Muthiah Bhagavathar - Carnatic Music Composer

Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar who is also called Muthiah Bhagavathar is famous 20th century composer of Carnatic Classical music / Carnatic Music. He was born on 15th November 1877 in Harikesanallur which is a village in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He belonged to a wealthy Brahmin family. Muthiah Bhagavathar was exposed to music at a very young age because his father was actually a patron of musicians. His father died when he was six years old and then it was his uncle Lakshmana Suri who took up the responsibility of his education. Muthiah was then introduced to Sanskrit and Vedic studies. However, he had great love for music and a result he left his home town of Harikesanallur when he was ten years old so that he could find a teacher. He then met Padinaindumandapa  Sambasiva Iyer  at Tiruvarur who happened to recognise Muthiah's talent for music. Sambasiva Iyer was actually the father of T.S. Sabesa Iyer  who was a contemporary and won many reputable awards. Muthiah spent nine years with Sambasiva Iyer  and cultivated his talent. He then made his name as  Harikata Vidhwan. He had a rich voice and was also good at tanam singing. This is what made him one of the most famous artists of his era.

MUTHIAH BHAGAVATHAR AS A COMPOSER

Muthiah  Bhagavathar has composed almost  400 musical compositions. This is the largest number of compositions when it comes to composers post the Trinity composers period. His compositions consisted of various different types of Varnams and also Kritis as well as Thillanas.He has even composed folk tunes and also patriotic songs. He composed his compositions in four different languages which are Telugu, Tamil, Sanskrit and Kannada. His songs were based on Hindu Gods who were his patrons. He has also composed 20 ragas like Vijayasaraswathi, Hamsanandi, Niroshta, Buddha Manohari, etc. He is also responsible for composing the English notes which Madurai Mani made famous. Muthiah Bhagavathar also made famous the shanmugapriya and mohana kalyani. In 1934, he also composed music for Tamil Nadu Talkies. Tamil Nadu Talkies that time was owned by S. Soundararaja. The music that he composed was for the film Lava Kusa which was based on Uttara Ramayana. Initially, Muthiah Bhagavathar did not want to compose music for this film however later he was persuaded by Raval Krishna Iyer who was a budding contractor of Madras. Muthiah then travelled to Bombay where the film was being made at Ranjit Studios. He then composed 63 songs for this film because of which this film was renamed to  Sangeetha Lava Kusa. Some of the names of his compositions are nee daya rada, aadityam-mayamalavagowla,aanandamaana- kaambhoji, annai maa kaali- kaapi, Aryadevi- Shahana,etc.

MUTHIAH BHAGAVATHAR AS AN ARTIST

Muthiah Bhagavathar was good at playing both the Chitraveena and also the Mridangam. Along with musical talents, his theoretical knowledge was also very vast. The first work that he wrote was a treatise on musical theory which was called Sangita Kalpa Drumam. He then also authored a Sanskrit poetic work which was called Tyagaraja Vijaya Janya. He even gave lectures regularly on musicology at the Music Academy. He was also the first musician who was awarded  a doctorate in India in 1943 by the Kerala University for his Tamil Treatise. He also became the first principal of the Swati Tirunal Academy of Music which was started in 1939 At Trivandrum. He even opened up a music school  which was called the Tyagaraja Sangita Vidyalaya in Madurai in 1920. Madurai Mani Iyer belonged to this school. It is believed that he was also the first person who introduced the practice of nagaswara vidwans playing during the puja time at the Thiruvananthapuram Temple. There is a trust established by his descendants which is called Harikesanjali Trust. This trust has been established in order to propagate his compositions. 

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS GIVEN TO MUTHIAH BHAGAVATHAR

Muthiah Bhagavathar impressed the Maharaja of Mysore with his music and thus he was appointed as a court musician at Mysore. He was also patronized by the Maharaja of Mysore Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV. When he was at Mysore, he composed 115 kritis in the Kannada language and all these kritis were in the praise of Chamundi Devi who was the matron Goddess of the Mysore dynasty. He was also invited to the court of Travancore by Maharaja Mulam Tirunal. Muthiah Bhagavathar then studied Swati Tirunal Kritis at this court and wrote a book which was titled Sangeeta Kalpadruma. This book also won him an honorary doctorate. He also became the first President of the Annual Conference which was held at the Madras Music Academy. There, he was also awarded the most prestigious award the Sangeetha Kalanidhi Title in 1930 in Carnatic Music.

LEGACY OF MUTHIAH BHAGAVATHAR 

When Muthiah Bhagavathar died in 1945, he had composed almost 400 musical compositions. He also had changed the entire landscape of Carnatic Music by introducing Hindustani ragas. For example  Sohini which in Carnatic Music is Hamsaanandhi and it is also Saarang Malhar. He also created his own 20 new ragas. He made sure his legacy would live on with compositions like Bhuvanesvariya and also through his disciples. Madurai Mani Iyer was his most famous disciple. K.A. Sreenivasan was also another famous disciple of Muthiah Bhagavathar. Mr K.A. Sreenivasan acted in films like Maya Machindra, Maya Bazar, etc. He has also been awarded with the title of Vidwan by the Mysore Samasthanam. His legacy of music continues to live on in his granddaughter Srimathi Rugmini Gopalakrishnan who is an expert in playing the veena.

ACTIVITIES ORGANISED BY THE  HARIKESANANJALI  TRUST

In order to pay homage to Muthiah Bhagavathar, the Harikesanjali Trust holds an anjali and also aradhana every year.In 2019, the Narada Gana Sabha in association with the trust had organized Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar Day with a concert by Sangeetha Sivakumar. Sangeetha had chosen some of the favourite compositions and ragas of Muthiah Bhagavathar to perform on like Mohanakalyani and Mandhari and the kriti ‘Himagiri Tanaye’ in raga Suddha Dhanyasi,  which was made famous by his disciple Madurai Mani Iyer. Some of the noteworthy things in this concert were an expansive Kharaharapriya, a beautiful sketch of Mohanakalyani and also a moving rendition of Mandhari.

Thus, truly Harikesanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar was a great artist and also a great music composer.