Achyuta Sankaran Nair, an electrical engineer by qualification and a person whose professional interests are not in music (I am not sure of what he does, but his work is related to the Observatory in Trivandrum and so I presume that he is a scientist) gave a powerpoint presentation on the above subject.
It was a very factual presentation, which was the aspect that I enjoyed most. The speaker looked more at Swati Tirunal the king and less at Swati Tirunal the composer/musician though that facet of his life was also covered adequately.
S Balachander, during the great Swati Tirunal controversy of the 1980s had even questioned the existence of such a ruler. This presentation laid that claim to rest.
Some of the proofs offered:
1. The Asiatic Society elected the Rajah of Travancore as its member in 1843. (His name is not mentioned as Swati Tirunal).
2. Col.Welsh, an Englishman, had met Swati Tirunal when he was a young prince in 1825 and had penned his reminiscence of that meeting which was published in 1830.
3. In all this music controversy, the role of Swati Tirunal as a patron of science is forgotten. He built an observatory in Trivandrum. A description of this observatory was given by a John Caldecott Esq. (slide of his writing was shown) in 1839. The observatory itself, which is where coincidentally Mr Achyut Sankaran Nair works now, has a commemorative plaque placed when the foundation of the structure was laid in 1837. This clearly states that the observatory was built by the Rajah of Travancore and among other titles includes Swatee Rama Rajah Bahadoor.
4. The Rajah’s signature obtained from the Royal Asiatic Society London, was shown. Curiously, he signed in three languages – Telugu, Persian and English but not in Malayalam! This was questioned by Dr N Ramanathan at the end. The speaker said that the king may have followed a fashionable trend then prevailing (it does so now also. How many of us sign in our native languages?). BM Sundaram questioned the speaker on why the king did not compose in Tamil which was the mother tongue of so many of the court musicians. Though I am not sure of what the speaker said in reply, my theory is that Tamil was not considered a musical language then. Even the Tamil speakers composed only in Telugu. Mr Nair also pointed out that the king did not compose in Malayalam either (songs such as Taruni gnyan and Kanakamayam are in Manipravalam).
5. The document regarding the election of Swati Tirunal as a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society was shown. As an aside, the speaker mentioned that Subba Row, who was a guide to Swati Tirunal, was a disciple of Elias Schwartz. Was this the same as Frederick Schwartz, Sarabhoji’s Guru?
6. A page from Swati Tirunal’s work Muhanaprasa Antyaprasavyavastha, which lays down the rules for composing, was shown. The speaker said that Swati was clearly influenced by the early composer Margadarsi Sesha Iyengar and had even lifted whole songs from the latter, changing the sahitya a little and made them his own. In Swati Tirunal’s defence, the speaker said that we must not forget that he was only a young man and given his musical interests, he may have found nothing untoward in doing so. (I can also add that the Carnatic music community did not chastise Papanasam Sivan, when several of his early songs had sahitya written for earlier tunes (Nal Vinay Tarum for Ammaravamma’s tune, Kanagam Edu Swami for a Purandara Dasa song, Sriraman Ravi Kula Soman for Sriramam Ravikulabdhi Somam, Theril Erinan for Intati Kuluke, Karunai Seivai for Raghunayaka etc))
7. Old manuscripts pertaining to Swati Tirunal’s songs are in existence in the Kerala University and are available for inspection. Several varnams of the king are in a raga called Khanda (could this be Ghanta?)
8. His Hindustani compositions were first written in his own lifetime and the watermark of the paper has the legend Newton 1837 in it indicating the London based supplier and the year. Interestingly, none of the Hindustani songs are sung today in the ragas stipulated.
9. The lyrics of the song Jagadisa Srijane in Shuddha Saveri were translated into English in the 1860s.
10. According to T Lakshmana Pillai (1864-1950), Sarasija Nabha is not a composition of Swati Tirunal but is of Vadivelu. Vadivelu incidentally earned more salary than the Chief Judge of Travancore. He died a few months before Swati Tirunal and though they were estranged, his death is said to have hastened the kings end also.
