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What I owe to my guru Sri Palghat Mani Iyer is something very sacred that mere words would never suffice to convey its depth.

PHOTO V. Ganesan

REPOSE: Sangita Kalanidi designate Palghat Raghu.

“It just seems like the other day that I started playing the mridangam and 67 long years have flown past. It has been an enlightening journey – the yearning, the toil, progress and the joy of success — you could well say that I have had an extraordinary time when I look back on all those eventful years, glimpses of which I propose to share with you this evening.

“Meanwhile, I have a confession to make. The confession is that all my life there has been only one goal in my mind and that is to play the mridangam and to ruminate about playing the mridangam. It has given me such exquisite joy. The fact that I am able to play the mridangam and delight the general public is in itself a reward. However, to top it all, the coveted award of Sangeetha Kalaanidhi is also to be conferred on me — a great honour.

“We were repatriates from Burma. Burma is known for teak, but my association with teak ended with Burma and my association, thereafter, was with a different kind of wood, the wood that is got from the jackfruit tree and which has been found the most suitable for making the mridangam. I started playing the mridangam at the age of five and was coached by Tinniyam Venkatarama Iyer when he came to Burma and even had me play a concert there. Even so, I would have, like any normal youngster, finished my graduation and possibly taken up a government job but for the fact that destiny intervened in the form of the great genius Palghat Sri. Mani Iyer. I heard him and was entranced. I wanted nothing else but to be in his presence, to learn from him and play like him. It became an obsession, so indomitable that my grandfather could not contain it. Soon, I was taken to Sri Mani Iyer and thereafter my college education was extra-curricular activity and mridangam became curricular.

“I now have to tell you of the concerts that my great guru played accompanying veterans like Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Sri.Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Sri. Subramania Iyer, Chembai Sri Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Sri.G.N.Balasubramaniam to name only a few stars of the past.

“To each of them he brought his unique impress of compelling mesmerism through navigated patterns of magical quality. Blessed it was to be alive in those times and sheer heaven to be present there at those concerts.

“More than the number of hours that Sri Mani Iyer sat and taught me it was the subtle directions and tips that he would give us combined with the opportunity of watching, assimilating and imbibing even as he played for the great artists of the past which constituted the core of my training under him. Sri Mani Iyer himself took personal interest in my career by recommending me to many artists and to Sabhas besides taking a paternal interest in my life. I believe I had a very special place in my Gurus heart, which to me is the highest award, as you would all agree, that I could ever aspire for. I was then inducted into playing for several eminent Mahavidwans like Ariyakudi Sri Ramanuja Iyengar, Sri N.Balasubramaniam,

“Madurai Sri Mani Iyer and others with all the veterans displaying extraordinary affection and solicitude for their younger accompanist. Thereafter, there was no turning back. Gratitude is not a word to be lightly bandied about. “What I owe to my guru Sri Palghat Mani Iyer is something very sacred and so special that it defies description such that mere words would never suffice to convey its depth.

“My fascination for various great vidwans including Sri Palani Subramania Pillai had an impact on my evolution. Sri Palani had a special affection for me, which he expressed on more than one occasion. As for me I was delighted with the intricate patterns and the complex laya matrices that he wove particularly in misra chaapu tala. These were all great sources of inspiration and I spent countless nights of sleeplessness marvelling at the immensity of the various possibilities for improvisation.

“All the veterans of the past, as I said earlier, treated me with paternal affection. I recall with particular relish and emotion my association with Sri.G.N.Balasubramaniam, who took such an abiding interest in my career.

“In this context, I recollect my good fortune to have had the benevolent affection of Alleppey Sri. K.Parthasarathy Iyengar popularly known as Papasami on whose initiative I was invited at the age of 15 to accompany Sri. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

“Capitalising on the continuity of a vibrant tradition, a further refinement was brought to the art of mridangam playing by Thanjavur Sri Vaidyanatha Iyer, and popularised by my charismatic guru. Following in their footsteps, I had always felt that a mridangist should specially enhance and boost the main artiste in the role of an accompanist. The mood of the song, the music and the musician must all be brought out in their infinite variety so as to be presented as a composite whole to the public.

“Every concert of mine, I have endeavoured to make educative, both to the public and the cognoscenti because, that, I feel is the role of an inspired artist. He must not only entertain but also elevate. Standards should not be allowed to fall for any reason because the greats with whom I have been associated were very popular, yet never pandered to low taste. Just as a vocalist or a main artist indulges in manodharma in raga exposition, niraval or kalpanaswaram, there is immense scope likewise for a mridangist. On-the-spot improvisations and taking uncharted paths on the road to discovery of something new can be exciting both for artists and listeners as collaborators.

“I am of the considered view that knowledge and appreciation of music in general is a prerequisite for a sensitive mridangist. The main artist likewise, must have a certain level of awareness of the nuances of mridangam playing and sensitivity to the mridangists line of thought. From this meeting of minds alone can emerge, a meaningful interaction leading to greater levels of excellence in a concert.

“It is not the taala alone that is relevant- the Kaalapramanam or the pace would be equally significant. On certain occasions, with conditions being just right in a concert, it can lead to the mridangist experiencing a state of ecstasy and an altered state of consciousness. Thaniaavarthanam can never be considered in isolation and must always be an extension of the krithi for which it is played as a natural flow and a logical extension of the mood of the krithi. The lighter compositions call for a different consciousness altogether with the approach being different.

“Earlier in the speech, I spoke about the mridangam as being divine. However, constant meditation and ceaseless striving by human effort would be a sine qua non in highlighting and bringing out the divinity in art. This I would think should be the true aspiration of any artist.

“The role of rhythm or laya has been spoken of by poets with cosmic connotations right from the rotation of the earth, the roll of the waves, to the sway of the trees and the flight of birds. In practically everything in nature, you can see laya or rhythm in action.

“I would like us all this evening to look at something that is very basic to our existence, which is our heartbeat. The heart forms the core of our existence and is a fundamental prerequisite to life. The proper functioning of the heart is critical to our existence but when it does not happen, the condition is described in medical parlance as Arrythmiasis or irregular rhythm. So irregular rhythm or the absence of proper rhythm affects us all in a very fundamental manner and the avalayam or lack of laya can be a matter of great concern to human well being. Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you would all agree with me when I say that this establishes the primacy of place that rhythm or laya has in our existence.

“Youngsters today have an appealing spark of intelligence. I would therefore like to share some stray thoughts with them for reflection. Remember, as the poet Kalidasa said, Puraanamithyeva Na saadhu sarvam. All that is old is not necessarily gold. If that be so, please draw from the pioneers of the past only whatever is relevant, useful and appropriate for the present. If you follow this, you would not find yourselves wrecked on the shores of blind tradition but rather be firmly rooted in innovation based upon dynamic tradition.

“Please do question, but at the same time do not discard all that is old and venerable because you might be missing something that is truly valuable.. Please do use your intellect because it is given only to be used, but also remember in the ultimate reckoning the intellect has to be tempered by the heart. Aesthetics is an elusive concept and would not submit itself to be arrested merely by the intellect. It demands much more from all of us. It demands our hearts and even our souls.

“I would reaffirm to your earnest consideration that many artists of the past knew their worth and kept a certain reserve and a dignity about them. In so doing, one does not have to come across as being arrogant. To indulge in abject prostration is also not appropriate because that would be essentially running down the noble art of which you are all special emissaries.”

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