Visit to homes of trinity@ tiruvArur on March 21st,2010

[rajeshnat]

Visit to homes of trinity@ tiruvArur on March 21st,2010
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I did go to tiruvArur on Sunday 21st,2010. I incidentally saw all the three trinity homes at tiruvArur, just few anecdotes from there.

# I initially went to tiruvARur thyagarajaswamy temple and goddess kamalAMbikE shrine, then asked where is mani mantapam of muthuswami dikshitar. Incidentally one person guided me to another trinity home, syama sAstri

# syAma sAstri home is in mEttu street which is recently renamed as syAmA street, this is in east side of the tyagarAjaswamy temple . The house where syamA sAstri does not have the old house look but is fairly modern as it was demolished and this home was constructed by jayendra saraswati trust ,you could see bronze idol and goddess kAmakshi there , as such this is one marble floored modern building with a rear end with chairs and a small trust /hall being there.

# Then I went from there to Dikshitar mani mantapam. Dikshitar mani mantapam is in north West side , if you walk from the temple tank away from the temple you find the dikshitar mani mantapam.Here you see MD's bronze idol. Incidentally the day I went there , there was two concerts lined one by bala brahma isai mazhalaigal where I did hear few numbers sung by four girls , all very good , they sang siddhi vinayakam,shankaram abhirAmam(kamala manOhari) and thyagarAja yOga vaibhavam. The mridangist arjun ganesh was rocking with thiagarajan?? as violinist. When I entered this mantapam a patron there said these artists are from madras. THis place is more like a kalyAna mantapam with a dikshitar bronze idol in the front . This concert was for just 45 minutes with a 2 hour concert lined up by Jyothsana , disciple of Smt SeethA rajan. I did not attend that , btw for the first time when those 4 girls sang I put thAlam, the reason being musquitoes. I saw about 10 to 15 of them in the audience , the tortoise coil was on to drive away the musquitoes with the gopuchA yoga vaibhavam , bhavam and vam and I was gone as it was late.Tortoise coil drives the rasika out , not too sure about musquito

# ThyagarAja's home is just a road parallel to dikshitar.Thyagaraja's home is in the main road that leads from mayavaram to tiruvArur,infact there is a thyagarAja swamigal home signboard too..ThyagarAja stayed in a very prominent road in tiruvArur when compared to other trinities I guess then. ThyagarajA home has got the old look of a typical house that you have of any one who lived in the last 400 years. THe house though outside is antique preserved , inside it is one small room at the beginning and then a big hall and a small kitchen. The big hall and a small kitchen is occupied by a trustee.The small room is the pooja room with thyagaraja swamigal bronze idol. There was a very old lady in the house a 75+ lady as it was around 06:30pm and without any lights , i went to switch on the light. The lady said current bill romba eRaRthu in a typical tanjore style sarcasam,I kept it on, she then switched it off saying kitchen light will do . Inside the kitchen there was a small radio playing some FM numbers. I just peeked and saw two casettes there one is magic of sudha and the other TN RajarAthinam pillai , the choice was easy looked at the sleeve unopened of TNR, put it on and heard the ninnu juchi - sowrAshtram there, TNR's sowrashtram of bard's krithi was a perfect T. It was a kind of sowrashtram mangalam there in thyagarAja's home after 3 numbers in MD home.

# Overall the impression was very nice , the musical vibe feel was the most in ThyagarAja's house . Certainly a nice place for all of you to visit and the temple of tiruvArur is so big, my leg aches and aches going around mayavaram-kumbakonam area for the last 2 days, just lost the count of them , certainly the charm is still there though a bit dwindled when compared to last two decades which I recollect.

Please visit tiruvArur and look at the trinity homes.Patronage is needed to retain the musical vibe.

[arasi]

Rajesh,
Yes, I have to make it a point to visit TiruvArUr--before this old lady gets to be 'a very old lady' of seventy five. The clock is clicking away
By the way, are there any libraries/reading nooks (however modest) in these homes which contain copies of their compositions and also books written about them and of their music?

[VK RAMAN]

Thank you Rajeshnat for taking the time to give a descriptive narration of your visit and that tickles us all to visit TiruvAvUr.

[rshankar]

Rajesh - thanks for your trouble in writing about these places...

# I initially went to tiruvARur thyagarajaswamy temple and goddess kamalAMbikE shrine,

A line from Papnasam Sri Sivan's sahAnA kRti (SrI vAtApi gaNpatiyE) popped into my mind as I read this - '(jagam pugazhum) SambhuvuDan kamalAmbikai magizhum tanayanE, dayAparanE'.

[thanjavooran]

Rajeshji,
Thanx. Excellent write up. Though a Thanjavooran yet to have darshan of Trinity's homes. My wishes to you.
Thanjvooran

[mahavishnu]

rajesh, thanks for your write-up.
Incidentally, Ninnu joochi is a patnam composition. He was from T's sishya parampara, so I guess some credit does go to the bard.

[rajeshnat]

rajesh, thanks for your write-up.
Incidentally, Ninnu joochi is a patnam composition. He was from T's sishya parampara, so I guess some credit does go to the bard.

