How Purandara Dasa came to Madras
Baradwaj Rangan
How Purandara Dasa came to Madras
Sriram V
In 1565, the Battle of Talikota saw the beginning of the end of the
Vijayanagar Empire. Its decline also witnessed the disappearance of
many art treasures. Among them were the original tunes of many songs
of Purandara Dasa and other composers of the Dasa Koota. If today
these songs with a Kannada base are still being sung, and particularly
in Tamil Nadu, it is largely due to the efforts of two women — Madras
Lalithangi and her daughter M L Vasanthakumari.
MLV, as her fans called her, was a brilliant musician who also sang
film numbers, which have become classics in their own right. She is no
more. Her disciples and admirers celebrated her 75th birthday on the
third of July, this year. MLV had a unique style and was particularly
known for her rendition of Purandara and other Dasa kritis. When she
sang ugabogas such as ‘Baliya manage' and songs like ‘Shrikanta',
there was palpable excitement among the audience.
MLV's expertise in the Dasa pieces was inherited from her mother,
Madras Lalithangi, who had also made a mark for herself in the field
of carnatic music in her time and was a pioneer of sorts. Her song,
‘Sudantira Deepam' in raga Kalyani is probably the first nationalist
song in Tamil to be released as a gramophone plate. When Chittaranjan
Das, the freedom fighter, passed away, she recorded an elegy.
Born in 1910, Madras Lalithangi was adopted by Perumalkoil
Narayanamma, a devadasi who resided in the Chengam Bazar area in
George Town, Madras. As was customary in a family dedicated to the
arts, the child was given music lessons from a variety of gurus such
as Coimbatore Thayi, Padam Pattabhiramayya, Fiddle Subba Rao and the
redoubtable Veena Dhanammal. By the time she was in her teens she had
become a vocalist of repute.
In the early twenties many women singers lived in the George Town area
and one of them was Tiruvarur Rajayi. Kootanur Ayyaswami Iyer, a man
who was known for his large repertoire of the works of Tyagaraja, but
who could not make a mark as a vocalist came to teach Rajayi. Ayyar
and Lalithangi met in the house of Rajayi. He began teaching
Lalithangi too and soon they were drawn to each other and tied the
knot in the mid-1920s.
Vasanthakumari was born in 1928 to this couple. There was an impromptu
music performance by the great vocalist Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer
during the cradle ceremony of the child. Young Vasanthi was taught
music at home, even as she was sent to the Good Shepherd's Convent for
formal education. This was short-lived. Lalithangi's frequent
asthmatic attacks curtailed her concert opportunities and consequently
her income. Her husband took to giving music lessons to children of
affluent families.
One such family was that of Dr U Rama Rao, a physician who lived in
Thambu Chetty Street. He was a prominent member of Madras society, who
became President of the Legislative Council. He was also the founding
President of the Music Academy. In 1935, Narasimha Dasa, a member of
the Dasa Kootta or sect to which Purandara Dasa had belonged, visited
him. The Dasa had a repertoire of the songs of Purandara and other
saints. Dr Rao invited Lalithangi and Ayyar to listen to the rendition
of these pieces. Lalithangi was so taken up with them that she
convinced the Dasa to stay on in Madras and teach her whatever he
knew. The process took over a year and by the time he left, the Dasa
had taught Lalithangi more than 200 songs.
With his departure Lalithangi became the resident expert in Purandara
Dasa kritis. Music critics such as Kalki Krishnamurthy were all praise
for her. Encouraged, Lalithangi took on the ambitious project of
publishing the songs of Purandara Dasa with notation. But money was
scarce. The Second World War saw Madras being evacuated and many of
Ayyar's music students had left the city. Concerts were difficult to
come by. Undaunted, the couple enlisted the help of R Rangaramanuja
Iyengar, an English teacher and musicologist who lived in Egmore and
who was an ardent champion of musical causes.
On many evenings, Ayyar, Lalithangi and Vasanthakumari, would walk all
the way from their 108, Anna Pillai Street residence to Egmore, not
having the money to hire a horse carriage or rickshaw. Ayyar sold his
family lands to raise money for the book and Rangaramanuja Iyengar got
Kasturi Srinivasan of The Hindu to supply paper free of cost. The
book, Purandara Mani Mala, put together by Lalithangi and
Vasanthakumari, was finally released on October 10, 1941 and was the
first Tamil publication of Purandara Dasa's works.
Earlier in the same year, both mother and daughter traveled to
Bangalore where Lalithangi was scheduled to give a concert. She came
down with an asthmatic attack and her daughter was asked to perform in
her place. Young Vasanthi had no choice but to agree.
The publicity handbills, which mentioned Madras Lalithangi, were
altered to read Madras Lalithangi Vasanthakumari and thus a star was
born. As for the mother? Madras Lalithangi enjoyed her daughter's
growing success in films and on the concert platform. She lived to see
the family shift from the narrow George Town to spacious Edward
Elliots Road (Radha Krishnan Salai) and there she passed away in the
1950s.
Today, the book of Purandara Dasa kritis and a few 78 rpms are all
that remain to speak of Ganakalabhooshani Madras Lalithangi, the
musician. But if Purandara Dasa songs retain their popularity in Tamil
Nadu, it's mostly due to this artiste's efforts.
The writer is the editor of www.sangeetham.com, a website on carnatic
music
naniwadekar
>
> How Purandara Dasa came to Madras
>
> Sriram V
>
> film numbers, which have become classics in their own right. She is no
> more. Her disciples and admirers celebrated her 75th birthday on the
> third of July, this year.
>
The word 'birthday' is not used in case of dead persons.
Birth anniversary or 'Jayanti' would be appropriate usage.
- dn
PS : It is one of the vagaries of life that the FIRST time you
associate the word Jayanti with a person, that Jayanti's
number is NOT one. Tilak was born on 23 July 1856.
23 July 1920 was his 64th birthday. He died on 01 Aug
1920. So 23 July 1921 was his 65th Jayanti but the first
time the word Jayanti was associated with him.
Q : We 're-fuel' when we put petrol/gasoline in a vehicle.
What is the term for the first instance of putting fuel
in a new tank?
------------------------
Nick H (UK)
>>How Purandara Dasa came to Madras
>>
>>Sriram V
>>
>>MLV, as her fans called her, was a brilliant musician who also sang
>>film numbers, which have become classics in their own right. She is no
>>more. Her disciples and admirers celebrated her 75th birthday on the
>>third of July, this year.
>>
>
>
> The word 'birthday' is not used in case of dead persons.
Of course it is. A birthday is a birthday.
Nick H
(who is sincerely ashamed of his lack of knowledge of Indian languages
but has been speaking English for about fifty years ;-)