11. Two books, one in 1892 by T Appaswami Pillai (Sangita Gunadarsanam) and Sangita Kritis by K Sambasiva Sastry list several songs of the king and the raga Mohana Kalyani is clearly mentioned. This clearly indicates that this raga was not used by Muthiah Bhagavatar to set the songs of the king in the 1930s. However, the speaker conceded that all songs of the king sung in Hamsanandi and Kharaharapriya were tuned by Muthiah Bhagavatar and others.
12. Among all the songs of Swati Tirunal, the one mentioned by all early writers is Sarasasamamukha in Khamas. According to the speaker this became famous because it was adopted for playing by the Police Band of Travancore and the band master wrote its notation in English. It is apparently still played in Trivandrum and its sounds nowhere near Khamas!
13. When Swati Tirunal fell ill, he apparently got a quack remedy from London known as Holloways Pills and Ointment for treatment. An advertisement from the London Times was shown. The king’s obituary appeared in The Times on 8th December 1946. The Trivandrum obit, with a verse in the kings praise by his cousin Iraviamman Thampi in Malayalam was shown. In Australia, the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser reported the death of Swandee Rama Rajah of Travancore.
14. Swati was singularly unfortunate to lose two wives and all his children even in his short life. His third wife, a woman from Tanjavur appears to have survived him. Interestingly, both the speaker and the author RP Raja(New Light on Swati Tirunal) have taken great pains to emphasise that the second and third wives of the king were not Devadasis but ‘high-caste Mudaliar girls’. I disagree with this. They were both well-versed in dance and were disciples of Vadivelu. They used the surname of Pillai (Janaki Pillai was one), which was a common Devadasi surname and there were no Mudaliar women who danced in public. That wa s a Devadasi right. So why rob the king of two Devadasis? Their being his women does not tarnish his name. I pointed this out in my comments at the end of the speech.
My other points were:
1. Too much was made by S Balachander of the absence of the name Swati Tirunal in contemporary writings. When we accept the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Wodeyar of Mysore and Bhaskara Sethupati for just about any Ramnad Raja, why should Swati Tirunal not be referred to simply as Kulashekara Maharajah of Travancore?
2. One more reference to Swati Tirunal is found in “Southern India, Its History, People, Commerce and Industrial Resources” by Somerset Playne (1915). He clearly states that the ruler Swati Tirumal (sic) ascended the throne in 1829 at the age of sixteen and that his brother succeeded him in 1847.
Ultimately, there is no doubt on the existence of Swati Tirunal and that he composed. But as to how many songs are his, how many of his songs have music by others, and how many songs of others are now palmed off as his, this may always be a matter for debate.
This was a very interesting presentation. Sriram’s blog has inspired me to add a few of things:
1. Dr. Nair’s heartwarming statement when he said, “whatever Balachander may have had against Swati Tirunal, all that can be waved aside, if one just hears the maestro playing the Travancore maharaja’s ‘smarajanaka’ which is really a class apart and perhaps one of the best renditions of this song ever!”
2. The audience broke into chuckles at the Executive Summary presented as a ‘3’ syndrome – Swati Tirunal had 3 wives, 3 children(?), lived 33 years and composed over 333+ compositions!
3. The original raga of Pahi jagajjanani (Hamsanandi) which was sung as the prayer before the lec-dem, was actually Gauri. It was re-tuned in Hamsanandi by Muthiah Bhagavathar.
4. There actually exists (existed?) a varnam in a raga like Ghanta (Dr. Nair pronounced it as ‘Khanda’).
5. One role model that Swati Tirunal had was Margadarshi Sesha Iyyengar.
6. A noteworthy point that struck me in Dr. Nair’s presentation was his quiet insistence that Swati Tirunal was really evolving as a composer – he had not reached his full maturity. Something to contemplate upon!
