ENCORE
Paeans to a stalwart
SRIRAM VENKATAKRISHNAN
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On the 90th death anniversary of ‘Poochi’ Srinivasa Iyengar, several sources throw new light on the great musician.
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‘Poochi’ Iyengar was a loving guru who had a number of disciples living with him. Foremost among them was Ariyakkudi.
Photo: From the Hindu archives
MUSICIANS’ GALLERY: (from left) Ghatam Narayana Iyer, Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Pandithorai, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer, Narayanaswamy Appa, Thirugokarnam Narayanaswamy Iyer.
On July 29, 1919, The Hindu reported the death of Vidwan Srinivasa Iyengar, known as Poochi Iyengar, at Ramnad, the previous night after a brief illness. It went thus: “A master of vocal music, both in its theory and in its
practice, he attained a proficiency and enjoyed a reputation in his line which was unique. He was attached to the Ramnad Samasthanam, but his services were requisitioned throughout Southern India and his exposition was always listened to with admiration. The news of the death of such an unrivalled expert will cause profound sorrow in this Presidency and we convey our sincere condolences to the members of the bereaved family.”
This month, therefore, marks the 90th death anniversary of Ramanathapuram ‘Poochi’ Srinivasa Iyengar. The facts of his life as narrated by Prof. Sambamurthy in his book ‘Great Musicians’ are well known. But several lesser known sources throw light on the different facets of this great man.
Accoridng to ‘Karunamirtha Sagaram’ of Abraham Pandithar, published in 1917, “he is a good exponent of Ragam and Pallavi. He is a proficient scholar who knows Sangeeta Lakshyam and Lakshanam.”
Deep knowledge
Iyengar’s deep knowledge and erudition were apparently well known even in 1904-05. When Vishnu Narain Bhatkhande visited the South, he was specifically directed by Tachur Chinna Singaracharlu to call on Iyengar. Bhatkhande did so en-route to Rameswaram and, according to his diary published later as ‘Meri Dakshin Bharat ki Sangeet Yatra,’ came away with great respect for the musician.
Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar in his ‘Karnataka Sangita Vidwangal,’ however, differs from Pandithar and states that Iyengar preferred melody over mathematics and that he had never heard him sing complicated pallavis. From his account, Iyengar emerges as a man with a sense of humour. Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar writes of how a friend and he once suddenly had the desire to hear Iyengar sing Mukhari. When they reached his place of stay, Iyengar was in the bathroom having his weekly oil massage. On coming to know the reason for their visit, he immediately sang the raga while the two of them stood outside the door and listened!
Mysore Vasudevachar in his ‘Na Kanda Kalavidaru’ writes of Iyengar’s gargantuan breakfasts — 25 idlis bathed in ghee and a pot full of coffee! Vasudevachar also records that Iyengar was a loving guru who had a number of disciples living with him. Foremost among them was Ariyakkudi, who was also a kinsman. From Soolamangalam Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar’s account, we also come to know of other disciples — Salem Doraiswami (Chellam) Iyengar, Kandanur Srinivasa Iyengar, Karaikkudi Rajamani Iyengar and Kutralam Srinivasa Iyengar.
An article written by N.R. Bhuvarahan (NRB) in The Hindu dated February 22, 1970, throws light on more disciples and on other aspects of Iyengar’s personality. NRB includes Raja Mudduramalinga Sethupathi of Ramnad, Jalatarangam Subbayyar and Mannargudi Krishnamurthy Bhagavatar as disciples. NRB also writes rather surprisingly that while Iyengar trained under Patnam Subramania Iyer, he also received special training in raga alapana and pallavi from Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer. How correct this information is, is not certain now, given the rivalry between Subramania Iyer and Vaidyanatha Iyer.
As per the listing given by NRB, Iyengar’s repertoire appears to have been huge and included the kritis of the Trinity, his guru Subramania Iyer, Bhadrachalam Ramadas, Tamil composers such as Gopalakrishna Bharati and Ramaswami Sivan, Thevaram and devotional hymns of Nayanmars, padams, javalis and tillanas. Iyengar’s stock of Tamil compositions is not surprising considering that he was a close friend and protégé of Pandithu Dorai Thevar, the zamindar of Palavanatham who also was the president of the Fourth Tamil Sangam. NRB also states that among Iyengar’s favourite pieces was ‘Sri Subrahmanyaya Namaste’ (Khambodi) which Ariyakkudi would later make his own. While NRB does not state his source for so much information on Iyengar, given his close friendship with Ariyakkudi, it would appear that the latter had given him all the details.
It is also significant that in the first conference of the Indian Fine Arts Society in 1933, Ariyakkudi presented a paper on the life of his guru. NRB laments in 1970 that most of Iyengar’s compositions “lie scattered in his notebooks, which are yet to see the light of the day.” Two of the notebooks bearing Iyengar’s own handwritten notation for songs whose lyrics were written in grantha script, were in NRB’s possession. The Hindu carried a sample page from the notebook as a visual. By then, the Music Academy had already come out with a compilation of a few songs. A volume in Telugu, published by NC and Dwaraka Parthasarathy came out next. It was only in 1982 that a full compilation with notations was brought out by Chellam Iyengar and published by Higginbothams Limited.
(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com)
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