Thanks for the correction, I slipped. Perhaps I should have stayed for another 15 minutes to hear the next upachAramu jEsE of T in the cassette of TNR that followed sowrAshtram.

[bilahari]

Oh, this definitely makes me want to visit Tiruvarur. Thanks for the writeup, Rajesh. It's unfortunate that SS's house has been rebuilt! Should we not guard these places preciously and preserve them as they are?

[MV]

Thanks for that Rajesh. We drove through Thiruvarur a good 10 years ago and only visited the Thyagaraja temple. Wish somebody had told me all 3 houses were so closeby. Does make me want to go back. And as Bilahari says, we should be preserving these

[mohan]

And as Bilahari says, we should be preserving these

The government, not us, should be preserving these houses but unfortunately this doesn't seem to happen in India. In Europe, we see treasures like the homes of Beethoven or Rembrant preserved and maintained as tourist spots.

[rajeshnat]

Rajesh,
Yes, I have to make it a point to visit TiruvArUr--before this old lady gets to be 'a very old lady' of seventy five. The clock is clicking away By the way, are there any libraries/reading nooks (however modest) in these homes which contain copies of their compositions and also books written about them and of their music?

Arasi ,
I did not find any libraries or nooks there. Possibly all the original compositions are there in saraswathi mahal library in tanjore.Those 3 homes does not look like it possessed any . Possibly we can release your 50 compositions in tiruvarur temple this year 2010. I am sure the trinity is a source of inspiration for many of vageyakkaras from ninnu juchi patnam to inru varuvAnO rajee krishnan .

It's unfortunate that SS's house has been rebuilt! Should we not guard these places preciously and preserve them
as they are?

I remember in this forum or in sangeetham.com when syamA sAstri's home was razed and built , there were few writeups by few patron asking them to preserve the old antique feel. Possibly the authorities did not try that way or perhaps it was difficult to engineer that way, though I feel they could have got a clue from T's home. Certainly the musical vibe is inversely proportional to how modern it is . But still they did something which one needs to appreciate.

It is musicians who have to get together in groups work with tiruvarur temple autorities and make yearly visit , how about 3 concerts in a day in these trinity places.In the month of april and may there will be very very few or zero concerts in madras. Preservation more happens only with kutcheri and yearly events and not just with buildings alone.

We drove through Thiruvarur a good 10 years ago and only visited the Thyagaraja temple. Wish somebody had told me all 3 houses were so closeby. Does make me want to go back.

Precisely MV , till 1985 or so I used to go every year to visit my mayavaram maternal thAtha.For the next 15 years till 2000 no touch with that belt at all as all my relatives migrated. Then some time around 2002 I went once to kumbakonam and mayavaram.

In the last 4 years went twice to that belt to see navagraha temples , tiruvarur was slightly out of reach as everytime we have a cramped visit for 2 days . But this time I kept tiruvarur as a top priority that too having an oppurtunity to visit my late paternal grandfather home in a place called nallamAngudi(nannilam taluk) which is close to tiruvarur which is my roots or my purvigam village. Certainly a personally very very satisfying visit, it is a 8 year plan that finally clicked .

Hope all of you visit these homes , it is just worth it . Tiruvarur though the access is bit out of way , with the villupuram - mayavaram lines getting opened this month end after nearly 8 years or so things will look better for any one to visit from bangalore and madras.

[semmu86]

Rajesh , thanks for the report. Makes me miss kumbakonam - thanjavur jilla all the more , as the temples and my maternal thatha-paati's house there , have been my holiday destination for the last 23 summers . Now that they have relocated to kochin , i dont know if i will ever go there again .. If you ever feel that thiruvArur temple is big , i hope you see the mahAlingaswAmy temple at thiruvidaimarudhUr .. What magnificent prAkhArams and architecture !

Probably we can make a rasikas trip to the trinity's houses ..

[rajeshnat]

If you ever feel that thiruvArur temple is big , i hope you see the mahAlingaswAmy temple at thiruvidaimarudhUr .. What magnificent prAkhArams and architecture !

I started the day from kumbakonam went to tirrubbuvanam and then three rounds in that thiruvidaimarudhur then mayavaram few temples there like parimala ranganAthar,abhayAmba kshetram and then stopped at peralam and then at tiruvarur via little detour to nannilam.

While returning back from tiruvarur to kumbakonam touched your handle semmangudi(not stopped there as a obesiance to semmangudi mama's music it just races and never stops ) and then went to nachiar koil and thirunAgeshwaram.

Surprisingly all names start with thiru (I was slightly happy for a time that some kovil like nachiar koil starts not with thiru, but later found that even that temple nAchiar koil starts another name with thiru???), in short names start with thiru and then some names.

While your tongue twangs to get the right name, your head swirls to know which side of the gopuram you came in to get finally out, there is always great temples or some village where some carnatic musician lived like thiruvaduthurai,mudikondan, keeranur,maharajapuram etc.

[semmu86]

Surprisingly all names start with thiru (I was slightly happy for a time that some kovil like nachiar koil starts not with thiru, but later found that even that temple nAchiar koil starts another name with thiru???), in short names start with thiru and then some names.

