Spotlight
Hard taskmaster, great teacher

Edited excerpts from a TN Seshagopalan profile in Sruti issue 3
Ramanathapurarn C.S. Sankarasivam was
the elder brother of C.S. Murugabhoopathy, the eminent mridanga vidwan.
Sankarasivam taught music at his home in Madurai. Attending classes there meant
Seshagopalan had to miss the Tiruppugazh sabha sessions, with which they
clashed. The Tiruppugazh routine was an opportunity for Gopu to play with otber
kids at the temple precincts before the bhajana began. At Sankarasivarn’s it
was more formal. The guru was then teaching fundamentals to other students and
did not pay Seshagopalan much attention. Sankarasivam did not deem it necessary
to go over the basics with him, but not knowing this, Gopu soon stopped going
to these classes. He went back to him, but not until several years later did he
learn that the guru had a good opinion of him.
Sankarasivam first asked Seshagopalan to sing the raga Kiravani. The boy began
with Tiruvachakam and then sang Gopalakrishna Bharati’s lnnamum
Sandehappadalamo. “Vadyar then tested my swara singing and akara
ability. Then the traditional coconut was broken and he started lessons
with Valapi Ganapalim. He made me elaborate the raga
(Hamsadhwani) a little and sing the kriti. After that, swara singing. This was
his general approach while teaching me. He prepared me for concerts rather than
start from the fundamentals. Varnams, raga a1apana, kritis, swara manipulation
and so on were taught. It was only later, on my own initiative, that I learnt
the basics like sarali and janta varisai, in order to be able to teach others.”
Sankarasivam belonged to a family with a tradition of music though belonging to
the Servai caste which usually had little connection with it. Vadyar’s father
was Chitsabhai Servai, a mridanga vidwan, who regularly accompanied
Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar. Chitsabhai and Khanjira Dakshinamurti Pillai
were disciples of Mamundia Pillai with whom they lived through their years of
studentship in the old gurukula manner. Chitsabhai had also accompanied
Konerirajapuram Vaidyanatha Iyer and Sakharama Rao.
It was the Raja of Ramnad who sent
Sankarasivam to Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar with whom he spent twelve
years in guru kula vasam. Later he was made the Asthana Vidwan
of Ramnad. He was a concert musician in the 1930s, though not a very popular
one. He did not have an attractive voice. “Can you imagine Chittoor Subramania
Pillai’s voice blessed with gamaka? That would be close to my guru’s voice.”
“My guru is a bit of a recluse,” Seshagopalan continued. “When he speaks to
you, you can get the impression he is no great respecter of men. I didn’t have
to wash his clothes or press his feet. It was a simple student-teacher
relationship. And what a great teacher! I am what I am because of his
blessings. I used to go to his house at six in the morning and stay with him
until it was time to go to college, and then go back for another session in the
evening.”
“I remember complaining to him once that a woman violinist had been lined up as
my accompanist at one of my concerts. His response was full of practical
wisdom. “You’d better accept what you get now,” he said, “even if it’s a woman
ghatam or morsing player. What you need now are concert opportunities.”
“After singing for three hours in the morning, I would go to Vadyar’s house
again at half past three for another three-hour session. He was a hard
taskmaster. During my holidays, I would spend as many as six hours at a time
with him. In fact all my spare time was spent at his home, all my practice
sessions took place there. It was his ambition to make me a top-class
performer. He taught me several varnams and numerous pallavis.”
Posted by Sruti Magazine July 14, 2012
By V Ramnarayan