Sulochana Mudaliar Bridge, Tirunelveli

[RaviSri]

In 1842, the British Collector of Tinneveli (Tirunelveli) decided to construct a bridge on the river Tamraparni connecting Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai. There was no bridge before that over that river. A meeting was called and it was decided to construct a 800ft bridge. The cost would come to Rs.20,000/. The collector looked at Sulochana Mudaliar, the wealthy resident of the town who was working in the Collectorate. Mudaliar immediately offered to pay the whole cost of the construction. The bridge was built by the prisoners then jailed in the notorious Palayamkottai jail and was completed in November 1842. In recognition of his contribution, the collector decided to name the bridge after Mudaliar. This year marks the 175th year of the Sulochana Mudaliar bridge.

Fine. But what is the connection between the Tirunelveli bridge and Carnatic music? There is, and here it is.

The year after the completion of the bridge, in 1843, Sulocana Mudaliar visited Tiruvayyaru with his son Vedadridasa Mudaliar, then in his twenties. Both of them met Thyagaraja and were conversing with him for a long time. This meeting is recorded in a life story of Thyagaraja in English written by M.S.Ramaswami Iyer. Vedadridasa Mudaliar later went on to become a judge of the Travancore High Court. It was he, well into his eighties, who narrated this to M.S.Ramaswami Iyer.

In the midst of the hustle-bustle of the so called season, something sublime for people like me who don't visit the season these days.

[Sachi_R]

RaviSri,
Thank you! What a story of nobility. In all such wonderful things, it seems the British play a role

Kindly share the scan/transcript of the book by Mr. M. S. Ramaswamy Iyer pertaining to this story.

[RSR]

@1-> Excellent piece of information, Sir. Thank you.

[thanjavooran]

RaviSri,
Thanks for the wonderful write up.
Thanjavooran
26 12 2017

[shankarank]

In all such wonderful things, it seems the British play a role

If British means the government, no they did not. But souls which had gone native did do it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullaperiyar_Dam

The construction involved the use of troops from the 1st and 4th battalions of the Madras Pioneers as well as Portuguese carpenters from Cochin who were employed in the construction of the coffer-dams and other structures. The greatest challenge was the diversion of the river so that lower portions of the great dam could be built. The temporary embankments and coffer-dams used to restrain the river waters were regularly swept away by floods and rains. Due to the coffer dam failures, the British stopped funding the project. Officer Pennycuick raised funds by selling his wife's jewelry to continue the work. In Madurai, Major Pennycuick's statue has been installed at the state PWD office and his photographs are found adorning walls in peoples homes and shops. In 2002, his great grandson was honoured in Madurai, a function that was attended by thousands of people.

Some big powers always impede good work it seems. The neutrino project - opposed by Luddites, who may be funded by some invisible forces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercond ... r_Collider - The oil barrons could have funded it, but creationists would not have been happier.

[RaviSri]

Sorry Sir but I don't have the book. There are two interesting things however about the conversation Sulochana Mudaliar and his son had with Thyagaraja that I recollect from memory. The father asks as to how old he, Thyagaraja, was (at that time, in 1843). Thyagaraja replies, "I am more than 80 years old". This was taken up by some biographers as evidence and Thyagaraja's birth year was fixed as 1759. The first to do this was M.S.Ramaswamy Iyer himself. But subsequently it has been proved that Thyagaraja was born on May 4th 1767. Obviously the bard did not bother to calculate exactly and answered as it came to him. The two disciples who wrote Thyagaraja's first biography, Walajapet V.Bhagavatar and Thanjavur Rama Rao, consulted the bard's father Rama Brahmam himself and got his birth details. So, Thyagaraja actually did not complete 80 years (he had completed 79 years and 8 months) on January 6th 1847 when he died. In 1843 when the Mudaliars met him he had completed only 76 years.

Second, Vedadridasa Mudaliar asks Thyagaraja what he though of the creeping Western influence in society, since the East India company took over India and many Indians started learning English and aping British manners and customs. Thyagaraja says, all these influences will not affect one whose character is solid and has his feet firm on the ground, leads a simple life dedicated to bhakti and jnana. This is just the gist of what I remember, may not be exact. I felt on reading this that Thyagaraja, the jnani that he was, was not bothered by such things at that late stage in his life and just gave a vague reply. Of course, this is my opinion.

[rajeshnat]

RaviSri
Is sulochana mudaliar a musicologist or music historian , is there any musical contribution. Or did he just meet Thyagaraja .

[Sachi_R]

RaviSri,
I may be able to get the relevant pages of the book at least as a scan! Let me work on this.

[RaviSri]

Is sulochana mudaliar a musicologist or music historian , is there any musical contribution. Or did he just meet Thyagaraja .

He was neither. He was an official in the Tirunelveli collectorate and belonged to Chingleput district. He wanted to meet Thyagaraja probably because he was a music rasika and had heard Thyagaraja kritis. No one can guess how many people met Thyagaraja at Tiruvayyaru. We know of Ghanam Krishna Iyer, Gopalakrishna Bharati, Toomu Narasimha Das, Shatkala Govinda Marar etc., but none else. There might be many unrecorded meetings.

[Sachi_R]

RaviSri,
What about Muthuswami Dikshitar? I read that he composed the Mamava Pattabhirama song at Sri Thyagaraja's pooja.
What about Subbaraya Shastri? I read he was his disciple.

[RaviSri]

Yes, Subbaraya Sastri was his disciple for four or five years. Father Shyama Sastri himself sent his son to Tiruvayyaru. As for MD meeting T, there is this story of his composing mAmava paTTAbhirAmA at T's house. I also wrote about it in my "Eternal Pilgrim" series in sangeetham.com. I was mentioning only those who came to see T from outside. There might have been many others. There is this story of Baluswami Dikshitar calling on T when he was taking his grandson Subbarama Dikshitar to Ettayapuram from Tiruvarur in 1843, when SD was 4 years old and eight years after MD left this world. T is supposed to have talked about MD, his compositions and his greatness and shed tears. He blessed SD with sugar candy. So goes the story.

I personally believe some of these stories because Thillaistanam Kausalya who was the Principal of the Tiruvayyaru music college told me a few years ago that apart from SS who sent his son to T, many residents of Mela Veedhi (West Street) in Thanjavur, where SS lived and where is situated the Bangaru Kamakshi temple, sent their sons to Tiruvayyaru to learn from T. Also these stories do not contain any of the fantastic miracles like T's tearing of the Tirupati screen by singing teratIyaga rAdA and bringing a dead man alive by singing nA jIvAdhAra. Various people meeting T travelling from far off places was certainly a possibility, especially when T himself says in his tODi song, 'dAsharathE, "Asa dhIra doora dEshamuna.... etc".

[Sachi_R]

Thank you.