This recording was done by my late father Varadaraja Iyengar, rtd Music producer AIR. Ariyakudi avazh, at that time had severe arthritis of knees and was unable to sit cross legged for concert. My father made special arrangements for Ariyakudi to sit in a Chair and also elevated platform for the instrumentalists ! On Aug 16, 1991, the day my father passed away, he listened to this rendition repeatedly until his last breath......To me Ariyakudi is as good as a god himself !
I am excited to listen to this song sung by Araikudi Ramanja Iyenger as soon as I read about Paramacharya's incident. Thanks for preserving and sharing this treasure 🙏
Experiences with Maha Periyava: "Shri Subrahmanyaaya Namaste" rendered by Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar In June 1961, Paramacharya was camping at Devakottai (in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu). He was in deep penance for several weeks, not talking or even communicating by gestures. One could not know if he even heard the devotees' words. One morning, some people from nearby Ariyakudi (‘Nagarathar’) had their darshan of Sri Maha Periyava and in the course of their talks, it emerged that Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, the famous carnatic musician also known as ‘Ariyakudi’, was currently in Karaikudi. To the surprise of everyone, Paramacharya signalled to them asking them if they could bring Ariyakudi over to meet Him. They agreed and left. That afternoon by three o'clock, Ariyakudi was at the camp. He was delighted and excited as Paramacharya had asked to meet him in the midst of His 'kashta mounam' (vow of rigorous silence). Is not Paramacharya known for His simplicity? So His accommodation at the camp was very simple. His room was by the garden side of a small house. Devotees had to have His darshan through a small window, after passing through dirt and bushes. May be that was His way of admonishing those of us who have grown used to the luxuries of life. On being informed that Ariyakudi had arrived, Paramacharya signalled them to bring him to the rear window. He came, and paid obeisance by falling full stretch at His feet. That was it. To everyone's joy, Paramacharya opened His mouth and started talking in a torrent! "Heard of your receiving the Rashtrapathi award. You would have walked on a red carpet and been honoured in a gathering of eminent persons. But me, I have made you walk on stones and bush and made you sit in a dingy room. "Why I called you is, I long have had a desire to listen to 'Shri Subrahmanyaaya Namasthe' rendered perfectly. On hearing you are around, the desire has re-surfaced. Perfect rendition means both the music and the lyrics (sangeetham and sahityam). Many people disfigure the words of Sanskrit and Telugu kirtanas to the extent that we wish they never sang. "The music part (swaras), the rhythm part and the 'sahitya chandas' - what is called 'chandam' in Tamil - would be given for most songs. The proper way to split and combine words would also be given. The musician has to take care to synchronize the music, rhythm and chandas and split and combine the words correctly so as not to spoil the meaning. The compositions of good composers definitely allow this (padham pirichu padaradhu) but many musicians simply concentrate on the music and rhythm, and ignore the meaning, sometimes leading to ridiculous meanings! "Even in this song 'Shri Subrahmanyaaya Namasthe', we have a line 'guruguhAyAgnAna dwAnta savithrE'. This must be split as 'guruguhAya - agnAna - dwAnta savithrE' i.e. 'the one who is like the Sun removing the darkness of ignorance'. Some sing it as 'guruguhAyA - gnana - dwAnta savitrE', ' accusing the poor Sun of removing knowledge itself'! "No doubt, in music, there is no Dvaita - Advaita difference. Only music is important. And music makes the mind of the singer into unison with the song - the protagonist of the song. That is why, 'Shri Subrahmanyaaya Namasthe' is attached to you - a Vaishnavite - or you are attached to it! I have heard you sing that song. I do not have to say anything about your musical ability; and the sahitya part too you do correctly. Which is why I have called you here. "In my darbar, there is only a rough patch of grass for you to be seated. There is no accompaniment, not even the sruti. But please do sing that kriti for me, inspite of all these.” When Paramacharya stopped His torrent, Ariyakudi was in tears. He prostrated once again, and said "There is no other prestige for me than to be asked by 'Periyava' to sing, and singing for Periyava. I have no words to express the magnanimity of Periyava, considering me as somebody and giving me this chance. Periyava’s grace has to fill in for the sruti and accompaniment and enable me to