ENCORE
A titan from Thanjavur
SRIRAM VENKATKRISHNAN
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Vaidyanatha Iyer did not acquire his skill easily but he gave it to his pupils with immense grace and generosity.
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FRIENDS: Vaidyanatha Iyer, extreme left (wife in front), Musiri Subramania Iyer, extreme right (wife in front), T.K.Murthy, sitting (his wife behind) and Kamala Krishnamurthy (daughter of Prof. Srinivasan) standing in the middle.
On April 17, 1948, The Hindu carried a news item reporting that "the death occurred on Tamil New Year's Day of Mr V.S.Vaithyanatha Aiyar, the talented mridanga Vidwan at his residence in Tanjore at the age of 52." It was referring to Thanjavur Vaidyanatha Iyer, one of the foremost percussionists of his time and a pioneer in the Thanjavur style of mridangam playing.
On May 16, 1948, a tribute by Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer was published in The Hindu. The article stated that Vaidyanatha Iyer "hailed from the village of Vaiyachcheri, which gave birth to Anai-Ayya and Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan".
Anai and Ayya were eminent composers who used the mudra Umadasa. Maha Vaidyanatha Sivan, the creator of the 72 melaragamalika was a great star of his times and his brother Ramaswami Sivan was a well-known composer and scholar in Tamil. The Sivan Brothers' sister was Vaidyanatha Iyer's mother.
Though he was born after the death of his illustrious uncle, Vaidyanatha Iyer must have heard enough anecdotes about him to take to a career in music. It was, however, percussion rather than singing that inspired him.
He trained on the mridangam first under Thanjavur Doss Swamigal and later under Kannuswami Nattuvanar, a descendant of the Thanjavur Quartet and father of K. Ponniah Pillai. Having studied thus for 16 years, he fine-tuned his learning under Kodaganallur Subbiah Bhagavatar and then became a professional mridangam accompanist for Harikatha performances. The first opportunity was given by Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar and later he accompanied artistes such as Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar, Mangudi Chidambara Bhagavatar, Tiruppazhanam Panchapakesa Sastrigal and others. Soon, concert opportunities poured in and he became well established as a top-ranking percussionist. Known for his gregarious nature, Vaidyanatha Iyer formed many close friendships in the world of music and was perhaps the closest to Musiri Subramania Iyer whom he accompanied on a tour of Singapore and Malaysia.
Training artistes
Having achieved financial security through investments in land, Vaidyanatha Iyer reduced his concert engagements to one a month. He began concentrating on training youngsters in the art of percussion. On this aspect Semmangudi wrote "In him we had an ideal `guru' who delighted in and ceaselessly strove to teach his art to the younger generation. Those who knew him intimately know what extraordinary efforts he took and what difficulties he underwent to acquire his art, but he himself gave it to his pupils with unstinted grace and generosity".
In course of time, so many students apprenticed themselves under him that Semmangudi did not exaggerate when he wrote that "numberless are his disciples in mridangam flourishing in the music world today. It may be said that the style of mridangam playing now prevalent is pre-eminently his".
To what extent Vaidyanatha Iyer went when it came to identifying talent is perhaps best illustrated by the following anecdote. Once, while at Travancore, where he was nominated asthana vidwan of the palace, he noticed that the younger son of violinist Papa K.S. Venkataramiah was showing great interest in his mridangam. He himself approached Papa and offered to become the boy's guru and that is how the mridangist and later kanjira exponent V. Nagarajan got his start.
Similar is the story concerning Palghat Mani Iyer. Even as a boy, he had made a mark in the field of percussion but his father felt that he needed refinement under a guru in the Thanjavur style and came to that town with his son in search of Mylatoor Swami Iyer, a noted performer. Vaidyanatha Iyer, noticing them asking for directions, invited them to stay at his own residence for the night. Seeing a mridangam in their baggage he asked the boy to perform what he knew, and on hearing it offered to become the guru himself. Mani Iyer emerged from this training as the greatest exponent of the Thanjavur style.
Vaidyanatha Iyer and his wife Meenakshi were childless. But as Semmangudi wrote "he loved his pupils as his own children". The students stayed in his house free of cost and were fed and clothed by the guru and his affectionate wife. Among these was one who would achieve great success in the field of percussion. Vaidyanatha Iyer had even toyed with the idea of adopting him as a son and though this did not materialise, this boy became the closest disciple. Even today, while talking of his guru, T.K.Murthy is known to become emotional and privately, sans any fuss, he continues to observe the day of passing of his guru as a son would for a father.
(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com)
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