|
Sivan puranam
 It was a call from S Rajam that alerted me about the existence of such a book. Rajam had read a review of the book in the Tamizh magazine 'Manjari' ( September issue) and said there were details in it which even he was not aware of. I then got a copy of the magazine and found that the article was not really a review but a compilation of excerpts from the book.
On contacting Rukmini Ramani (Sivan's daughter), I was able to purchase a copy of the book - 'Enadu ninaivukkadal', the reminiscences of Papanasam Sivan. I was rather shocked to find that the slim book was priced at Rs 20. It is only in Carnatic music that one finds such ridiculously low prices and still no takers for what is offered.
The book is a compilation of a series of articles that Sivan wrote for 'Dinamani Kadir' in 1968. It deals with his early years and ends with his first visit to Madras in 1921, when he was 31 years of age.
Regretfully, the series was stopped at this stage, for reasons unknown, and what could have been excellent material for posterity was lost forever. By 1968, Sivan was not in the best of health and that could have been a reason for the discontinuation.
 The book is small in size and has 56 pages in all. Sivan writes in exactly the same style that he adopted for composing. Simple language, that is so clear in its meaning that one almost gets the feeling of having lived through those 31 years with him.
He avoids unnecessary description and is very much to the point. Above all, and this is rare among those who write on the arts, he furnishes dates (years, actually), so that the reader has a very clear idea about the period. Preliminary cross-referencing shows Sivan to be quite accurate and his memory was obviously sharp even when he was 78 years of age.
The book is divided into various sections, each one highlighting an important event in Sivan’s life. The initial sections are devoted to the important influences in his life. These range from his mother (who was his first guru, and from Sivan’s account, had a vast repertoire of songs, which was unusual for Brahmin women of that period), to great exponents of bhajan such as Nilakanta Dasa (Sivan) and Harikatha exponents such as Harikesanallur Muthaiah Bhagavatar and Tiruppazhanam Panchapakesa
Sastrigal.
Sivan has the greatest regard for Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer, from whom he learnt music for a year or thereabouts. Sivan writes that he got the love of a father from Iyer. It is sad Iyer died within a year of Sivan joining him. The triple blow of Sivan’s father’s death, when he was seven, his mother’s death, when he was 20, and Iyer’s death when he was 22, appears to have turned Sivan into the detached person that he was.
The second half of the book deals with incidents during this period of his life. He writes in detail about his first song, his maiden concert (1923 at Tiruvaiyyaru), his four great brushes with death, his sudden marriage and finally his arrival in Madras.
The last incident is described with great humour. Apparently, nobody believed that the thin ascetic-like man was 'THE' Sivan who was (then) famed for his bhajanai. A K Ramachandra Iyer, the local big-wig (read our article on the RR Sabha) even went to the extent of feeling cheated! But when Sivan’s bhajanai began, all resentment vanished. Ramachandra Iyer presented Sivan with Rs 500, a mammoth sum for the times. The book ends with the lines “Ever since, Kapali and Karpagam took control of me and made me reside in their vicinity. This is my good fortune", a reference to the presiding deities of Mylapore, for whom Sivan had the greatest of affection and devotion.
The book is a must read for all Sivan fans and music-lovers in general.
Copies can be had from
Smt Rukmini Ramani,
B5, Rohini Gardens,
Santhome High Road,
Chennai 600028
Powered by Sangeetham.com
|
