From the Book "Reminiscences of a Musician" an auto biography by Prof. Mysore V. Ramarathnam
My Guru Mysore T. Chowdiah
(1895-1967)
Among music lovers, it should be a real surprise to come across people who have not heard of the famous Mysore Piteelu Chowdiah. He was born in Tirumakudalu village on the banks of the river Kaveri near Mysore. He became a disciple of Mysore Royal Court musician Bidaram Krishnappa around 1910 and underwent a very rigorous and disciplined training until 1918 in the gurukula system while he stayed with his master. With his devoted practice, Chowdiah became a very great violinist with such fame that the name Chowdiah and the violin were synonymous with each other.
In his early years, he played the four stringed violin, and by 1927 he became an extremely well known violin accompanist. Those were the days when there was no sound amplification equipment and it was rather difficult for listeners who sat in the back rows of music halls to hear him playing the violin. Chowdiah realized this shortcoming and launched upon increasing the sound of the violin. He improvised the violin by adding three more strings such as Tara Shadja - Mandra Shadja, Madhya Panchama - Mandra Panchama and Madhya Shadja Mandra Shadja and after practicing incessantly, he began to use this new seven stringed violin in all his concerts. He experimented, innovated and he practiced to perfection, all without the knowledge of his Guru.
In one of the vocal concerts of his Guru Bidaram Krishnappa in Mysore, Chowdiah accompanied him using his new seven stringed violin. Krishnappa perceived the sound emanating from the violin was louder than usual. He stared at his disciple and his violin and noted that there were three additional strings. He angrily asked him ‘‘what is this contraption?’’ and had an outburst. Chowdiah, in all humility said that he added three more strings and evolved this seven stringed violin so that the sound of the violin could be heard even in the back rows of the concert hall. He was afraid of the Guru’s outburst. Veena Seshanna who was also present and heard this seven stringed violin, was pleased and told Krishnappa that Chowdiah must be allowed to play that violin. Sometime later, Chowdiah accompanied his master again in another concert using this new violin and his master was pleased with it. My Guru Chowdiah brought about a revolution as it were, in the field of music.
With his courage and mastery, my master earned fame, affection and respect from all his great contemporaries. All musicians desired to have him as their violin accompanist. I myself have heard the famous G.N. Balasubramanyam telling sabha secretaries who wanted to arrange his concert that they should look at Chowdiah’s schedule first before looking at his availability. By devoted practice, application, grit and learning, my master rose to Himalayan heights in the world of Carnatic music. To have become a disciple of such a great man is a matter of pride to me.
My guru Chowdiah would not sit with his disciples during fixed hours as used to be the practice in those days. During my tutelage that lasted 7-8 years, I learnt about 8 to 10 compositions and several pallavi’s in Chowkakala. During this period, I used to get up at around 4 am and practice akara sadhana. My master insisted that I be disciplined in practicing this. I used to practice Sarale in six tempos. Only one raga had to be practiced in any given month. This kind of practice was the means of developing voice culture and the knowledge of swaras (i.e. notes). I had to practice varnams in three tempos to his satisfaction. My guru Chowdiah, had instructed me to do so, because that was the method of practice imparted on him by his master Bidaram Krishnappa.
While I was learning under Chowdiah, my co-disciples included Kandevieri Alagiri Swamy, Palghat C. R. Mani, V. Sethuramaiah, R. K. Venkatarama Sastri and others. I was the only disciple learning vocal music while all others were being trained to become violinists. My guru used to ask me to teach juniors like Kandadevi Alagiri Swamy, C.R. Mani, etc. R. K. Venkatarama Sastri was the oldest amongst all of the disciples. He was strictly orthodox, highly disciplined and was a gem of a person. He was a disciple of Veena Subbanna for four years and then became a disciple of Chowdiah in 1928. Later, Ramanujam, Madurai Venugopal, Chinnappa, H. R. Seetharama Shastri and others became disciples of Chowdiah. I think my Guru trained more disciples than any other musician that I know of. Guru Chowdiah was very affectionate towards his disciples.
Chowdiah used to host many musicians while they visited Mysore. He would house them in a small house that was located next to his huge residence on Bajjanna Lane near the Chamarajapuram railway station in Mysore. He had cooks and servants dedicated to meeting the needs of his guests. He always took care of his personal chores himself and would get really upset if he found any of his students folding his clothes, etc.
My guru Chowdiah introduced me to almost all famous musicians of his times and he insisted that I learn the many nuances of the art of music from them. He always took me with him for his concerts that gave additional opportunities to meet these giants of music. He was in great demand and used to be out of town on his concert engagements most of the time. After each concert where he accompanied the great masters, he would sit with us at home, review the concerts and demonstrate the salient points by singing to us. Whenever we accompanied him on his concert tours, he would make sure that all of us students were well taken care of. The respect and support he commanded in Tamilnadu was amazing. I can’t remember any hotel proprietor ever accepting any money from him for his board and lodging at their hotels. The top officials and leaders of the town would compete with each other to extend him a warm welcome and request him to stay at their homes.
