Musicians have always sported titles. Though the Sangita Kalanidhi is today the most sought after, in the past, each had his favourite. Chembai was Gayana Gandharva, Madurai Mani Iyer was Gana Kala Dhara, Ariyakkudi was Sangita Ratnakara, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer was Sangita Bhupati, Muthiah Bhagavatar was Gayaka Shikhamani and Mysore Vasudevachar was Sangita Sastra Visarada.
There is a penchant for conferring the title of Gandharva on musicians in Maharashtra. In the cases of Sawai Gandharva, Bal Gandharva, Kumar Gandharva and Chota Gandharva we know them by these titles rather than by their real names. Some other well-known titles:
Devagandharva: Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle
Layabhaskar: Khaprumama Parvatkar
Surashree: Kesarbai Kerkar (legend has it that Tagore conferred this title on her)
Gaanatapasvini: Mogubai Kurdikar
Gaanahira: Hirabai Barodekar
Swarabhaskar: Bhimsen Joshi
Swarasamraajni: Lata Mangeshkar
Gaanasaraswati: Kishori Amonkar
Taalayogi: Suresh Talwalkar
IIRC, Shri Madurai Mani Iyer’s house in Madras has the title Gana kala dhara preceding his name in the iconic white on blue name plate. Is it because of chronological reasons (i.e he hadn’t been awarded the “SK” as of when he bought the house) or the fact that he valued the one actually used more ?
Thanks