of the Bhagavat Katha Prasanga Sabha and passed a resolution that if any Sabha organised a performance of Saraswathi Bai, no other artiste would ever deign to perform under its auspices. Accompanists were also warned that they would be boycotted if they performed for Bai. Nevertheless, the programme was held and was well received.
The first Sabha that boldly came forward to organise Bai's performance was the Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha. This took place at the Hindu Theological School on Mint Street on February 22, 1909. Bai was paid an unprecedented sum of Rs. 450 for it. At a time when no other artiste received more that Rs. 150 for a performance, this set new records.
From then on, Bai's career graph soared. She travelled to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar) and to several cities in north India as well. Rulers of Mysore, Hyderabad and Travancore honoured her. In 1916, Bai travelled to Bombay where Pt. Vishnu Digambar honoured her with the title of Gayana Patu. Lady Willingdon, wife of the Governor of Bombay, commended her for her concerts in aid of the war effort. In 1920, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak honoured her with the title of Keertana Patu after listening to her performance in Poona.
The Hindu's Illustrated Weekly carried an article on her on October 12, 1930, which said "her endowments, either for her accomplished variety of music or for her bold, stunning reach of voice, are almost unapproached."
The Indian Fine Arts Society conferred on her the title of Harikatha Prasanga Marga Darsini on December 24, 1936. On December 16, 1939, her portrait was unveiled at the Jagannatha Bhakta Sabha, Egmore. Kasturi Srinivasan, editor of The Hindu, in an appreciation written on that occasion said that he "valued her for her musical renderings of the kritis and her alapanas of ragas which very often reach a high degree of excellence."
Bai went on to become an ardent nationalist, founding in later years, along with good friend Vai Mu Kothainayaki Ammal, the Mahatmaji Seva Sangam, Triplicane. She led a life of dignity, with her Big Street residence being a focal point for all visiting musicians. "Bai Ammal" as Ariyakkudi referred to her, was a legend in her own lifetime. She passed away in the 1970s after having led a life of creative fulfilment.
From its inception, Saraswathi Bai was intimately associated with the Music Academy. She had been one of the few women artistes who performed at the All India Music Conference held in 1927. In later years she was a regular performer for the Academy and also contributed several thought provoking essays on Harikatha to its journal. It was therefore befitting that when the Academy began recognising the contributions of women, it chose her to be the first recipient of its honours. Bai, in a way, made it possible for women to receive the Sangita Kalanidhi as well, of which the first woman recipient was M. S. Subbulakshmi in 1968.
(The author can be contacted at sangeetham@sangeetham.com)
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