Monday, July 14, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Biography of Sant Tukaram
Sant Tukaram (c.1608-c.1650), also Shri Tukaram, and colloquially referred to as "Tuka", was a seventeenth century Marathi poet Sant of India, related to the Bhakti movement of Maharashtra. Tukaram, was a devotee of Vitthal (a form of Lord Krishna), the supreme God in Vaishnavism. He is especially revered by the Varkari community. Tukaram is widely recognized as the climactic point of the Bhagawat tradition which began with Namdev.
Most of the information on the sants of Maharashtra comes from the biographies written by Mahipati in the 1700s, called Bhaktivijaya and Bhaktililamrit. Scholars assign various dates to Tukaram's birth; the most frequently assigned dates are 1568, 1577, 1608 and 1598 AD. There is lesser dispute that he died in 1650 AD. He was born in Dehu, very close to modern Pune city in Maharashtra. His father was a small trader or peddler and he was barely literate all his life. His family were successful grain sellers.
Tukaram lost his first wife, Rakhumabai, during a famine. Though it is alleged by some that she died of starvation, that is unlikely because Tukaram came from a wealthy landlord and money-lender family. His second wife was Jijabai (also called Avali). He had three sons, named Santu or Mahadev, Vithoba and Narayana. Narayana was considerably younger than Mahadev and Vithoba, and was a great bhakta like his father.
After his father died, Tukaram waived loans that poor owed to him. He is said to have destroyed the loan records. Tukaram followed a high spiritual standard in his kirtans (discourses mixed with spiritual poetry). Tukaram's spirituality was not mythical but grounded in the reality of day-to-day existence. It was focussed on the actual behaviour of a person and his inner mental peace. His teachings were simple and effective. He constantly emphasized that orthodox religion, like the study of the Vedas, was just a formality; the real expression of religion was love and affection in actual life. His teaching encompassed a wide array of issues and even highlighted the importance of nature and the ecosystem in our lives.
Tukaram wrote in a special verse form called the abhanga, a run on couplet with three and a half feet with the first three rhyming. In the use of this poetic device he was unrivalled, and others have practically left it alone after him in a tacit acknowledgment that nothing more can be done with it. As was the tradition, he also added his signature, Tuka Mhane or "Tuka Says", at the end of each verse.
Typical of the Varkari sampradaya, samaj seva (service to the community) and hari sankirtan (group worship through music) were the Way. Tukaram made it his call to work for a group enlightenment rather than just for himself.
Basic Tenets of His Message
The Mantra Gita, a translation of the Bhagavad Gita in the abhanga form is ascribed to Tukaram. It is an interpretation of the Gita from a Bhakti perspective. Another work ascribe to him is the Ghata, a collection of 4,500 abhangas.
· Make God the Center of your life. Walk the Path of Love. Serve mankind, and thus see God in all.
· Cast away your clothes of traditions that you have inherited, for often those can restrain you from growing in the Love of God.
· Tukaram did not favour elaborate rituals, displays of asceticism or preoccupation with austerities. He would say, "even dogs come in saffron colour and bears have matted fur. If living in caves is being spiritual then rats who inhabit caves must be doing sadhana (or, spiritual practice)."
· He was opposed to the acquiring of siddhis (or spiritual attainments) as these were obstructions to authentic sadhana.
· Faith in Nature was crucial to sadhana. He believed that He who facilitates the milk from the breast for the infant and the One who permits the bursting of foliage from the branches will certainly take care of me.
· Most important of all was the Privilege of being a Bhakta and to exercise in life, nama japa. He would say that even God does not know the value of His Name. Even God is not aware of the power of His Name. How can He be? The lotus cannot smell its own fragrance, only the bee can. The cow knows not the sweetness of its milk, only the calf can. The oyster knows not the value of its pearl, only the jeweler can.