Crowds would swell at the news of Chowdiah being in town. I saw this myself at Tiruvaiyyaru during one Tyagaraja aradhana event. The news of his arrival spread like wildfire and throngs of people rushed to get a glimpse of him. He even had trouble getting to the river to bathe with large crowds rushing to see him. It took some effort to be able to take the holy dip before the aradhana. Many years ago, when I was passing through customs at Chennai airport on my return from the U.S.A., an older gentleman who was a customs officer, on coming to know that I was Chowdiah’s student remarked, how in his days, people would walk up to the concert halls, ask for who the violin accompaniment was and then walk away if they were told that it was someone other than Chowdiah. About ten years ago, a taxi driver in Chennai who was in his seventies, reminisced the great effect Chowdiah’s accompaniment had on the concert. Such was Chowdiah’s reputation; he had captured the hearts and minds of both ordinary listeners and knowledgable people. .
My first concert and the most memorable concert as a performing artist was in 1950 at Sringeri Sharadha peetam inaugural festivities in Shankarapuram, Bangalore. This concert was in the presence of his holiness Sri Chandrasekhara Bharathi (III). My guru Chowdiah’s concert was on the first day of the festival and my concert was on the second day, and it was arranged by my guru. The concert lasted nearly two hours and was attended by more than 3000 devotees. I was accompanied by ace violinist Rathnagiri Subbashastry and M.L. Veerabhadriah on mridangam. The ambience created by so many devotees, and the presence of his holiness Chandrashekhara Bharathi set after nearly two hours, the joy and happiness in the faces of thousands of devotees, gave me a sense of accomplishment and pride that is etched in my memory for ever. His holiness Sri Sri Chandrshekara Bharathi blessed me with a small Sharadambha gold coin that I carry with me on my sacred thread even now.
My first vocal music concert in Mysore took place at the Dasara Exhibition in the presence of Sangeetha Shastra Visharadha Mysore K. Vasudevacharya, who showered me with his blessings. After his determination that I had sufficient qualification to teach music and with a view to improve my economic condition, my guru Chowdiah asked me to teach music to Smt. Neelamma Kadambi (late) who lived in the Jayanagar area in Mysore. I was paid Rs.25 per month for the lessons. She was my first disciple in a long list of students that I have trained in my teaching career of many decades.
I gave my first concert at the Madras Music Academy in 1957. T.N. Krishnan’s brother played the violin and one of Palani Subramanya Pillai’s students played mridangam. My guru Chowdiah, T. N. Krishnan, Palani Subramanya Pillai, Ariyakudi, Chembai and other senior stalwarts were present in the audience. My concert was very successful and my master expressed his pleasure. Many stalwarts in the audience congratulated my guru Chowdiah on having produced a top notch vocalist. This is an unforgettable incident in my career.
I evolved a concert format based on the valuable knowledge and advice I obtained from the many stalwarts with whom I had close contacts. I would start with a varnam and sing it in at least two kalas. This would be followed by few madhyamakala krithis without much raga alapana or swaras. Then I would take up scholarly krithis with detailed raga elaboration, neraval and swara singing. The emphasis always would be to bring out the bhava, the mood and enable the rasika to feel the inherent rasa in the composition. I made sure that I chose kritis from a spectrum of composers set to different talas. Above all, the goal of a concert as taught to me by my masters i.e. “rendering needs to be instructive to the layman and the learned alike. Every sangati and neraval and swara should have a defined purpose and the layman should feel the bhava laden music”. I would then take up ragam, tanam, pallavi followed by tukudas like devaranamas, padams and javali and complete the concert. I also made sure that I rendered my guru’s compositions in the concerts. I have been fortunate to sing all over the country to the accompaniment of eminent artists such as Palghat Mani Iyer, Vellore Ramabhadran, T.K. Murthy, Guruvayur Dorai, Tanjore Upendran, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, my Guru Chowdiahgaru, V. Govindaswamy Naickar, T.N. Krishnan, and others. Palghat Mani Iyer accompanied me for the first time in a concert organized by Karnataka Gana Kala Parishath in 1970’s. I was accompanied by S. Mahadevappa on violin. This was a concert without any sound amplification. On that day when I started the Ragam, Tanam and Pallavi (4-Kaliai Chowka Pallavi), Palghat Mani suggested me to change the starting point of the pallavi from ½ to ¾ and sing the following four kalai chowka Pallavi in Sankarabharanam:
||,,,AanandaPoornaBoodo||Hm,,,Shi||VooHmSatchhi||
When I rendered the ragam, thanam and pallavi to his satisfaction, his accompaniment on mridangam and the tanyavartham reached great heights and the entire concert reached considerable levels of excellence. Sri. Mani Iyer spoke at length about the excellence of my music and the traditional patantharam, I have received from the masters. I can never forget these incidents and the profound impact they have had on my career as a performing artist. I have sincerely imparted this valuable techniques I learnt from my guru’s to all my students; the next generation artists.