7. Dr. Nair showed a portrait of Swati Tirunal dressed as humble bhakta, shorn of all royal splendour and requesed the Music Academy to consider displaying *this* portrait instead!
7. Dr. B.M.Sundaram pointed out in his question that with so many Tamilians surrounding him in the maharaja’s court, why did Swati Tirunal give the short shrift to Tamizh, especially when the king had composed in all the other South Indian languages. Dr. Nair’s reply was that the king had composed only padams and varnams(?) in Malayalam whereas all the rest of his compositions didn’t touch Malayalam or Tamizh.
What he meant was that the composer had given the short shrift to Malayalam as well. I can’t say I was particularly convinced with that, but I guess we’ll have to accept that.
Overall the presentation, though brief, was very engaging and well done and it certainly did a lot to demistify the composer-king.
Mohan Santhanam
Wow Mohan! Didn’t realise I had missed out so much more!
One other point regarding the portrait shown. It appeared once on the cover of the Sruti magazine also. In my view, Swati Tirunal looked really handsome and manly in that one, while the conventional portraits make him somewhat effeminate.
Hello, Let me introduce myself as Mangala, SRJ mama’s student, and you might have seen me accompanying him in quite a few of his lec-dems and concerts. I was sitting right behind you beside Ganga Ramachandran at yesterday’s lec-dem. I hail from Kerala, and grew up under the influence of Swati Tirunal, and that led me to listen to yesterday’s talk by Dr Achyut Sankar Nair. By the way, he is an Engineer by qualification, and has also been teaching Engineering students in India and abroad. Right now, he is advisor to Kerala University in Department of Technology. He mentioned, as the Trivandrum Observatory comes under his Department, he has free access to the Observatory and all its records. Also, the picture of Swati Tirunal showing him in his Mundu and side kondai, without the crown, is the way all the Kings of Travancore – “Padmanabha Dasas” – go to Padmanabha Swami Temple. If possible, pl look up when you find time to visit Padmanabhapuram Palace, now in Tamilnadu between Nagercoil and Thakkalai. The Royal museum there has quite a few interesting artefacts showing the royal musician.
Thanks for the write Up once again! But here’s somethign I dont get..
“Mr Nair also pointed out that the king did not compose in Malayalam either (songs such as Taruni gnyan and Kanakamayam are in Manipravalam).”
The Swathi Thirunal website lists so many compositions in Malayalam!
http://www.swathithirunal.in/compo_language.htm
Aliveni Entu Chaiyu a Malayalam Composition is pretty popular too!
I am also puzzled by the comment. In fact the site that you refer to is maintained by Dr Achyuta Sankaran Nair himself. Perhaps he can enlighten us
🙂
Dear all
Wow !!! I am amazed at the thick discussion on my lecture.
Thank you all for the kind discussions. Here are some quick points:
0. I teach Bioinformatics in Uty of Kerala. See my site http://www.achu.keralauniversity.edu for details
1. Swathi did compose in Malayalam, but not Keerthanas. 60+ Manipravala Padmas, 10 Utsavaprabhandhas, one of which “Pankajakshnaam ramesan” in Thodi is very famous, thanks to KVN. He has half a dozen pada varanas in Malayalam too.
2. He did have 3 kids, all died young, the first one was named Padmanabhan Thampi.
3. As to why Swathi did not compose in Tamil, one could ask the same question about Tyagaraja, he was living in Tamil Nadu and surrounded by at least some Tamilians. Why did Deekshithar stop with just a couple of manipravalam numbers like Sree Abhayaamba ?
4. About 130 compositions including Varnas, Swarajathis and Keertahans published by Ranganatha Iyer much before Muthaiha & SSI reached TVM is enough to consider Swathi Thirunal. (add to this Malayalam padams and Hindustani compositions about which there are no controversies, which total 100).
5. When I very clearly establish in 2008 that the argument of 1987 about name “Swathi” was a silly one, I hope people will also accept that the whole controversy was not argued or replied on very scientific approach. Many allegations were just wild !!!