Final days
There is disagreement about Tukaram's final day. Some say that he informed his wife early in the day about going to Vaikuntha (the Divine Abode). His wife laughed at him. He went up the hillock and waited for Vithoba. By that time, news had spread around Dehu and people had gathered around the hillock, waiting for the Divine event. From eyewitness accounts, a large vehicle emerged from the skies and Vithoba emerged from the flying plane. Eyewitnesses rushed to Tukaram's home and informed his wife that Tukaram was on his way to Vaikuntha, the Abode of God. His wife ran toward the hills, only to see him take off in the Viman (Flying plane). To this day, devotees gather at the hillock and sing his praises. However, Starr forwards the opinion that he was probably murdered because of his successful reformist activity that had rocked the establishment and by getting rid of his body, they were able to spread the rumour that he had gone to heaven in a heavenly chariot
Please listen to some of my Tukaram abhangs.
Most of the information on the sants of Maharashtra comes from the biographies written by Mahipati in the 1700s, called Bhaktivijaya and Bhaktililamrit. Scholars assign various dates to Tukaram's birth; the most frequently assigned dates are 1568, 1577, 1608 and 1598 AD. There is lesser dispute that he died in 1650 AD. He was born in Dehu, very close to modern Pune city in Maharashtra. His father was a small trader or peddler and he was barely literate all his life. His family were successful grain sellers.
Tukaram lost his first wife, Rakhumabai, during a famine. Though it is alleged by some that she died of starvation, that is unlikely because Tukaram came from a wealthy landlord and money-lender family. His second wife was Jijabai (also called Avali). He had three sons, named Santu or Mahadev, Vithoba and Narayana. Narayana was considerably younger than Mahadev and Vithoba, and was a great bhakta like his father.
After his father died, Tukaram waived loans that poor owed to him. He is said to have destroyed the loan records. Tukaram followed a high spiritual standard in his kirtans (discourses mixed with spiritual poetry). Tukaram's spirituality was not mythical but grounded in the reality of day-to-day existence. It was focussed on the actual behaviour of a person and his inner mental peace. His teachings were simple and effective. He constantly emphasized that orthodox religion, like the study of the Vedas, was just a formality; the real expression of religion was love and affection in actual life. His teaching encompassed a wide array of issues and even highlighted the importance of nature and the ecosystem in our lives.
Tukaram wrote in a special verse form called the abhanga, a run on couplet with three and a half feet with the first three rhyming. In the use of this poetic device he was unrivalled, and others have practically left it alone after him in a tacit acknowledgment that nothing more can be done with it. As was the tradition, he also added his signature, Tuka Mhane or "Tuka Says", at the end of each verse.
Typical of the Varkari sampradaya, samaj seva (service to the community) and hari sankirtan (group worship through music) were the Way. Tukaram made it his call to work for a group enlightenment rather than just for himself.
Basic Tenets of His Message
The Mantra Gita, a translation of the Bhagavad Gita in the abhanga form is ascribed to Tukaram. It is an interpretation of the Gita from a Bhakti perspective. Another work ascribe to him is the Ghata, a collection of 4,500 abhangas.
· Make God the Center of your life. Walk the Path of Love. Serve mankind, and thus see God in all.
· Cast away your clothes of traditions that you have inherited, for often those can restrain you from growing in the Love of God.
· Tukaram did not favour elaborate rituals, displays of asceticism or preoccupation with austerities. He would say, "even dogs come in saffron colour and bears have matted fur. If living in caves is being spiritual then rats who inhabit caves must be doing sadhana (or, spiritual practice)."
· He was opposed to the acquiring of siddhis (or spiritual attainments) as these were obstructions to authentic sadhana.
· Faith in Nature was crucial to sadhana. He believed that He who facilitates the milk from the breast for the infant and the One who permits the bursting of foliage from the branches will certainly take care of me.
· Most important of all was the Privilege of being a Bhakta and to exercise in life, nama japa. He would say that even God does not know the value of His Name. Even God is not aware of the power of His Name. How can He be? The lotus cannot smell its own fragrance, only the bee can. The cow knows not the sweetness of its milk, only the calf can. The oyster knows not the value of its pearl, only the jeweler can.
