Spotlight on the compositions by nagaswaram and thavil vidwans

Injikkudi Mariyappan’s lec-dem provided a peek into the treasure trove of compositions created by these artistes

Nagaswara vidwan Injikkudi Mariyappan presented a lecdem at The Music Academy on ‘Compositions of nagaswaram and tavil vidwans’. Dharmapuram Govindaraja Pillai, was the first nagaswara vidwan to publish his compositions under the title ‘Abhirami Isai Vanna malai.’ He composed more than 30 varnams, many of them in rare ragas such as Indirai, Kemapriya, Krishnaveni and Srijai. His mudra was ‘Sundara.’ Mariyappan sang Govindaraja Pillai’s varnam ‘Paaraayo Sri Valli’ in raga Sumanesaranjani. The uniqueness of this varnam is that in the muktayi swara, in the fourth kandigai, the composer has given pancha nadai. Then followed a varnam in Vandana Dharini raga, tisra Jhampai. Govindaraja Pillai’s Kiravani kriti ‘Arulpuri Vela’, is special, in its clever use of the vowels of Tamil in sequence starting from ‘a.’ Every line begins with a vowel, and finally the rarely used Tamil ayudha ezhuthu is used as the first letter of the last line. Mariyappan also presented Govindaraja Pillai’s ‘Thamadam yen’ ( Swarnangi ragam, rupaka talam). Poraiyar R. Venugopala Pillai is well known as the one who modified the thavil, by replacing the central leather ring with a steel ring and leather belts with ones made of steel. In his Ananda Bhairavi kriti ‘Kaanaada Kaatchi kanden’, Venugopala Pillai has made the alpa prayogas of Anandabhairavi like antara gandharam, suddha daivatam and kakali nishadam the focus of the kriti. Mariyappan’s demo of this kriti was followed by a composition of Venugopala Pillai in raga Savitri.

Giving up an art form, when one is at the peak of fame and chalking out a new path is difficult. But this is precisely what Koorai Nadu Natesa Pillai did. His father Bharatham Ramaswamy Pillai, a sishya of Muthuswami Dikshitar, used to teach his son varnams, when the latter was only three years old. By the time he was 19, Natesa Pillai was a much sought after nattuvangam expert. When he was 30, an unpleasant experience near Tiruvarur, led to his move from dance guru to nagaswaram player. He had nagaswaram lessons from his father-in-law Tiruindalur Subramania Pillai, Kottai Subbaraya Pillai and Injikkudi Kumara Pillai. In just four years, he became a fine nagaswaram player. He composed 116 tana varnams in Telugu, which was one of the many languages he knew. He settled in Tiruindalur, and his varnams are all in praise of Parimala Ranganatha, the deity in the Tiruindalur temple. His mudras are Sri Parimala Ranganatha and Sindupuri. Mariyappan sang Natesa Pillai’s varnam Adi neepaina (raga Jothiswaroopini). The lecdem came to an end with a tillana in Vasantha of Ammachatram Kannusami Pillai, tavil vidwan, who also played nagaswaram, mridangam, khanjira and kidikotti. One of his pupils was Thiruvavaduthurai Rajarathnam Pillai. Thiruveezhimizhalai Kalyanasundaram Pillai had more than 1000 compositions to his credit, of which Mariyappan found only three. Mariyappan said that he could not include many other composers in his lecdem, because of the time constraint.

The programme gave the audience a peek into the treasure trove of compositions by nagaswara and thavil vidwans, and left one yearning for more.