I shall be happy to respond to your specific queries.
Achuth
Thanks Achuth, Mohan and Sriram for the enlightening presentation and information for those of us who did not attend the lec-dem.
I agree it is silly for SB to question the very existence of Swati Tirunal, but how come that whole issue is not blown to smithereens through Royal records. I would think it should be a straightforward approach and should have settled that part of the controversy back in 1987.
On the musical side, we can always discuss those aspects and that is what keeps it interesting. I have heard about the similarity of Sesha Iyerngar’s compositions to Swati Tirunal’s compositions and I am glad that Achuth has taken that aspect head on. Personally, I do not think it is beyond the realm of reason that the extremely knowledgeable musicians and scholars in the King’s court helped him out and did not mind if their work is not acknowledged explicitly. But that does not take away the contributions of the king. As Sriram said, Kings always have that wind blowing against them, and so after these many years, we have to acknowledge the compositions for their greatness and attribute them to Swati Tirunal, giving him the benefit of the doubt. That should be the status quo, until any evidence to the contrary shows up.
Thanks for the comments. Swathi has written an article “Muhana Prasantha Prasa Vyavastha in which he portrats shesha Iyengar as model. No wonder he tried to imitate him very closely in Bhogindra Sayinam (Dhanyasi, now in Kunthala Varali) and Smarajanaka Subha Charitha (Behag). As I said in my lecture, it must be remembered that he was 33 years old when he passed away. he must have been on his learning curve!! It must also be remembered that hindustani bhajans, manipravala padams etc are also his contributions and have different influences.
Many of Swathi’s court musicians were of his age (vadivelu & palakkad parameswara bhagavathar- almost same age as swathi) – it is natural that they might have influenced each other and also got their compositions mixed up, both ways, especially when all of them were hell-bent on using the mudra padma/sarasija/jalaja-nabha.
Sriram, i lost your telephone number, pls sent it to me again — sankar.achuth@gmail.com
achuth
Dear All,
Wowwwwww…
That was an intresting write up.
regs
usha
dear Sriram sir,
i am baradwaj. i am extremely sorry. i am poking my nose at the very end.
For the release of the CDs Sriragam and Dhyaname of SB thatha, i remember you came to our house to get more details of SB thatha for your presentation. well, i still remember that this particular subject came up and immidiately appa went to his office room and showed you the copy of (or is it the original? not sure and have not dared to ask!) case documents. as far as i have heard, this case ended 4 years after thatha died, that is in 1994. (we won the case). pati still feels that this case suck SB thatha’s energy, time and money. he would have lived longer if not for this issue.
coming to the issue, it is very clear that swati tirunal did exist. (the comment on the very existence of swati tirunal by thatha (in my personal thought ) was that he got very frustrated with the whole controversy. well this was only at the very end and not before that. there still are a lot of news paper cuttings and magazines and a whole lot of stuff (two cupboards full) on which thatha has marked with felt pens about various things relating to the subject. as far as the songs are concerned it is still not clear as to how many songs were composed by Swati Tirunal himself and how many by others. and because i have not read the case documents completely i have no say in this topic. and well its 19 years since he passed away and 15 years since the case got over. and i still dont find anyone associating Padma Bushan Veena Virtuoso Dr.S.Balachander with swati tirunal case but they usually express their joy in personally meeting him or working with him or listening to his music or seeing his films or mentioning about his contribution to the instrument veena and bringing a new dimension to it. for example, veena was not a concert instrument but an instrument for chamber concers or as accompaniment for vocalists. thatha made it a concert instrument. he brought the concept of pickup or mike for the veena. that was not accepted by many at that time. he used guitar pegs instead of the regular birudai because when set in the birudai the instrument very often went out of tune and that he did not like because he pulled and played so as to bring out the Gayaki style. he used German company Pyramid strings for his mandram and anumandram which no one would even have dreamt of at that time. he brought stainless steel in veena. the nagapasa and the langar (the serpant’s grip) is made out of stainless steel. i still cant find any veena like these. the frets of the veena are made out of stainless steel. the bridge of the veena is made out of a hard accrelic plastic called perspex (normally used for the windows of aircraft). all these were specially made for him. he tried different things in different veenas. for example, he tried laquor on wax (arakku or the material used to stick the kodam and dhandi of a veenai) in melam and named the veena as arakku melam veena (its sound was not as appealing so he had to change it to normal wax but till it was changed there was no problem with regard to melam going out of tune and so the result, going in search of a melam repairer!) he wanted a veena with no wax. so he named the veena as maram melam. the frets were placed in the beginning as the veena was made and there was no additional work required like repair of melam or setting right an out of tune melam becaude it was made of wood. (the disadvantage was it sounded diff in summer and different in winter and wood expands and contracts which caused the melam to go out of tune.)