Final days
There is disagreement about Tukaram's final day. Some say that he informed his wife early in the day about going to Vaikuntha (the Divine Abode). His wife laughed at him. He went up the hillock and waited for Vithoba. By that time, news had spread around Dehu and people had gathered around the hillock, waiting for the Divine event. From eyewitness accounts, a large vehicle emerged from the skies and Vithoba emerged from the flying plane. Eyewitnesses rushed to Tukaram's home and informed his wife that Tukaram was on his way to Vaikuntha, the Abode of God. His wife ran toward the hills, only to see him take off in the Viman (Flying plane). To this day, devotees gather at the hillock and sing his praises. However, Starr forwards the opinion that he was probably murdered because of his successful reformist activity that had rocked the establishment and by getting rid of his body, they were able to spread the rumour that he had gone to heaven in a heavenly chariot
Please listen to some of my Tukaram abhangs.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sadasive Brahmendra
On the river banks of the Cauvery in Mahadanapuram in Tiruchy District he was seen by a few kids. They requested him to take them to the religious fairs in Madurai, that time being the solar month of Leo when the Madurai temple has usually an annual festival. The sage perhaps felt an overflow of compassion for them. He asked them to close their eyes and in no time they were in Madurai (more than 100 miles away); they had their darsan of the Lord and the Goddess there, they feasted at the festivities and in due time before it was night they were back in Mahadanapuram on the same banks of the Cauvery. The parents of the children would not believe the stories but their graphic description of the Madurai festivities right to the last detail baffled them. They ran to the Cauvery banks to look for the sage but he was not there.
On the river bed of Kodumudi river Sadasiva Brahmendra was sitting in trance on the sands. Suddenly water flowed down the river in a flood and the river was flooded for the next few months. Spectators saw water submerge him as he was still sitting in his trance. He was given up as drowned. But three months later when the floods subsided he was still there in the same trance posture; he just rose up and walked away.
It was harvest season. He was seen ‘carelessly’ crossing the haystacks which have been piled up on the paddyfield. The warnings given to him to avoid the haystacks went unheeded. One of the men around raised his hatchet to hit him. But lo! the raised hand stayed right there. The sage was walking along as if nothing had happened. The rest of the spectators ran to him and pleaded that he save the man who had raised his hand to hit him. The sage looked back and the hand came down. The sage walked away.
Long after all these happened when almost people had forgotten the memories of his wandering in their lands, once the naked sannyasi was seen walking right through a muslim harem of a Nawab. As a brahma-jnani who sees nothing but brahman everywhere, he would not distinguish between the different human figures which cross his path nor would he be distracted by the sights or noises that his environment may present to him. It was in this state of trance that he was walking along. He, the naked sannyasi, walked straight into the harem, entering it at one end and walking out at the other all the while walking through a maze of inmates of the Nawab’s harem. The news reached the nawab, he had his men chase him, they cut off both his hands as he was walking along, the hands fell off and … still he was walking along silently as if nothing had happened. The nawab got scared, picked up the hands that had been severed, ran to the Sage and offered them in total remorse. The sage stopped his walking, the severed hands were restored to their place, the hands became normal and the sage walked away! There was no conversation.
It was Venkatesa AyyavaL, his classmate of old times, that broke his silence, maybe once or twice. During his discipleship days Sadasiva used to sing bhajans in a sweet voice. AyyavaL reminded him of those good old days and implored him to sing again for the benefit of the people who would certainly enjoy listening to his songs. Then came some wonderful songs, all of them having the theme of ‘The Experience of the Bliss of remaining in the Absolute brahman’ – brahmA-nubhavaM, brahma-saMsparzaM, brAhmI-sthiti as it is variously called in the Gita and elsewhere. Sadasiva-brahmendra’s songs are so delightfully full of this blissful divine experience that they are even now constantly rendered by musicians in concerts and public gatherings for a spiritual purpose; and when they are so rendered, no one will miss the elevating moods that they generate - even in those who do not understand the language, Sanskrit, in which it has been composed by the saint. His songs :
mAnasa samcara re , brahmaNi mAnasac samcara re … (Hey mind, dwell on brahman … )
sarvam brahma-mayam, re re sarvam brahma-mayam … (Everything is brahman to the brim… )
khelati mama hRdaye rAmaH … (Rama is sporting in my mind … )
piba re rAma-rasam … (Drink the nectar of rAma, hey …. )
brUhi mukundeti … (Recite mukunda, speak of Him … )
cintA nAsti kila … (they have no worries, …. )
are all very famous and each one of them is a capsule of the bliss of brahman that Sadasiva had enough to spare for others.
