Palani Subramania Pillai, who defined the fundamentals of the mridangam, had said this (Tamil, roughly translated) to the parents of a disciple - “He has a fine hand and I have taught him four lessons. These lessons are enough to conquer the world.” The talented son was none other than Arani Vasudeva Rao Raghuprasad – one of those unsung heroes.
AVR’s modesty and devotion to his guru is such that he had to be persuaded to even agree that he had indeed accompanied many stalwarts - Manakkal Rangarajan, Saathur Subramaniam, Ayaloor Krishnan, Perur Subramania Dikshitar (who played the Kodi Harmonium), Mayavaram S. Rajam (GNB’s guru) and so on.
On seeing AVR, Subramania Pillai said, “I have seen you somewhere...” - something similar to what Saint Ramakrishna had said on seeing Vivekananda at their first meeting. Was the guru waiting for this disciple? It would seem so, such was the bond they shared.
AVR remembers those 25 seconds in a thani avarthanam he played, where the image of his Guru had occupied his mind. He played exactly like Palani for those few seconds. Later, he shed tears of joy. AVR recalls the golden words of violinist Rajamanickam Pillai. “The art of accompanying should be like the way the consort (Dharmapatni) would walk beside her Nadha, very much like his shadow... and that typified the accompanying style of Palani Sir.”
Subramania Pillai passed away in 1962. Raghuprasad’s mind refused to consider another guru and his father wrote to Rukmini Devi, who at once accepted him as a mridangam teacher at Kalakshetra. “That letter is still with me,” he says.
His theory of the four strokes, Tha-Thi-Thom-Nam follows these principles: “They are the four corners/cornerstones on which an edifice is built. Remember the Chathur Vedas that form the basis of everything. Tha for instance is uttered open-mouthed in a loud manner – a firm tap on the mridangam. T hi , in contrast, calls for subtlety and depth ( azhutham ). This requires the fingers to be bent while striking the instrument, a kind of muted playing (pothi vaasikkiradhu) .
“Thom uses both the hands in one action, combining the thopi and valanthalai. Nam , again is a quiet expression which has to be played using meetu. I gleaned all this by observing my guru’s playing,” says AVR.
AVR is a gifted artist too. “I learnt painting from Madhavan and Adyar K. Srinivasalu. My learning has always been under brilliant men. Srinivasalu was known for his style and dynamics that had the imprint of Indian traditional folk in all its images. It was both grand and simple, a pattern that meshed beautiful lines with soothing colours.
But my hand was more of a realistic kind (Thathroopam) and I could draw a human form even as as I saw it. (He shows, on repeated pleas, a few drawings made in his note book capturing dance mudhras – breathtaking and seemingly simple). “This hand-orientation is very much like the human voice (saareeram) - the thin, high-pitched, soft-natured and husky.” And he adds, “All this, mind you, is God’s benevolence.” Modest, indeed, considering that he taught painting and mridangam at Kalakshetra for 17 years - he teaches mridangam even today.
Raghuprasad retired as Graphic Artist (Varaikalai Oviyar) from Doordharshan after a 22-year stint. His portrait of Pandit Nehru won him the second prize at a painting exhibition that was held at the Congress Grounds in 1967. His co-participants included Kanu Desai and Maniam (Maniam Selvan’s father).
Norman Vincent Peale said this of teaching: “Teaching is getting young people to buy constructive knowledge to enable them to do great things with their lives.” And that has been AVR’s mission, dedicated to his Gurunadhar!