he wanted a veena made just from 1 chunk of wood and he got it done. he named it monoblock veenai. tougher and better compared to aekanda veenai. it was made by pazani appan (or was it narayana achari? not sure. have to check. apologies! ) i heard he took pics of the process while they made it and that it is there in one of the many albums he made.
he got the first mayil veena made.
all his veenas have deer horns and ivory because of which all the veenas are heavy.
he got the first veena case done and it was made in fibre glass. he also got a veena bag made in rexine. all these were specially done for him.
i heard he used gold plectrums in the beginning and as he found it quite annoying because it broke easily as it was very thin he gave them to pati and asked her to make jewelery out of them.
he has done many more which no one can every imagine.
he got drawn into this controversy which sucked his energy, money, time, patience, will power etc etc etc etc.
if there any mistakes with regard to correctness of facts like date time or place or names of people etc etc etc, please forgive me. it is only through my family that i know them. some of them may be completely wrong. i was 5 and 1/2 when he died and i cant remember much.
baradwaj raman
Thank u Achyuth sir ,sriram sir and all others 4 ur grt effort and contributions in this write up. as a devotee of sri Swathithirunal and his manipravala padams it was very interesting for me. sir I heard about suganthavalli a court dancer and swath’s third wife. wants to know more about her…any photographs of sugandavalli” available? pls do reply sir
Dear Meena
I am replying after almost 2 years !
Yes, I thing this lady was the third wife, but alas we have no photographs (no cameras then (1840s). She hailed from Tanjore. Her name was Sugandha Parvathi Bhai after she was married
I have this project of tracing her to tanjore – waiting for time
Achu
Especially after the movie Chandramukhi ( based on malayalam manichithrathazhu) people got interested in Sugandhavalli.
Excellent write up and follow-up comments by everyone concerned.
I particularly liked the elaborate comment by Baradwaj Raman – thank you so very much for giving a glimpse into the life of that genius called Balachander.
And now, thanks to you all, I’ve just got to hunt for songs of SB and put them on my music player 🙂
i have yet made a mistake while commenting. i said we won the case. i apologize for the blatant and ignorant reply. according to sources, in 1994, the then existing board of members retired and there was a complete change in the board of members including the secretary, president and others.
this was considered a success due to the fact that the party against whom the case was filed, had retired bringing an end to their monarchy rule. so there was no meaning in extending the case further. considering this itself to be a success, the case was withdrawn!
the other facts are mostly true.
even so, i would like to apologize in advance if there are any mistakes.
i guess everyone learns from past mistakes and i pray to the almighty so that i may not by mistake make again in this regard.
and one more thing i forgot to add,
though thatha did play some of swathi thirunal’s songs, i heard he while mentioning the name of song and ragam and thalam, would particularly say Composer Unknown!
hehehe!
this is also through mere info through sources.
i am new to carnatic music. who is SB?
Hi Goodboybrb, Please google it and check.. Sundaram Balachander
awsome discussions..Yes S Balachandar certainly was a genius – I mean so many achievements in one life – films, music – Hindusthani, Canatic – Sita,Veena,Shehnai……
Would love to know more about him and would certainly want to listen to his Veena more!!