On the river bed of Kodumudi river Sadasiva Brahmendra was sitting in trance on the sands. Suddenly water flowed down the river in a flood and the river was flooded for the next few months. Spectators saw water submerge him as he was still sitting in his trance. He was given up as drowned. But three months later when the floods subsided he was still there in the same trance posture; he just rose up and walked away.
It was harvest season. He was seen ‘carelessly’ crossing the haystacks which have been piled up on the paddyfield. The warnings given to him to avoid the haystacks went unheeded. One of the men around raised his hatchet to hit him. But lo! the raised hand stayed right there. The sage was walking along as if nothing had happened. The rest of the spectators ran to him and pleaded that he save the man who had raised his hand to hit him. The sage looked back and the hand came down. The sage walked away.
Long after all these happened when almost people had forgotten the memories of his wandering in their lands, once the naked sannyasi was seen walking right through a muslim harem of a Nawab. As a brahma-jnani who sees nothing but brahman everywhere, he would not distinguish between the different human figures which cross his path nor would he be distracted by the sights or noises that his environment may present to him. It was in this state of trance that he was walking along. He, the naked sannyasi, walked straight into the harem, entering it at one end and walking out at the other all the while walking through a maze of inmates of the Nawab’s harem. The news reached the nawab, he had his men chase him, they cut off both his hands as he was walking along, the hands fell off and … still he was walking along silently as if nothing had happened. The nawab got scared, picked up the hands that had been severed, ran to the Sage and offered them in total remorse. The sage stopped his walking, the severed hands were restored to their place, the hands became normal and the sage walked away! There was no conversation.
It was Venkatesa AyyavaL, his classmate of old times, that broke his silence, maybe once or twice. During his discipleship days Sadasiva used to sing bhajans in a sweet voice. AyyavaL reminded him of those good old days and implored him to sing again for the benefit of the people who would certainly enjoy listening to his songs. Then came some wonderful songs, all of them having the theme of ‘The Experience of the Bliss of remaining in the Absolute brahman’ – brahmA-nubhavaM, brahma-saMsparzaM, brAhmI-sthiti as it is variously called in the Gita and elsewhere. Sadasiva-brahmendra’s songs are so delightfully full of this blissful divine experience that they are even now constantly rendered by musicians in concerts and public gatherings for a spiritual purpose; and when they are so rendered, no one will miss the elevating moods that they generate - even in those who do not understand the language, Sanskrit, in which it has been composed by the saint. His songs :
mAnasa samcara re , brahmaNi mAnasac samcara re … (Hey mind, dwell on brahman … )
sarvam brahma-mayam, re re sarvam brahma-mayam … (Everything is brahman to the brim… )
khelati mama hRdaye rAmaH … (Rama is sporting in my mind … )
piba re rAma-rasam … (Drink the nectar of rAma, hey …. )
brUhi mukundeti … (Recite mukunda, speak of Him … )
cintA nAsti kila … (they have no worries, …. )
are all very famous and each one of them is a capsule of the bliss of brahman that Sadasiva had enough to spare for others.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sadasiva Brahmendra (contd...)
