LAlqudi NAMA TNE LAlqudi STORY f A diCTiONARy Of SyNONyMS EMbRACl'Nq I SOUTH hdiAN PLACE-NAMES ANd PERSONAUTJES WERE TO bE WRITTEN, THE plACE'NAME of LAlqudi ANd THE pERSON'NAME of JAVARAMAN WOuld SUREly bE bRAClCETEd TOGETHER. I N THE WORld of Music, LAlqudi MEANS JAVARAMAN THE violiNisi, EVEN Though THE PLACE-NAME is usEd AS A PRE fix Also by his sisTERS, his SON ANd his dAuqhTER, NOT TO MENTJON A RENOWNEd odHUVAR bEARJNq THE NAME Of SWAMINATHAN. ANd THE MERE MEN- TJON Of THE NAME of JAVARAMAN THE violiNJST iMMEdiATEly bRJNqS TO ThE lips THE plACE-NAME of LAlqudi. AT ONE lEVEl, THE liNkAqE bETWEEN THE plACE- NAME ANd THE pERSON'NAME is buT A REliC of fAMily hisTORy, A REMJNCIER of THE TACT THAT AT ONE TJME jAyARAMAN's fAMily livEc) !N LAlqudi. AT ANOTHER, THE UNIC HAS dEEp EMOTJONAI Sl'qNl'fiCANCE fOR THE v i o l l N MAESTRO. FOR, JAVARAMAN FEEIS, his LAlqudi ANTECEdENTS CON- NECT MM TO SAdquRU TyAqARAJA hiwsElf, JNAS- MUCH AS his qREAT-qRANdfATHER LAlqudi RAMA lyER WAS A dl'RECT dJSCiplE Of THE SAJNT- coMposER, ANd TyAqARAJA vishtd LAlqudi, OffEREd pRAyER AT THE Vl'lUqE SHRJNE ThERE ANd COMDOSEd HVE soNqs iN pRAiSE of THE dErry ANd his CONSORT. So, THE Ulqudi NAMA MUST bsqiN WITH A NOTE ON LAlqudi iTSElf ANd TEll THE STORy of RAMA lyER ANd OTHER MUSJCJANS o f ThE fAMily bEfORE chRONidl'Nq JAyARAMAN's OWN \\h ANd ACHIEVEMENTS. PART ONE of A TWO-PART FEATURE ChRONiclER : N. PATTABHI RAMAN LALCUDI FAMILY TREE TYAGARAJA (1767-1847) Direct Disciple LALGUDI RAMA IYER VOCALIST SAPTARISHI IYER VALADI RADHAKRISHNA IYER GURUSWAMY IYER SRIKANTA IYER VOCALIST GHAT AM VIDWAN (1849-1908) MADURAI KANDASAMY BHAGAVATAR LALGUDI V. R. GOPALA IYER VIOLINIST VIOLINIST (1890-1939) (1900-1979) 1 1 SRIMATHI BRAHMANANDAM LALGUDI G. JAYARAMAN VIOLINIST VIOLINIST (b. 17 Sept 1930) (b. 5 May 1941) PADMAVATHY RAJALAKSHMI ANANTHAGOPALAN RADHAKRISHNAN VEENA ARTIST VIOLINIST (b. 30Jul. 1935) (b. 5 Nov. 1939) LALGUDI G. J. R. KRISHNAN J. VIJAYALAKSHMI JAYANTHI RADHAKRISHNAN VIOLINIST VIOLINIST VEENA ARTIST (b. 15 Apr. I960) (b. 16 Apr. 1966) (b. 19 Jan. 1970) ANURADHA SRIDHAR SRIRAM BRAHMANANDAM VIOLINIST MRIDANGAM ARTIST (b. 17 Nov. 1963) (b. 21 Aug. 1966) LAlqudi ome 180 years ago, when a forefather of violinist Jaya- Rama Iyer. S raman made his appearance in the annals of Carnatic Let me tell you [Lakshmi Ammal had recollected) why Tyagaraja- classical music, Lalgudi was a small village. Located on the swami can* to Lalgudi. He came because of the earnest entreaties of banks of the Kollidam river—a tributary of the Kaveri— your great-grandfather. He was in fact a guest in our house. it shared the attributes of the river delta : lush green farms, Tyagaraja was inspired by his visit to the temple to a placid life, and a sense of belonging to a great religious compose five songs, two of them completely in Sanskrit, all and cultural tradition. of them in weighty raga-s. tea pahimam (Kalyani/Roopaka) Its earlier name was Tapasteerthapura in Sanskrit and and Deva Sritapasteertha (Madhyamavati/Triputa) seek Tirutavatturai in Tamil. As the abode of Lord Siva as the protection of the presiding deity. The other three— Saplarisheeswara and his consort Mahita-Pravriddha or halite Sri Pravriddha (Bhairavi/Adi); Mahita Pravriddha Pravriddha Sreemati, it was a place of pilgrimage. The late (Kambhoji/Chapu); and Gati neevani (Todi/Adi) — are Dr. V. Raghavan found a chronicle of the place which had addressed to Pravriddha Sreemati. a reference to Vyasa and Indra worshipping Siva at Lal- Some refer to these kriti-s collectively as the Lalgudi gudi. Tyagaraja himself has attested that people called the Pancharatna. place Bhooloka Kailasa, or Kailasa on earth, even as they referred to nearby Srirangam as Bhooloka Vaikuntham. Rama Iyer must have been thrilled that his guru not only responded to his invitation but that he felt inspired to com- Lalgudi was one of the kshetra-s visited by Tyagaraja ; pose songs on the deities in the shadow of whose grace the presumably he did so some 150 years ago. It was, accord- family lived. Some of that thrill is yet felt by Lalgudi Jaya- ing to chronicles available on the saint-bard's life, among raman. the two southernmost sacred places visited by Tyagaraja, the other being Srirangam. In one of his earlier essays on Comment by Jayaraman Tyagaraja (in The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja), Dr. V. These kriti-s have since become part of our heritage, reminding us Raghavan said : "It is not known what took Tyagaraja to of the saint's visit to our house and of the fact that our musical source the village of Lalgudi ...." In a later monograph {Tyaga- lies at the feet of Tyagaraja. This good fortune has inspired in me