To address the concern that Muthaiah Bhagavatar’s compositions are waning in concerts especially in Telugu land due to non-availability in Telugu text, Balatripurasundari brought out this book written by her mother Donepudi Venkata Subbamma. Both mother and daughter place Muthiah Bhagavatar in the lineage of Vaggeyakaras Thyagaraja, Shyama Sastri and Dikshitar.
The late Venkata Subbamma was a great Carnatic vocalist and guru, well versed in Muthaiah Bhagavatar’s compositions. Though these compositions were in Tamil script Subbamma took the responsibility of penning the compositions in Telugu script with notation and aptly titled it as Muthaiah Bhagavatar’s Kriti Manimala .
In prologue Bala Tripura Sundari gave a brief of her parents Venkata Subba Rao and Venkata Subbamma, both musicians of stature who trained their daughters Bala Tripura Sundari and Lakshmi, who were the first dueting sisters to sing together as ‘Donepudi Sisters’. When the family shifted to Chittoor they came into contact with Chittoor Vaidyalingam Bhagavatar, adopted son of Muthaiah Bhagavatar. It was he who taught them many compositions of Muhaiah Bhagavatar. This prompted Venkata Subbamma to re-write these compositions in Telugu script, providing notation to all the 108 numbers.
After her mother’s demise Bala Tripura Sunadari brought out all these compositions in book form with comments made by stalwart musicians. Bala Tripura Sundari is a post-graduate in English from Venkateswara University and earned doctorate from JNTU. She is also Diploma holder in Music from Andhra University. As a vocalist she gave several concerts and is presently running ‘Sri Raga Music School’ in Hyderabad.
Kollegal R.Subramanyam had once lamented the absence a book of Muthaiah Bhagvatar’s compositions in Telugu, whereas his guru Varadaraja Iyengar had rendered them in Kannada script. Vaidyalingam, Subbamma’s guru, was his friend. Eminent voco-violinist Komanduri Seshadri says that only a few compositions of Muthaiah Bhagavatar are in circulation , such as Amba Mahavani in Sarswathimanohari, Vanchatonu in Karnaranjani, Jalandhara in Valaji, Vijayambike in Vijayanagari, Rajarajaradhite in Niroshta, Needu Mahima in Hamsanandi and Mathe Malayadhwaja , a Daru varnam as the best. Veena virtuoso Ayyagari Somasundaram hoped this book would become a beacon for Telugu musicians.
The 108 compositions of Muthaiah Bhagavatar in this book included varnams, kirtanas, Siva Sthothra kirtanas, Devi kirtanas and tillanas. Subbamma has also given a biographical sketch of Muthaiah Bhagavatar who lived between 1877 and 1945. He was the disciple of Sambasiva Iyer of Thyagaraja sishya lineage. Mysore Maharaja had made him his court musician and conferred on him the title of 'Gayaka Sikhamani’. The brief bio also says that he inaugurated the first annual festival of Music Academy, Chennai in 1930 and became its first President. He penned Thyagaraja Vijayam in seven ragas and 486 slokas that narrated Thyagaraja’s life and contribution. These and many more revelations of Muthaiah Bhagavatar’s life are found in this book.
This book is indeed a treasure trove for Telugu musicians. It is easy to learn from this as all the compositions carry their intricate notation.
Muthiah Bhagavatar’s Kriti Manimaala
by Venkata Subbamma
Published by Bala Tripurasundari; Pages:230. Price: Rs.150.
Contact Available with Navodya Publications, Tagore Publications and Bala Tripura Sundari’s Sriraga Music Academy, Vidyanagar, Cell: 97043 91406 .