Meaning of some of the verses
Fully engrossed in the enjoyment of his own bliss, he remains in another world as it were; and as strikes his fancy, here he is engaged in thought, there he is singing and there he is dancing. Verse No.21
The sage shines supreme, silent and placid, with the ground under the tree as his resting place and with his palm as the begging bowl, wearing no clothes but only the jewel of non-attachment Verse No.35
Having dissolved the entire world (by right knowledge) and being under the power of the all-embracing substratum that survives such dissolution, he puts into his mouth by force of prArabdha-karma, the handful of food which comes to him Verse No.40
The yogi sees nothing, speaks nothing and hears nothing that is spoken. He remains steadfast in the incomparable region of bliss, immovable like a log of wood. Verse No.44
The great renouncer who knows the Truth of all the vedas wanders like an ignorant fool un-noticed, devoid of all sense of difference and seeing only Perfection everywhere and in all creatures. Verse No. 45
Embracing the Lady Equanimity and having been overpowered by Bliss he sleeps with his head for a pillow, with nothing for cover and with the bare ground for a bedding. Verse No.46
The sage rejects nothing considering it bad; nor does he accept anything, considering it good. Knowing that everything is the result of Ignorance, he remains unattached. Verse No.50
He does not think at all of what is past, nor does he care in his mind about the future. He does not even care who is in front of him, for He is the One Perfect Bliss in everything. Verse No.51
The king of renouncers rests alone, rooted in Self and enjoying the Inner Bliss; he rejects nothing that comes to him and never desires what does not come to him. Verse No.53
The great ascetic transcends the rules of caste and status shaking off from him the injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures and he remains merely the perfect Knowledge-Bliss. Verse No.57
Please listen to some of my Sadasiva Brahmendra renditions.
Fully engrossed in the enjoyment of his own bliss, he remains in another world as it were; and as strikes his fancy, here he is engaged in thought, there he is singing and there he is dancing. Verse No.21
The sage shines supreme, silent and placid, with the ground under the tree as his resting place and with his palm as the begging bowl, wearing no clothes but only the jewel of non-attachment Verse No.35
Having dissolved the entire world (by right knowledge) and being under the power of the all-embracing substratum that survives such dissolution, he puts into his mouth by force of prArabdha-karma, the handful of food which comes to him Verse No.40
The yogi sees nothing, speaks nothing and hears nothing that is spoken. He remains steadfast in the incomparable region of bliss, immovable like a log of wood. Verse No.44
The great renouncer who knows the Truth of all the vedas wanders like an ignorant fool un-noticed, devoid of all sense of difference and seeing only Perfection everywhere and in all creatures. Verse No. 45
Embracing the Lady Equanimity and having been overpowered by Bliss he sleeps with his head for a pillow, with nothing for cover and with the bare ground for a bedding. Verse No.46
The sage rejects nothing considering it bad; nor does he accept anything, considering it good. Knowing that everything is the result of Ignorance, he remains unattached. Verse No.50
He does not think at all of what is past, nor does he care in his mind about the future. He does not even care who is in front of him, for He is the One Perfect Bliss in everything. Verse No.51
The king of renouncers rests alone, rooted in Self and enjoying the Inner Bliss; he rejects nothing that comes to him and never desires what does not come to him. Verse No.53
The great ascetic transcends the rules of caste and status shaking off from him the injunctions and prohibitions of the scriptures and he remains merely the perfect Knowledge-Bliss. Verse No.57
Please listen to some of my Sadasiva Brahmendra renditions.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Sadasiva Brahmendra
Growing up in a village on the banks of the Cauvery in Tamilnadu, Sadasiva was a most gifted student, much given to arguing and debating. After an early marriage and a spark of revelation on the day of his wife’s reaching puberty he renounced the world and performed a strenuous sAdhanA for eighteen years. One day he was taunted by his guru for his talkativeness. On that day he took a vow of silence and he kept it up for the rest of his life which he spent as a wandering naked (avadhUta) sannyasi. The songs he composed during the period of his discipleship are still very popular. In his wanderings, of which we have no complete record, he is said to have performed many miracles which were just an overflowing of the compassion he had for all humanity. He was one of the greatest of siddhas. His mind was always immersed in the Absolute brahman. His name is part of the folk-lore in all of South India. His major work is brahma-sUtra-vRtti, which is a scholarly but lucid commentary on the brahma-sUtras. He has thirteen other works to his credit - such as, yoga-sUtra-vRtti, also called yoga-sudhAkaram; jagad-guru-ratna-mAlotsava, a history of Kanchi Kamakoti mutt in 87 verses; advaita rasa-manjari in 45 verses; and others. His Atma-vidyA-vilAsam is a composition in 62 verses together forming a spiritual autobiography. The verses describe how a knower of brahman would behave and as far as the folklore and all the stories about Sadasiva-brahmendra go, the description fits him most suitably. He may be rightly called the Saintly Perfection of the Impersonal absolute.
