Kallidaikurichi Vedanta Bhagavatar
Vedanta Bhagavatar was born in 1878 in Kallidaikurichi.He came of a
family of Sanskrit scholars who were attached as teachers of Sanskrit and
shastras to the Tiruvadudurai math.His father was Muthu Shastrigal who
was holding this respected position in the math.Observing the talent of
the young Vedantam the head of the Tiruvadudurai adinam consulted Muthu
Shastrigal and placed vedantam and the celebrated nagaswaram artiste Tirumarugal
Natesa pillai under Vidwan Melattur Ramaswami Iyer for being brought up
as a musician.
Vedantam qualified himself not only as a vocalist but also as an early
performer of Harikatha.This, he learnt from Tanjavur Krishna Bhagavatar
and Tiruppayanam Pancapakesa shastrigal.He gave his first performance at
the age of 17 in the Melatheru bhajanai matam in Kallidaikurichi.His family
were also traditional shrividya upasakas.
He learnt Dikshitar kritis from Subbarama Dikshitar and also Ambi Dikshitar.With
Ambi Dikshitar he had come and stayed for some years in Madras to propagate
Dikshitar's kritis by both teaching and publication.He published an edition
of the Kamalamba navavarana kritis in the year 1936 with texts,translation
and notation.
He did the kathakalakshepam the Lalitopakhayna in Tiruvarur.He also
came into contact with other famous figures of that time in the musical
field, Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer and Sarabha Sastrigal with the
latter accompanying him on the flute in several Harikatha performances.
He specialised in Ragam,Tanam and Pallavi and it is worth noting that
at that he prepared and published a book entitled 'Sangeetha Tatva Pradarshini'
otherwise called 'Pallavi Parijatam'.His brother Kallidaikurichi Ramalinga
Bhagavatar accompanied him in the concerts.
He was also a composer and has composed one hundred compositions including
a varna in poorvikalyani.The media of the songs are sanskrit,telegu and
Tamil and the deities are mostly Devi,Subrahamanya and Shiva.
He was given the Sangita kalanidhi by the Music Academy in the year
1940.When he presided over the Academy's conference in 1940, the lakshanas
of ragas like saurashtra,arabhi,sama and varali and ahiri were discussed
and defined.In his presidential address he emphasised the importance of
sahitya and the need for singing the texts of the songs correctly and with
the knowledge of the meaning.
He took sanyasa in the same year and passed away.
