CARNATIC MUSICIANS ANECDOTES--PART 10
Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer --10
Viswanatha Iyer was born to Rama Iyer and Ambai in Maharajapuram. His father was an amateur singer noted for his raga alapanas and rendering of shlokas in the form of ragamalikas. Thus the family was musically inclined.
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Viswanathan's first guru was Umayalpuram Swaminatha Iyer under whom he mastered ten varnams and twenty kritis. His tutelage under Swaminatha Iyer came to an end since his father could not pay the fees. One day, Viswanathan was sitting on the banks of the Mahamakham tank, when a man of imposing appearance came and sat next to him and voluntarily imparted a few lessons on how to sing svaras and how to maintain his voice.
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Palani Rangappa Iyer, a ghatam vidwan imparted him mastery of layas. A concert opportunity shortly with Iluppur Ponnuswami Pillai on the violin, Dakshinamurthy Pillai on the mridangam—where Viswanathan displayed his skills.
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Viswanatha Iyer had the opportunity of perfecting his laya technique under Palani Muthiah Pillai. The two would set out early in the morning with oil and sheekakai powder for a bath in the pond and remain there till two in the afternoon, practising their music. Due to this Viswanatha Iyer's voice matured and he was able to sustain a high sruti.
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His first major concert came in 1911 at a programme in Kumbhakonam to commemorate the coronation of King George V. His first Guru Umayalpuram Srinivasa Iyer was present. Soon he gained popularity and was called 'Junior Pushpavanam' comparing him with the reigning star Madurai Pushpavanam Iyer.
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He was influenced by the natya sangeet of Bal Gandharva and the classical renditions of Abdul Kareem Khan. Soon there appeared shades of Hindustani style in his raga alapanas, There were critics who maintained that his Mohanam had shades of the Hindustani Bhoop. But he retorted, "So what if there is a touch of Bhoop? After all I am a Bhoopati—referring to his title Sangeeta Bhoopati.
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Viswanatha Iyer recorded 78 rpm discs, sang at weddings and was generally the apple of the public's eye. Wealth came to him with more performances and soon he began to lead a life of pleasure. He lost his chances. Added to this he lost his voice in 1927 and for ten years he went underground and emerged only in 1937.
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He began taking classes. His students included Semmangudi, the flautist T.R.Navaneethan and Mannargudi Sambasiva Bhagavathar.His son Santhanam was among his best students.
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In 1935 he accepted an offer to act in the film Nandanar. He played the role of the Brahmin landlord. The role of Nandan was played by K.B.Sundarambal. The film did not click.
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Citizens of Tanjore felicitated him and conferred a title " Sangita Bhoopati " in 1939. He cherished this among his awards. In 1945 the Madras Music Academy conferred its Sangita Kalanidhi award. He was already Asthana Vidwan in the courts of Mysore, Pudukkottai and Travancore. In 1955 he got the Sangita Natak Akademi award.
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Driven by his zeal for Tyagaraja he decided that he must spend his last years close to the saint's Samadhi. In 1966 he bought the house that was next to Tyagaraja's ( this house was occupied by Tyagaraja's brother Jalapesa) in Tiruvayyaru's Tirumanjana Veedhi and moved there with his wife. Battling old age and illness the couple lived there for a few years till their son Santhanam could convince them and bring them back to Madras in 1968.
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When a rasika expressed a doubt about his alapana in Durbar and said that there were shades of Nayaki in it, he quipped, punning on the names of the ragas, "Have you heard of a Durbar without a Nayaki ?". As age advanced his memory failed him when it came to the remembering of lyrics. He would simply hum his way through the song, singing the tune minus the words. On one occasion at the end of the anupallavi of a song of Tyagaraja in Harikamboji, the took up the caranam of another song of Tyagaraja. When his son Santhanam remonstrated with him for this he is said to have replied that there was hardly any difference as both songs were on Rama, both in the same raga and by the same composer.
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