a raja, published in 1983 by the Sahitya Akademi) he sug- sense of devotion and responsibility. gested that Rama Iyer of Lalgudi, one of the disciples of CHRONICLE RESUMED Tyagaraja, might have been responsible for the bard's visit to the village. Earlier to Tyagaraja, Saivite saints had offered worship at the Lalgudi temple and sung hymns in praise of its deity. More than a plausibility, it is a fact, according to the Chola and Pandya inscriptions also attest to the age and recollection of Lakshmi Ammal, the daughter-in-law of eminence of the temple. MusicAl PRECJECESSORS I N THE FAMily Rama Iyer, The First Musician of his disciples "a corpus of his compositions, according to : ama Iyer's father and forefathers belonged to Lalgudi. the student's voice quality and musical equipment." He R Rama Iyer's father Srinivasa Iyer, also known as Chit- has noted further: "It is to these pupils, primarily to the tappakutty Iyer in family circles, was not a trained musi- representatives of the three branches of his sishya-param- cian but his interest in the subject was deep enough to para of Umayalpuram, Tillaisthanam and Walajapet, start- encourage his son Rama who revealed talent in it. He took ing with Sundara Bhagavatar and Krishna Bhagavatar, his son to Kakarla Tyagaraja Brahmam in Tiruvaiyaru, Rama Iyengar and Venkataramana Bhagavatar respec- some miles up the river Kaveri but on the opposite bank, tively, that we owe the propagation of the songs of the since Tyagaraja, though he had detractors, had achieved a saint." reputation not only as a composer and musician but also as Although his name was subsequently listed among a man given to the pursuit of the spiritual ideal. He was Tyagaraja's disciples by Walajapet Ramaswamy Bhagavatar overjoyed when Tyagaraja agreed to take Rama as a disci- in his Tyagabrahmopanishad, Rama Iyer apparently did ple. not belong to these three branches. But, when he eventually returned to Lalgudi after living in the shadow of his guru Lalgudi Rama Iyer (1807-1867) spent several years "at for several years, he became famous quickly for the music the feet of the saint," absorbing both the music and the and the values of life he had absorbed from the master. spirit of devotion that guided his guru's life. And the respect in which he was held increased when his According to Dr. Raghavan. Tyagaraja imparted lo each guru visited Lalgudi as a pilgrim. Iyer but the inscription along with my grandmother's descriptions of him helped me make a positive identification. I experienced a heady thrill. But before I could obtain a copy of the portrait, I had to undergo great difficulties. [INTERPOLATION] On how to obtain a photograph of your ancestor's por- trait at the Mysore Palace Let me tell you, diligent researcher, how it is done. It is not that easy as you may imagine. You take a camera in hand and try to photograph the portrait A policeman on guard duty will snatch your equipment away roughly, say- ing you are not allowed to take a picture of anything in the museum without obtaining prior permission. On inquiring hither and thither, you would be told you need permission from the curator, or from 'the sircar', or from the Maharaja himself. When you seek such permission, you would be asked a million-trillion questions and also asked to submit, in quadruplicate, proof that the personality whose portrait you wish to have a copy of is indeed that of your great- grandfather. You will be frustrated Don't despair. Go to a friend who holds a key post in the Government Explain to him the Catch-22 situation you are in. He will smile and promise to do what he can. In the end, he will lubricate the machinery as needed and obtain for you the photograph Lalg-di Rama Iyer in Mysore durbar dress you covet This is how you go about it when you embark on What Lakshmi Ammal told Jayaraman research-kisearch. Soon after this memorable visit, my father-in-law was invited by CHRONICLE RESUMED: the then Maharaja of Mysore, Mummudi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, to join his court as an asthana vidwan. Responding to it, he migrated to The portrait of Lalgudi Rama Iyer, aka Pallavi Rama Mysore. There he won plaudits. He won fame especially for perform- Iyer — a copy of which now adorns a wall in Jayaraman's ing on one occasion the near-miraculous feat of rendering a difficult home in Madras—shows a man of ample proportions with 4-kalaJ pallavi with a lemon poised on Us head throughout a sensitive refinement of expression. He is in the costume of Comment by Jayaraman an asthana vidwan of Mysore. He wears a turban, a pair of ear-studs, a laced upper-cloth, a double-string of gold- We don't know why Rama Iyer did it.