Voice rich and powerful
SRIRAM VENKATKRISHNAN
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Vedanta Bhagavatar could not only traverse to the top panchama but quite incredibly stay there for an appreciable time.
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He sought no favours and when it came to any attempt at one-upmanship by accompanists, he could put them firmly in their place.
Multi-faceted: Vedanta Bhagavatar
When the Music Academy brought out its diamond jubilee souvenir in 1988, it published biographical details of all the Sangita Kalanidhis barring one and that was Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavatar. Details of his life are hard to come by. He was bor
n on February 15 in the year 1879 and 130 years later, let us resurrect his greatness.
Vedantam belonged to a family of Sri Vidya practitioners who were known for their learning, piety and in particular knowledge of Sanskrit. His father Muthu Sastrigal, in consultation with Melagaram Subramania Desikar, the pontiff of the Tiruvavaduturai Mutt’s Kallidaikurichi branch, sent him to get trained under Melattur Ramaswamy Bhagavatar, a Harikatha exponent in the Thanjavur area. At the end of 10 years of training, during which time he also served as an accompanist to Kumbakonam Panchapakesa Sastri, Vedantam returned to Kallidaikurichi as a Harikatha exponent gaining expertise in delivering ‘Nandan Charitiram.’ He was soon greatly in demand in the Tirunelveli-Madurai regions.
Ten years later, Vedanta Bhagavatar made the acquaintance of Vasudevanallur Subbiah Bhagavatar, a disciple of Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer. Subbiah Bhagavatar, who was deeply interested in philosophy, had become a disciple of Picchu Sastrigal, Vedanta Bhagavatar’s uncle and a great scholar. At the latter’s request, Subbiah Bhagavatar taught the techniques of raga alapana and kalpanaswaras to Vedanta Bhagavatar thereby making him a singer of concert calibre. Soon his music, to quote E. Krishna Iyer (Personalities in Present Day Music, Roc House and Sons, Madras, 1933) was noted for “its power, grandeur and majesty.” Krishna Iyer also notes that he became well-known for his eccentricities as well, but these are regrettably not listed.
Wonderful display
“The essence of the Vedantam style” wrote Krishna Iyer, “is in the power of the voice behind it and the richness of the imagination colouring it. You are struck by the magnificent volume of the voice. It would drown out the loudest of accompaniments, filling your ears with the flood of its full and rich nadha and you won’t feel the existence of anything else beside it for the time being.” The voice apparently could not only traverse to the top panchama but could quite incredibly stay there for “an appreciable time and display wonderful pyrotechnic there from.”
Vedanta Bhagavatar was accompanied by his brother Ramalinga Bhagavatar in his performances and their raga alapanas says Krishna Iyer, were masterly. In the matter of songs, he was known for masterpieces such as ‘Karu Baru’ (Mukhari), ‘Chakkani Rajamargamu’ (Kharaharapriya) and ‘Tulasi Bilwa’ (Kedaragowla). Vedanta Bhagavatar apparently believed in adding sangatis to songs “so long as they were not inconsistent with the bhava” and at times carried it to an excess.
Both on and off stage Vedanta Bhagavatar was a man known for his brusque manner, often bordering on rudeness. He sought no favours from rulers, Sabha secretaries and patrons and when it came to any attempt at one-upmanship by accompanists, he could put them firmly in their place, at times singing on completely ignoring their presence. His perfection in every department of music performance, combined with his aggression ensured that very few accompanists dared to accept concert opportunities with him and those who did, behaved themselves. In an era known for stellar accompanists this was something.
In the late 1920s, Vedanta Bhagavatar came under the influence of Ambi Dikshitar while both were staying in Madras and from then on he began including Dikshitar kritis in his concert repertoire. Perhaps, being like Muthuswami Dikshitar, an ardent Sri Vidya upasaka, he felt a natural affinity to the great composer’s music.
As required by the Sri Vidya tradition he took on a Diksha name to be used while worshipping. Being a devotee of Subramania, he called himself Shaktidhara Dasa. He also used several kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar in illustrating his Lalitopakhyanam sessions which expound the story of Goddess Lalitha.
The genuineness of some of the songs in this grouping is however doubtful.
Vedanta Bhagavatar composed songs in Tamil, Telugu and Sanskrit, using the mudra of Vedanta. He also wrote books such as ‘Raga Sudhakara,’ ‘Pallavi Parijata’ and ‘Swara Kalpalatha.’ Of these, the second can still be seen in reference libraries and has, apart from his own compositions with swara and notations, ‘Vatapi Ganapatim’ of Muttuswami Dikshitar and ‘Nijamarmamulanu’ of Tyagaraja.
The number of sangatis for ‘Vatapi’ is truly stunning. Also, Bhagavatar added a passage of chittaswaram. In addition, it also has an exhaustive treatment for the rendition of a pallavi in raga Kalyani.
Vedanta Bhagavatar presided over the annual conference of the Music Academy, Madras, in 1940. His booming voice must have filled the cavernous interior of the Senate House where the conference took place. By next year he was in indifferent health and passed away in 1942.
(The author can be contacted at srirambts@gmail.com
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