When my guru was 55 years old, he thought of producing a film called Vani. He acted in this film and was also its music director. He was the the music director for the film and he composed songs . I used to supply the notations and instruct the orchestra. Shortly afterwards, he got the urge to compose kritis based on his vast experience. He composed two pieces in the Kannada language to start with; MahaMaye-BaThaye in the raga Saranga and another krithi in the raga VijayaNagari. At this time he was acquainted with the well-known scholar and poet BellaVe Narahari Sastri, who was also a middle school head master. With his help, he composed in Sanskrit ‘Vara Ganapate’ in raga Suddha Dhanyasi and several other pieces. But Narahari Sastri included his pen name ‘NriHariSchya’ in them. Chowdiah noticed it. Thinking that if Narahari Sastri composed the sahitya or literary part of the songs, his sole originality will be at stake, he abandoned the previous works and took it upon himself to compose both the sahityas and notations for 25 compositions in Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada and included his signature ‘Thrimakutavasa’. He also composed many Varnams and Tillanas. The Kannada compositions contain praises of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar and prayers to goddess Chamundambika. When my master played these compositions in the Mysore royal durbar, he would ask me to sing them and he used to accompany me on the violin.
My stay with guru Chowdiah was fruitful in many ways. Famous musicians Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, G.N.Balasubramanyam, Mahrajapuram, Chembai, Alathoor Brothers and others used to come to his house and also used to stay there. This enabled me to get acquainted with them and I earned their affection. I became closely acquainted with the great senior musician composer Mysore Vasudevacharya and learnt many compositions from him and also from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Musiri Subramanya Iyer, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Alathoor Brothers and so forth. These contacts and interactions increased myhe knowledge of the many subtle aspects of music.
My guru Chowdiah used to scholarly delineate some pallavi’s (given below) in his solo concerts:
Raga : Hindustani Kapi —Trisra Triputa (Two Kalais)
||, , , ,ri . . Sa , ,Ri , ,MaPaRi – Sa ; , , , Sa – SaNiPaNi PaMaGaRi||
Ban Da Dde LlaBaRa Li . . . .Go Vin..DaNa DaYaNaMa
||GaRiSa||
GiRaLi
Raga Kalyani : Adi (4 Kalais)
||, , , ri , ,Sa , Ri , Ga ,RiGaPaMa – Pa , ; ; PaMa – GaRiGaNi DaPaMaGA||
Ni TyaKa Lya …………… Ni Am……Ba …..Aa …De……..||RiSaNi||
Vi…..
AYYANAR COLLEGE OF MUSIC
After my formal gurukulavasa with my Guru Sri. T. Chowdiah for many years, my thoughts turned to returning to Bangalore to settle down there. It was at this time that my guru Chowdiah founded the Ayyanar College of music, which was first located in the Chamarajapuram extension in Mysore. Mr. K. Puttu Rao, a senior advocate of the city, was the secretary of Bidaram Krishnappa’s Prasanna Seetha Rama Mandiram at that time. Mr. Puttu Rao and my master were close friends. Mr. Puttu Rao suggested to my master that he should move the Ayyanar College of Music to the Rama Mandiram and Chowdiah accepted this suggestion. When my guru heard of my desire to return to Bangalore and settle down there, he offered the vice-principalship of the Ayyanar College of Music in Mysore and asked me to stay. I gave up my desire to get back to Bangalore, settled down in Mysore and thus ended up as Mysore Ramarathnam.
DISCIPLES OF AYYANAR COLLEGE OF MUSIC
Hundreds of students have been trained in vocal, violin, veena and flute at the Ayyanar College of Music. The college also trained many blind students who were provided the Government of India scholarships. The college charged a monthly fee of just Rs. 20 for each student. I worked in this college for more than 20 years as the Vice-Principal. Well known students of mine from this school include late N.Nanjunda Swamy (vocal music), late Dr B.R. Shyamachar (flute), Late C.M. Madhuranath (flute), Late T. R. Srinivasan (vocal music), Late B. Srinivasa Iyengar (veena and vocal), Late Rangaswamy Iyengar (violin), K. J. Venkatachar (vocal and violin), G. R.Jaya, Indira, Lalita, Padma and others. The students of this college were trained to appear for junior, senior, and proficiency examinations in flute, violin, veena and vocal music. My Guru Sri. Chowdiah who was the Principal visited often and would listen, observe, supervise and give suggestions to students and the administrators.