Listen to some of Saint's composition:
Listen to some of Saint's composition:
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Sadasiva Brahmendra
The mystic saint that I like to write about is Sadasiva-brahmendra. Regarding his time there is not enough evidence. It has to be some period of time between the middle of the sixteenth century and the middle of the eighteenth century. The reasons are as follows. The 57th pontiff of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, namely Sri Paramasivendra Saraswathi (1538 –1586) had a pupil by name Ramanatha who later had a pupil by name Nallai Adhvari. This Adhvari acknowledges Sadasiva-brahmendra as his guru. A junior contemporary of Sri Paramasivendra saraswathi was Nilakanta-Dikshidar, grandson of the brother of the famous Advaita scholar-devotee Appayya Dikshidar (1520 – 1593). Appayya Dikshidar was a great scholar-teacher of advaita vedanta, hailing from Tamilnadu. He was the guiding spirit of a movement in which he organized the services of a large band of volunteers who could disseminate among the masses the philosophy of advaita and the worship of Lord Siva. Having mastered, at a very early age, all the knowledge available at the time in philosophy, rhetoric and literature, he wrote about a hundred works, of which only 60 are now extant, in philosophy, devotional poetry and literary and philsophical criticism. His poetical talent is transparent in all these works. He is said to have travelled widely, entering into philsophical disputations and controversies in many centres of learning, including Varanasi. He was so firm in his belief in advaita that he had no qualms in using his talent to the elucidation of other schools of thought like those of Vedanta-desikacharya of whom he was an admirer. His was a mighty intellect and he led a life of karma, bhakti and jnana, setting a model for posterity to follow.
This Nilakanta, the grandson of Appayya Dikshidar, was the chief minister of King Tirumalai-Nayak of Madurai. Nilakantha had a pupil Ramabhadra who had a pupil by name Venkatesa Dikshidar who later came to be known by the name Ayyaval of Tiruvisanallur. This Ayyaval and Sadasiva Brahmendra had been schoolmates. This much is known. On the other side we know that Sadasiva Brahmendra met the Tamil scholar-poet-devotee-philosopher Tayumanavar (1705 – 1742?) in 1738 A.D. Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman (Rajah of Pudukkottai) (1730-1769) subscribes to this meeting. These are the major factors for scholars coming to the almost unbelievable conclusion that Sadasiva perhaps lived for nearly 200 years. But if we know what kind of mystic and knower of brahman he was, we tend to feel that the improbable could have been possible. The Upanishadic maxim: brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati ( meaning, the knower of brahman is brahman), really applies to Sadasiva Brahmendra. It is only in mythology we come across such a brahma-vit - examples are: boy-sage Suka, and Sage jaDa-bharata - but in our own historical world, such examples are rarest of the rare. Sadasiva Brahmendra is one such.
Please listen to Sadasiva Brahmendra composed songs from my website:
This Nilakanta, the grandson of Appayya Dikshidar, was the chief minister of King Tirumalai-Nayak of Madurai. Nilakantha had a pupil Ramabhadra who had a pupil by name Venkatesa Dikshidar who later came to be known by the name Ayyaval of Tiruvisanallur. This Ayyaval and Sadasiva Brahmendra had been schoolmates. This much is known. On the other side we know that Sadasiva Brahmendra met the Tamil scholar-poet-devotee-philosopher Tayumanavar (1705 – 1742?) in 1738 A.D. Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman (Rajah of Pudukkottai) (1730-1769) subscribes to this meeting. These are the major factors for scholars coming to the almost unbelievable conclusion that Sadasiva perhaps lived for nearly 200 years. But if we know what kind of mystic and knower of brahman he was, we tend to feel that the improbable could have been possible. The Upanishadic maxim: brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati ( meaning, the knower of brahman is brahman), really applies to Sadasiva Brahmendra. It is only in mythology we come across such a brahma-vit - examples are: boy-sage Suka, and Sage jaDa-bharata - but in our own historical world, such examples are rarest of the rare. Sadasiva Brahmendra is one such.
