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 Dr U Ve Sa is one of the legends of Tamizh literature. People may not be aware that he was also quite knowledgeable in Carnatic Music and has written extensively on music and musicians of his times. His book entitled "Sangeetha Mummanigal" is a collection of the biographies of Gopalakrishna Bharati, Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer and Ghanam Krishnayyar. Dr U Ve Sa is the primary source of information on the lives of the above musicians. Besides he has written extensively on the music of his times with references to musicians etc in his En Charittram. The Ananda Vikatan serialized En Charittram every week between 1940 and 1942. This series aims to basically translate the music related information from Dr U Ve Sa's autobiography so that we can get a more true and authentic picture of the last few decades of the 19th century. Dr U Ve Sa lived between 1855 and 1942 and this period is very significant to the history of Carnatic music. It is the immediate post trinity period and also times when the art form slowly started moving towards becoming an important form of entertainment for the masses.
Talking about his ancestors he mentions how Ghanam Krishnayyar was related to him. His paternal grandmother Chellatthammal's mother was Ghanam Krishnayyar's sister. Chellatthammal herself could sing very well and had learnt many
kritis.
We now move to the first person mode and give the details in the words of Dr U Ve Sa:
Lingappayyar:
Uttamadanapuram, the place where I hailed from, had a Tamizh vidwan called Lingappayyar. He was a Tamizh poet who had also learnt music. Lingappayyar had composed many keertanams in Tamizh. He had composed a kuravanji drama on Swamimalai, near Kumbakonam. He had also composed several keertanams on the local deities of Uttamadanapuram like Anandavalli and Maha Ganapati. In those days Lingappayyar's sons and others used to sing those songs. Unfortunately none of those songs are available now.
There were thousands of Tamizh keertanams that were composed by numerous Tamizh vidwans who also had knowledge of music. Unfortunately because of a lack of appreciation and people to sing them these keertanams disappeared. These songs were most suited for Carnatic ragas. All those songs that I heard have all disappeared today. And people say that there are not many good Tamizh keertanams. All this has happened in the space of about 60 years and Lingappayyar's songs have also disappeared in the speed of this change.
Lingappayyar had two sons called Seshuvayyar and Swaminatha Iyer. Both like their father were proficient in Tamizh and music. They used to travel around singing Arunachala kavirayar's Ramayana kritis. They also explained the meanings of the songs in kalakshepam form and interspersed their recitals with verses from the Kambaramayanam set to music. Both had melodious voices and coupled with the kritis of Arunachala kavi and the verses of Kamban, they brought happiness to the listeners.
The brothers were also familiar with a set of songs on the Mayil Ravanan episode in the Ramayana. One Subbayyar who belonged to Pabaranchuttri near Trichy composed these songs. Since Kamban had not touched upon this episode in his Ramayanam, the brothers did not have suitable verses when they sang the above songs. According to Swaminatha Iyer, who narrated this to me, the brothers approached Mahavidwan Meenakshisundaram Pillai to compose some verses for them to use on the Mayil Ravanan episode. So he immediately obliged by composing 100 verses, which the brothers frequently used in their recitals.
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