Yes , most of the koil names starts with "Thiru" .. nAchiAr koil is " thirunaraiyUr" and the emperumAn is "thirunaraiyUr nambi " ( what a beautiful koil that is) ..

While your tongue twangs to get the right name, your head swirls to know which side of the gopuram you came in to get finally out, there is always great temples or some village where some carnatic musician lived like thiruvaduthurai,mudikondan, keeranur,maharajapuram etc.

Well ,The kumbakonam-thanjavur jilla is considered to be the cradle for CM and its musicians isnt it ?? . How did you ever leave out Umayalpuram ?

[arasi]

Semmu,
Rajesh reserved it for you to revel in

Rajesh,
Thank you but looks as though you kAvEri tIra vihAris (well, ancestrally speaking) do not take into account tAmra varNi and its glory. No wonder eTTayapuram (where bArati memorial is--MD connection as well) or harikEsanallur didn't strike you as apt spots!
Ah, pride of the soil we spring from, and of the rivers too...

[rajeshnat]

Semmu,
Rajesh,
Thank you but looks as though you kAvEri tIra vihAris (well, ancestrally speaking) do not take into account tAmra varNi and its glory. No wonder eTTayapuram (where bArati memorial is--MD connection as well) or harikEsanallur didn't strike you as apt spots!
Ah, pride of the soil we spring from, and of the rivers too...

arasi,
The real pride is perhaps neither kaveri or tamra varni , I guess vaigai is apt as my all time favourite carnatic musician is born there (you know who that is). I have been to quite a few places near trinelveli , I have not been to ettayapuram at all, if my memory is right there is one thiru kurungudi temple near trinelveli(another thiru name) and srivalliputtur . Today I saw one of the most creative musicians from the land of tAmravarNi : , Prof TRS. Pride of the soil perhaps not, nostalgic perhaps yes more to do with familiarity with the land.

[ksrimech]

Rajeshnat,
I assume that your all time favorite musician should be madurai T N SESagOpAlan. Thats why vaigai is close to your heart. If you ask a vaiSNavan like me , kAvEri, vaigai and tAmraparNi are all equally important since the azhvArs were born on the banks as these three rivers are qouted by SrI sukhamaharSi in SrImadbhAgavatham. They are all the pride of bhAratadESA.

Also, tirukkurunguDi is also closer the banks of tAmraparNi than vaigai. SrIvilliputtUr is closer to vaigai, along with kaLazhagar and kUDalazhgar koils. If you want more tiru names along tAmraparNi, here is a small list. These temples are collectively called navatiruppathis. tentiruppErai, tirupuLinguDi, tirukuruhUr (a.k.a AzhvAr tirunagari; birth place of ), tirukuLandai, tirukkOLur (birth place of madhurakavi AzhvAr), tiruttolaivilimangalam (iraTTai tiruppati - 2 temples at this location), tiruvaikuNTam and tiruvaraguNamangai.

semmu & arasi,
Perumal at tirunaRaiyUr, tirunaRaiyUr nambi or nambi nArAyaNan, is so beautiful (handsome!) that tirumangaiyAzhvAr forgot tamizh illakaNam and sang naRaiyUr ninRa nambiyO instead of naRaiyUr ninRa nambiyE while addressing him!

[arasi]

Well, with Rajesh, TNS perhaps, but go back. A hundred years ago, a vocalist was born who would preface his name with the name of the abode of mInAkshi!

[VK RAMAN]

The kumbakonam-thanjavur jilla is considered to be the cradle for CM and its musicians isnt it ?? . How did you ever leave out Umayalpuram ? - romba peethikkathengo. Enga Urilum pattu paadaRavA undu

[semmu86]

The kumbakonam-thanjavur jilla is considered to be the cradle for CM and its musicians isnt it ?? . How did you ever leave out Umayalpuram ? - romba peethikkathengo. Enga Urilum pattu paadaRavA undu

None can deny that sir , nor did that statement was meant with a peethifying intent :^) , just said that in jest and am sure you also meant the same ..

[semmu86]

semmu & arasi,
Perumal at tirunaRaiyUr, tirunaRaiyUr nambi or nambi nArAyaNan, is so beautiful (handsome!) that tirumangaiyAzhvAr forgot tamizh illakaNam and sang naRaiyUr ninRa nambiyO instead of naRaiyUr ninRa nambiyE while addressing him!

Oh yeah..History has it that tirumangaiyAzhvAr's "Siriya thirumadal" and "periya thirumadal" composed on thiRunaraiyUr pErumal made even Sri ranganAtha perumaL jealous ..

[rajeshnat]

Rajeshnat,
I assume that your all time favorite musician should be madurai T N SESagOpAlan.

Just one last drift here, TNS sir was born in nAgapattinam. My all time favourite is gAnakaladhara madurai mani Iyer. Thanks ksrimech for your other references.

[arasi]

I bet he caught on to it when I said: born a century ago!

[ksrimech]

Sri ranganAtha perumaL jealous ..

He gets jealous since he is "rowdy" SrIranganAyakan.

Rajeshnat, I did catch it when her majesty gave the reference.