Please listen to Sadasiva Brahmendra composed songs from my website:
Friday, May 2, 2008
Papanasam Sivan
Papanasam Sivan (Tamil: பாபநாசம் சிவன்) (September 26, 1890 - October 10, 1973) was a prominent composer of Carnatic music and a famous singer. A famous composer, Sivan was also known as Tamil Thyagayya. Using Classical South Indian as a base, Sivan created numerous hits popularised by M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar and M. S. Subbulakshmi.
Sivan's early years were spent in the Travancore area of Kerala where the kings patronised fine arts. Sivan's real name was Ramadass. Because of his devotion to God Shiva, he is better known by the name Papanasam Sivan. He was born in the district of Thanjavur, which was home to the illustrious musical trinity of Carnatic music. His original name was Ramaiyya. In 1897, when Ramaiyya was just 7, his father died. His mother Yogambal, along with her sons, left Thanjavur and moved to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, where her brother-in-law was a Ramayana Sastri in the renowned Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple. At Thirunanthapuam, Ramaiyya learned Malayalam and Sanskrit and later earned a degree in grammar. Ramiyya was very religious and with death of his mother in Yogambal when he was 20, it made him even more religious he wandered from place to place visiting temples and singing devotional songs. Ramaiyya used to be an active participant in the devotional music sessions at the home of Neelakandasivan in Thiruvananthapuram. Thus he learned many of the musical compositions of Neelakandasivan. In this period, his wanderings would take him regularly to the temple at Papanasanm where he would smear bhasma all over his body. Hence people began to refer him as Papanasam Sivan, the name by which he was to become well known later.
He picked up his first music lessons from Noorani Mahadeva Bhagavatar, son of Parameswara Bhagavatar. Later he became the disciple of Konerirajapuram Vaidyanath Iyer, a well-known musician, under whose tulelage Sivan blossomed into a consummate artiste that he was.
In spite of his deep knowledge of music, Papanasam Sivan was more interested in the devotional aspect of music. He preferred to sing devotional songs and encouraged other singers take part in sessions of devotional music with him. Papanasam Sivan was regular in all the major temple festivals in South India with his devotional songs.
Please listen to my musical uploads of Papanasam Sivan.
Sivan's early years were spent in the Travancore area of Kerala where the kings patronised fine arts. Sivan's real name was Ramadass. Because of his devotion to God Shiva, he is better known by the name Papanasam Sivan. He was born in the district of Thanjavur, which was home to the illustrious musical trinity of Carnatic music. His original name was Ramaiyya. In 1897, when Ramaiyya was just 7, his father died. His mother Yogambal, along with her sons, left Thanjavur and moved to Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, where her brother-in-law was a Ramayana Sastri in the renowned Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple. At Thirunanthapuam, Ramaiyya learned Malayalam and Sanskrit and later earned a degree in grammar. Ramiyya was very religious and with death of his mother in Yogambal when he was 20, it made him even more religious he wandered from place to place visiting temples and singing devotional songs. Ramaiyya used to be an active participant in the devotional music sessions at the home of Neelakandasivan in Thiruvananthapuram. Thus he learned many of the musical compositions of Neelakandasivan. In this period, his wanderings would take him regularly to the temple at Papanasanm where he would smear bhasma all over his body. Hence people began to refer him as Papanasam Sivan, the name by which he was to become well known later.
He picked up his first music lessons from Noorani Mahadeva Bhagavatar, son of Parameswara Bhagavatar. Later he became the disciple of Konerirajapuram Vaidyanath Iyer, a well-known musician, under whose tulelage Sivan blossomed into a consummate artiste that he was.
In spite of his deep knowledge of music, Papanasam Sivan was more interested in the devotional aspect of music. He preferred to sing devotional songs and encouraged other singers take part in sessions of devotional music with him. Papanasam Sivan was regular in all the major temple festivals in South India with his devotional songs.
Please listen to my musical uploads of Papanasam Sivan.
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