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Eternal India
encyclopedia
MUSIC
Swati Tirunal
He was born in the royal house of Kerala
which was renowned for its learning and pi-
ety. The rajas of Travancore were great devo-
tees of Lord Padmanabha.
His uncle Balrama Varma was a very
learned and popular king, who died issueless.
He was the author of Balarama Bharatam, a
highly respected work.
The prince was named Swati Tirunal Rama
Varma. At the age of 16, he was anointed the
Maharaja of Travancore. At a very young age
he mastered nearly 13 languages including
Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Ma-
rathi, Hindi and English. He was good at
composing poetry, painting, sculpture and
other arts. However he is best known for his
compositions and patronage of musicians. He
composed a number of poetic works including
Padmanabha Satakam, Kuchela pakhyanam
and
Ajamila pakhyanam.
In the Karnatak
style he has a number of
kritis, varnams,
padams
and
javalis
to his credit. His genius
did not restrict itself to South Indian music,
but he has to his credit
dhrupads, khayals,
thumris
and so on.
Besides being a musician he was one of
the most generous patrons of art of his day and
in his court there were musicians and scholars
of both south and north. The famous ones were
Ravi Varman Tampi, Koli Tampuran, Punjab
Suleman, Vadivelu (violinist and disciple of
Muthuswami Dikshitar) and his brothers,
Kannayya Bhagavatar and many others. It is
said that Tyagaraja was highly appreciative
of Swati Tirunal's compositions.
Swati Tirunal Rama Varma passed away
on Dec. 25,1846.
Tallapakkam Annamacharya
(15th C.)
Born to Kumaranarayana and Laksh-
mamma of Tallapakkam in the Cuddapah
district of Andhra. He seems to have been a
prodigy, as he had composed songs even be-
fore the age of 16. In accordance with a com-
mand from Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati in
a dream, he left for the holy shrine of the
Seven Hills (Tirupati) and lived here singing
the praises of Venkatesa. Here he was initiated
into yoga by a saint by the name of Ghana
Vishnu and following his advice, Annama
came back to his village and settled down to
the life of a householder composing songs on
his favourite Deity.
When Seluva Narasimha, the Vijayanagar
King, demanded that Annamacharya com-
pose a song eulogising him, Annama refused
saying that he could not sing of anyone but
Lord, The furious Narasimha had the mu-
sician bound in chains. Annamacharya began
singing of the greatness of Lord Venkates-
wara and the chains loosened and fell off by
themselves. Seluva Narasimha in a mood of
penitence released him. When his children
grew up, Annamacharya left Tallapakkam
and came to live in Tirupati where later he
died. His genius is astounding. His devotional
ecstasy and profound philosophy have in-
spired many later composers even Tyagaraja.
He was a prolific composer, only 14,000 of his
songs have survived. His three works are Srin-
gara Manjari, Sringara Sankirtana and
Adhyatma Sankirtana. All the three are in
Telugu and addressed to the Lord of the Seven
Hills.
Bhadrachala Ramadas
(17th C.)
His simple folkish songs were an inspira-
tion to Thyagaraja. His songs are still alive.
His early name was Gopanna. Even from
childhood he was singing the name of Rama.
He was married and had a son. Though he was
not wealthy he was generous. He threw his
house open to the poor and needy and gave all
that he had. He was appointed Tahasildar at
Bhadrachalam by the ruler of Golkonda. It had
a famous temple of Rama. Gopanna collected
funds by donations and used money from the
state treasury to rebuild the temple. He was
imprisoned by the Nawab for nearly 12 years
on charges of embezzlement. In a dream the
Nawab was told by Lord Rama that Gopanna
was innocent. The Nawab released Gopanna
and gave him a handsome pension for life.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath's music (
Rabindra Sangeet
)
is both technically and aesthetically of a high
order. He not only created songs with words
and music of his own, but wrote poems for
others’ music and gave music to others’ poems.
The composition types include
dhrupad,
thumri
and
tappa
though the majority were
just songs.
He drew extensively from Bengali folk
tunes such as
sari, baul
and
keerthan.
Of
ragas
he used many of the common ones, the
frequent being
Bhairavi, Khamaj, Pilu, Mal-
har
and
Bihag.
He created new combinations of
ragas
like
Asavari-Bhairavi,
Darbari-Todi-
Bhairavi, Bhairav-Bhairavi, Multani-Bhim-
palasi and so on. New talas like sasthi (2+4),
navami (5+4 or 3+2+2+2), jhampak
(3+2+3+2)
and
rupakada (3+2+3+2)
were
his contributions.
A mystic of the same type as Sri Chaitanya
and Sri Ramakrishna, Rabindranath visualised
the creation as a Lover playing with his
Beloved, The world and this life was a song of
union and separation, of joy and pain, of
victory and defeat.
Vishnu Digambar Paluskar
His forefathers were a family of Brahmins
in the village, Palus, in Maharashtra. Vishnu
Digambar was born in 1872 at Kurundwad,
the principal town of an Indian 'native' state.
His father was a Keertankar (singer of Keer-
tan). He lost the use of his eyes early in his life
due to an accident. The Raja of Miraj who
realised the musical talents of the child put
him under the guidance of Balakrishna Bua
Ichalkaranjikar. Paluskar studied with him till
about 1896. He then left Miraj and after visit-
ing many places reached Baroda. He was
invited to sing at the court of the Maharaja.
The Maharani was pleased with the young
man and presented him with lavish gifts.
Vishnu Digambar Paluskar
Composer, Ram Dhun, "Raghupati
Raghava Raja Ram'
which was sung by
Narayana Moreshwara Khare at the head
of the famous Dandi March led by
Gandhijiin 1930.
In 1924 he started Sri Ram Nam Adar
Ashram in Nasik, here he moved in 1924. He
passed away in 1931 in Miraj.
To Paluskar music was a path to God
realization and could not be divorced from
moral commitments. He brought in a strict
living and behaviour in his school. His own
conduct was exemplary and he saw to it that
his students were of blameless character.
Towards the end of his- life his time was
devoted almost entirely to religious music and
his end also came amidst the singing of
Ram
dhun.