sing to the level I am expected to” and readied himself to begin the song. Ariyakudi rendered the song "Shri Subrahmanyaaya Namasthe" - a rare musical feast.even without sruti or accompaniments, it still was wholesome. Paramacharya listened to the song with full concentration, eyes closed. Then, "Only because you sang alone (no sruti/accompanists) the song came out with all its beauty. And the words were crystal clear. I say 'thrupthOsmi' (I am fully satisfied). Now, please sing this song once more, but, this time, stopping after each line. I want to absorb Dikshitar's words in all their glory and reflect on them and even as I do so, explain, word by word, so that others can also appreciate the beauty in the creation of a genius. Ariyakudi sang one more, this time line-by-line and our Paramacharya gave detailed commentry on the Dikshitar Kriti “Sri Subhramanyaaya Namaste”. Paramacharya further tells Ariyakudi and the gathering at large, "I'm happy to see that you, coming from a good guru-sishya parampara, are preserving good music. You must also bring up good disciples and keep the tradition going. A Brahmin, having learnt Veda, has a compulsory duty to teach atleast one more person (adhyaapanam). This can apply to other sastras and arts too. "One more point about musicians. You should sing the Telugu and Sanskrit kirtanas fully aware of their meaning. It is not fair to say that Tamil songs alone are enough. Great composers in this country have created hundreds of Telugu and Sanskrit songs of much musical and lyrical beauty. If we ignore them, the loss is ours. Do not defend by saying, 'I do not understand them!' - If only we desire, do we not spend time and energy on all sorts of useless things? If musicians dedicate themselves to pure music and proper rendition of words without losing the 'Osandha Artha Vishesham', language can not be a barrier. As confirmed by the President’s award, you are pre-eminent in the music world, do your best towards this cause. May Subrahmanya's Grace be with you in this endeavour!" Ariyakudi was totally moved, and paid his obeisance saying," This has been the best day in my life". Compiled by Jagadguru Sri Maha Periyava - Kanchi Paramacharya/Fb
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽Iam in tears of ecstasy after reading the complete description. Iam fortunate to have come across this Tale of God's Miracle. My pranams to all the noble people who made this to reach me.🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 లోక సమస్త సుఖినోభవంతు
Read about this incident in another forum today and came to hear this song on RU-vid. Thanks for posting the detailed note. Pranaams to Ariyakudi. Maha Periyavaa Sharanam. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
The Great ‘ Iyengar’ was summoned by Kanchi Sankaracharya, Senior specially to sing this krithi Subramanyaya And was overwhelmed on his performance and blessed him!
This was one of my late father's favorite krithi sung by one of his favorite singers. This has refreshed so many childhood memories for me. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Unfortunately, everyone cannot enjoy & appreciate this kind of music because no beats here to make the body dance to the tune & materially get absorbed in the song But if one has intellect & good spirituality in their mind, this bhajan is bound to elevate & raise the listener spiritually
Rendering of this DhIkshitar Krithi by Sangeetha KalAnidhi Shri. Ariyakkudi is pleasing as well as very special, as it got a personal recognition from ParamAchArya as his favorite song. His Holiness also mentioned that Shri. Ariyakkudi's rendering is perfect!
My humble pranams to Vidwan Ariyakudi . The rendering of the song ‘Sri Subramanyaya .,.’ is perfect, absolutely enjoyable.🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👍🏻👍🏻👌🏼🙏🏼👌🏼👌🏼👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼👌🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Sri Mahaperiyava Saranam. Today i happened to read Sri Mahaperiyava incident of breaking Kaasta Mounam asking Sri Ariyakudi Avl for this song. My parents were great fans of Sri Ariyakudi Avl. I understood his greatness only now. Sri Ariyadi Avl has to pardon those whose dislike this song and Blessh them that by Almightys Blessing come to know the Greatness of Music
I had heard about what Padmavathy Ramamoorthy madam referred to the experience of Ariyakudi with Paramacharya. I need to thank her that what I heard was indeed authentic (though I did not doubt what was told to me). What I did not know was thar Ariyakudi sang without sruti support, leave alone accompaniments. That speaks of his quality. ON the top of all the all pervading Paramacharya bestowing his grace on Ariyakudi would not have been for nothing.
