In 1931 when the Madras Music Academy conducted a national competition for composing a kriti on Mother India, the vocalist, Mayuram Visvanatha Sastri, inspired by Gandhian ideologies, bagged the first prize for his Sanskrit kriti “Kaamitey Karunanvitey” in Todi raga. “My brother Visvanatha Sastri was overjoyed when the judges Tiger Varadachari, T.L. Venkatarama Iyer and Jalatarangam Ramiah Chettiar had described the kriti as ‘simple, yet profound idea of patriotism’. As per the rules of the competition Visvanatha Sastri had described Mother India as a deity, and in appreciation he had received a purse of Rs.100 which was considered big money then,” Vallabham Kalyana Sundaram, vocalist and sister of Visvanatha Sastri had recollected this with her shishya S. Shankar in Bangalore, a few decades ago.
Recipient of Gayana Samaja’s Sangeeta Kalaratna and founder of Shankarabharanam Kalamandiram, S. Shankar was a disciple of Vallabham Kalyana Sundaram for 25 years. “This year happens to be special as it is the 125th birth anniversary of Mayuram Visvanatha Sastri and his 60th death anniversary. As a vocalist from this school, I wished to propagate his compositions, as people only remember relate to his popular song in Khamas, “Jayati Jayati Bharata Maata,” he explains.
Sastri was a prodigious vocalist, instrumentalist, patriot and a composer with a repertoire that covered a whole range of compositions. “I decided to take up Sastri’s songs on Bharat Mata, Dwaja and Mahatma Gandhi that carries a sense of his nationalistic views. Music lovers and children should be aware of this. A CD and book with 22 patriotic songs will be released with T.K. Rajamani also gracing the occasion.”
The original book was brought out in 1948 with Sanskrit lyrics. The new edition will have Sanskrit, Kannada and English lyrics with meanings in Kannada and English, and notations in English. “It took me quite a few months to get into the nucleus of Sastri’s works. To unearth the meaning, and get the exactitude of his thoughts, I had to take help of scholars such as Dr. Shruti of Government Sanskrit College and Australia-based mathematics professor, Anantha Rao. We are approaching schools, it is easy for children to sing these compositions in a choir as there are no gamakas, and it is lyrical as well,” says Shankar who is collaborating with senior danseuse Bhanumathi to set Sastri’s compositions to dance.
coverpage Bharata Bhajanam
Mayuram Visvanatha Sastri, a composer of a range of Carnatic compositions, has written even plays and novels in the ankita, Vedapuri and Visvanatha . “Sastri has composed 18 numbers in the Bharata Bhajanam series in Sanskrit. Apart from these, I have picked up four more to suit this patriotic mood. He was known for composing jana-ranjaka ragas and you will find them in Behag, Kuntalavarali, Peelu, Desh, Maand, Jhonpuri, Asavari, Sindhubhairavi. He was open to usingHindustani ragas too,” observes Shankar.
The Freedom Movement perhaps not only inspired Sastri to bring out compositions on Gandhiji, but also themes close to his heart such as Khadi. “My guru Vallabham had told me that Sastri had sent four of his Sanskrit compositions when the national anthem was being chosen in 1948. They were in the nottu swara style set to Shankarabharana. It wasn’t chosen, but Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer saw to it that ‘Jayati Jayati Bharata Maata,” was broadcast by AIR which caught on to the connoisseurs. What followed was GNB and later D.K. Pattammal’s frequent singing of Sastri’s songs, including the ‘Samarasa Bhavana Bharata Samrajya’ in Bhimplas that made them the songs of patriotism on classical stage,” says Shankar. “In many ways my brother Sastri was an unsung hero. I was witness to his spontaneity that flowered in a gamut of his works,” recalling his guru Vallabham’s words, Shankar decided to bring out a book and CD.
The Book and CD release on April 30, Jayaram Seva Mandali, 8th Block Jayanagar, 6.15 p.m., It will be followed by the rendering of the songs by S. Shankar.