Dear Rasikas,
Swathi thirunal aactually lived and composed many songs, mostly in sanskrit–a few manipravalams in malayalam–there need not be a needless controversy on this –likely to stir a hornest’s nest–going
into the existence of other composers like the Trinity–leave this to the
historians, which we as well as SB are not
vaidyanathan
Dear Mr. Vaidyanathan,
I have just finished reading Vikram Sampath’s book on Veena S. Balachander, and the controversy over the Swati Tirunal claims that so claimed the attention of the great veena player. You say the veena maestro was not a historian. May I ask who, according to you, could make the claim to be a historian or deserve the label/designation? Someone with a degree in history? I have taught for the last thirty years, 25 years here in the U.S., and I sometimes chuckle at the presumptions of people about designations, qualifications, and expertise. In this instance, it seems that the great veena maestro had enough evidence to substantiate his claim that Swati Tirunal was not even born under the Swati nakshatra, and most of what he allegedly produced/composed was mostly the work of others. I would recommend Vikram Sampath’s book to those interested in learning about not just this controversy but about the life and times of the great veena player, S. Balachander.
Ramesh Rao
I would like to see some of the case documents. just curious though like someone said i also would not like the stir the hornets nest. but just for the fact that this person had such controversy surrounding him has evoked an interest. not to forget that thyagaraja swami himself suffered a few controversial allegations regarding his own compositions some of which is quite true indeed. so controversy has always been part of our heritage. nothing new. so those who like swathi thirunal maharaja need not feel edgy about this.
I also like those compositions.
With regard to tamil not being used i agree with achutan nair sir.
Tamil was sparsely used by all three composers of the trinity probably that we can count by one hand.
i guess it was with regard to the rule of foreign powers like for instance vijayanagara empire and travancore empire briefly for some time. however tamil rule came to a close after the mughal invasion and subsequent takeover by vijayanagara empire and ruling by nayaks. hence tamil language as well might have lost its footing during the ongoing political scenario. however oothhukkadu also another controversy seems to have some contribution made in tamil. We can never really know what happened in those days as nobody recorded these things like a proper historian should.
namaste to all.
I had heard from my amma about the whole controversy regarding the existence(!!!) of Swathi Thirunal. Even as a child, i laughed at the thought of Swati Thirunal not existing. Balachandar(no doubt a musical genius) or others questioning the existence of the King is absolutely ridiculous. There are hordes of govt and Mathilakam records pointing towards the existence and reign of the King. The discord between Swati Thirunal and Cullen was well known. So the whole controversy seems trivial to me. No, i do not trust historians blindly but denying the existence of Swati Thirunal is like denying the occurance of the World Wars or something similarlly factual. Just because Balachandar made such a thoughtless comment, it won’t change the truth that Maharajah Swati Thirunal existed and was the King of Travancore for 18 yrs……
By focussing on the one exaggeration of Balachander that Sri Swati Thirunal did not even exist, the larger issue should not be lost sight of. That is, whether Swati Tirunal can be accorded the same status in Carnatic music as the Trinity? My humble submission is : No. Mr. Nair’s reference to Swati Tirunal as still a maturing composer and Mr. Sriram’s statement
“Ultimately, there is no doubt on the existence of Swati Tirunal and that he composed. But as to how many songs are his, how many of his songs have music by others, and how many songs of others are now palmed off as his, this may always be a matter for debate.”
reinforce my opinion.
Ravi
Sir is the date in this point correct – 1946? “13. When Swati Tirunal fell ill, he apparently got a quack remedy from London known as Holloways Pills and Ointment for treatment. An advertisement from the London Times was shown. The king’s obituary appeared in The Times on 8th December 1946. The Trivandrum obit, with a verse in the kings praise by his cousin Iraviamman Thampi in Malayalam was shown. In Australia, the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser reported the death of Swandee Rama Rajah of Travancore.”