Superb ! One of the Lovely Incidents on this Krithi by Ariyakudi Iyengalwal Mama ! A memorable incident when Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati, Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, gave a wonderful commentary on Muthuswami Dikshitar's kriti on Subrahmanya to Ariyakkudi Ramanuja Iyengar. The article appeared in Ariyakkudi's centenary year, when Paramacharya was in his 97th year. In June 1961, Paramacharya was camping at Devakottai (in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu). He was in deep penance for several weeks, not talking or even communicating by gesture. One could not know if he even heard the devotees' words. One morning, some people from nearby Ariyakkudi (`Nagarathar') had their darshan of Him, and in the course of their talks, it came out that Ariyakkudi RamanujaIyengar, the famous carnatic musician, and known simply as `Ariyakkudi', was currently in Karaikkudi. To the surprise of every one, Paramacharya signaled to them, asking if they can bring Ariyakkudi over to meet Him. They agreed and left. That afternoon by three o'clock, Ariyakkudi was at the camp. He was so excited and tense, as Paramacharya had asked to meet him in the midst of his 'kAshta mounam' (vow of rigorous silence) Is not Paramacharya known for His simplicity? So His accommodation at the camp was very simple. His room was on the garden side of a small house. Devotees had to have His darshan through a small window, after passing through dirt and bushes. May be that was His way of admonishing those of us who have grown used to the luxuries of life. On being informed that Ariyakkudi had arrived, Paramacharya signaled to bring him to the rear window. He came, and paid obeisance by falling full stretch at His feet. That was it. To every one's joy, Paramacharya opened His mouth and started talking in a torrent. "Heard of your receiving the Rashtrapathi award. You would have walked on a red carpet, and been honored in a gathering of eminent persons. But me, I have made you walk on stones and bush and made you sit in a dinghy room. "Why I called you is, I long have had a desire to listen to 'ShrI SubrahmanyAya namasthE' rendered perfectly. On hearing you are around, the desire has re-surfaced. Perfect rendition means both the music and the lyrics (sangItham and sAhityam). Many people disfigure the words of Sanskrit and Telugu kirtanas to the extent that we wish they never sang. I have listened to you singing Shri Subrahmanyaya Namaste with both sangitha and sahityam suddham. I know that right now you are seated on a rough patch of grass and there is no accompaniment, not even sruti. Nevertheless, please sing that kriti for me?" Ariyakkudi did his namaskaram, said it was a great honour, sat down and started to sing. (In fact, before that, the two engaged themselves in a scholarly discussion on Kambodi and other ragas like Sourashtram, Navarasa kannada, Kannada, Sindhu Bhairavi, Yamuna Kalyani, Kedaragowla - all of which, have unique geographical association.). 'shrI subrahmaNyAya namastE namastE' And in fact. Acharya explained to the great musician detailed inner meaning of the krithi and Ariyakkudi was astonished at Acharya’s in depth knowledge in music. “Obeisance to Lord Subrahmanya”: starts auspiciously with ShrI and has a double namasthE. Saying something more than once is equivalent of saying it an infinite number of times, e.g, in 'pOttri pOttri' and 'Jaya Jaya Sankara'. 'NamasthE'. 'thE' - to you; 'nama:' - obeisance. 'nama:thE' becomes 'namasthE' - Obeisances infinite times to you, SubrahmanyA.Who is SubrahmanyA? ‘Su-Brahmanya’ or good, true, learned Brahmanya. Now, what is the meaning of brahmanya? We usually take 'brahman' to mean the absolute form of the Lord (paramatma svaroopam), but there is another meaning - Vedas. That is why we say 'BrahmOpadesam' while referring to Upanayanam, the ceremony to begin Veda lessons to a child. Likewise Brahmins are those that recite the Vedas. The God of Vedas, and, of those who recite Vedas is Subrahmanya.
Those who does not understand the sweetness of the music, please don’t dislike and disrespect the legends. You guys better stay away from this if you really don’t understand.
Great vidwan with expertise in swarm and gambhira dawning, no wonder that Sri Kanchenjunga Paramacharya summoned this musician specifically to sing this song “ Subrmanyaya namosthuthe” And he sang in presence of the Paramacharya who thoroughly enjoyed singing and at the end of it, the acharya was in tears, aanandha bhashyam..A great credit to Ariyakkudi and no tribute can be higher than this incident!
Anytime and everytime always respect mother father teacher and guru till death and firstly respect Human beings and next religion's and castes of the world.
