S. Vaidyanathakrishnan, former Director, Faculty of Fine Arts, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Coimbatore Kendra, was felicitated at a function here on Sunday. A release says that the Bhavan chose to honour him on his 80 birthday for his contribution to music, culture and literature.
Mr.Vaidyanathakrishnan, who has made an extensive study of the compositions of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of musicis a consultant for leading musicians and his lecture demonstrations on Navavarna Kritis are a regular at Navaratri festivals.He has authored several books including the one on Adi Sankara, which was published by N. Mahalingam. He has written articles on the compositions of Purandara Dasa and was conferred the ‘Sat Kainkarya Mani’ title by the Paramarcharya of Kancheepuram, the release adds.
At the felicitation function, B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of the Kendra, said that the Bhavan was able to significantly contribute to the preservation of Indian culture for over 75 years because of the dedicated efforts of several eminent persons like Mr. Vaidyanathakrishnan.
Neyveli R. Santhanagopalakrishnan said while musicians like him have a number of fans, a number of musicians were fans of Mr. Vaidyanathakrishnan, whose ability to explain the finer aspects of Thyagaraja’s kritis was very well known.Lawyer N.V. Nagasubramaniam, Chairman, Coimbatore Capital, D. Balasundaram and N.V. Subramaniam of Saraswati Vaggeyakara Trust spoke on the occasion.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Vaidyanathakrishnan thanked the Bhavan for providing him a platform to take the rich music tradition to the next generation.
